Middle East & North Africa

Tehran, Jul 10 (AP-PTI) Iran's railroad system came under cyberattack on Friday, a semi-official news agency reported, with hackers posting fake messages about train delays or cancellations on display boards at stations across the country.

The hackers posted messages such as long delayed because of cyberattack" or canceled" on the boards. They also urged passengers to call for information, listing the phone number of the office of the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

BEIRUT, July 9 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab warned that Lebanon is a few days away from a “social explosion” and urged friendly countries and international institutions to help the country face its economic woes.

“Lebanon is crossing a very dark tunnel, and the suffering has reached the limits of tragedy,” Diab said during a speech after a meeting with several foreign and Arab ambassadors at the governmental palace.

AMMAN, July 9 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Israel and Jordan reached a deal on Thursday for the Jewish state to sell an unprecedented amount of water to the kingdom, while significantly boosting Jordanian exports to Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

09 July 2021; MEMO: A spokeswoman for the Tunisian Ministry of Health said on Thursday that the country's healthcare sector is on the verge of collapse, with intensive care units full and medical staff exhausted as the coronavirus continues to spread.

"We are witnessing a catastrophic situation," Nissaf Ben Alaya told Mosaique FM. "It requires a lot of effort to find a spare [hospital] bed… We are struggling to secure oxygen… Doctors are suffering from exhaustion to an unprecedented extent."

09 July 2021; MEMO: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has invited his Palestinian counterpart Mahmoud Abbas to visit Turkey where the two are expected to discuss mutual relations. The meeting will be held in the capital, Ankara.

09 July 2021; MEMO: Russia has proposed extending the opening of the last humanitarian border crossing into north-west Syria by six months, in a potential compromise move. The United States, however, is demanding a one year extension.

The Bab Al-Hawa crossing on the Turkish-Syrian border remains operational until tomorrow. UN and diplomatic sources have informed AFP that Russia submitted a draft resolution to the other 14 member states of the UN Security Council yesterday.

09 July 2021; MEMO: Saudi Arabia is working on creating a digital news platform and a studio in Washington DC as part of the kingdom's efforts to exert political pressure on the White House and the US Congress, CNBC reported yesterday.

This new endeavour, which has not been officially announced, is backed by a subsidiary of the Saudi Technology Development and Investment Company (TAQNIA), according to US Department of Justice documents.

09 July 2021; MEMO: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas yesterday discussed the peace process and the latest developments in the occupied territories with a delegation from the US Congress, Wafa reported.

The Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the United States House of Representatives, Gregory Meeks, headed the delegation which included 11 members representing the Democratic and Republican parties. They met with Abbas at the headquarters of the presidency in Ramallah, in the central occupied West Bank.

09 July 2021; MEMO: Israeli forces have demolished the family home of Palestinian-American Montaser Shalabi, who was accused of being involved in a shooting that killed one Israeli and injured two others. Shalabi was indicted in an Israeli military court in the occupied West Bank in May when Israeli student Yehuda Guetta was shot dead.

09 July 2021; MEMO: The Israeli occupation forces have handed four former Palestinian prisoners expulsion orders from the city of Jerusalem for terms of between three and six months. The orders also ban the individuals from having any contact with a number of people and activists.