Middle East & North Africa

(Reuters) --- Iran's President Hassan Rouhani has dismissed the central bank governor, Abdolnaser Hemmati, one of the few moderates running in a June 18 presidential election, who said he accepted the decision that he must step aside at the bank in order to stand for president.

Hemmati, a technocrat appointed central bank governor in 2018, is one of seven candidates for president, with the others mostly staunch hardliners after a vetting body, the Guardian Council, barred leading reformists and conservatives from standing.

(Reuters) --- Qatar has no plans to normalise ties with Syria, the Gulf state's foreign minister said, after Syrian President Bashar al-Assad won a fourth term in office last week in an election derided by the opposition and the West as a farce.

Qatar was among several regional states including Saudi Arabia that backed rebels in Syria's decade-old civil war. Some like the United Arab Emirates have sought to normalise ties after Assad regained control of most of the country.

(Reuters) --- Ethiopian pro-government demonstrators denounced the United States on Sunday for imposing restrictions on aid over the Tigray conflict, at a massive rally organised by the authorities to show support for their positions.

More than 10,000 people attended the rally, some carrying banners written in English, Arabic and Amharic. Slogans included: "USA show us your neutrality", "Ethiopia doesn't need a caretaker", and "Fill the dam", a reference to a huge Nile dam opposed by Egypt and Sudan.

(Reuters) --- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu manoeuvred on Sunday to try to dissuade opponents from forming a "government of change", with media reports saying a deal to unseat Israel's longest-serving leader could be imminent.

Opposition chief Yair Lapid, who has until Wednesday to put together a coalition after the fourth inconclusive election in two years, was closing in on an alliance of right-wing, centrist and leftist parties, Israeli media reported.

30 May 2021; MEMO: Qatar has no plans to normalise ties with Syria, the Gulf state's foreign minister said, after Syrian President Bashar al-Assad won a fourth term in office last week in an election derided by the opposition and the West as a farce, reports Reuters.

30 May 2021; MEMO: Qatar has held several rounds of talks with the United Arab Emirates to mend fences following an agreement to end an inter-Arab feud and there is a "positive vision" to overcome differences, the Qatari foreign minister said, reports Reuters.

30 May 2021; MEMO: Iran's President Hassan Rouhani has dismissed central bank governor Abdolnaser Hemmati, who is running in the presidential election in June, the Tasnim news agency reported on Sunday, says Reuters.

Hemmati in a Saturday night meeting on the Clubhouse social media app said:

Rouhani told me that if you stand in the election, you cannot remain the central bank chief because it affects monetary and exchange rate policies.

30 May 2021; MEMO: Israel was gripped by the political drama on Sunday over the possibly imminent end of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's record run as the country's leader, reports Reuters.

NICOSIA, May 30 (Xinhua) -- Cypriots went to the polls on Sunday to elect a new parliament for the next five years in a process which is likely to manifest eroding support for major parties.

Polling stations opened at 7:00 a.m. local time (0400 GMT) and will close at 6:00 p.m. local time (1500 GMT), with first results expected about an hour later.

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt and Israel are holding high-level talks in both countries Sunday to shore up a fragile truce between Israel and the Hamas militant group, and rebuild the Gaza Strip after a punishing 11-day war that left much of the seaside enclave in ruins.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shukry was meeting with his Israeli counterpart, Gabi Ashkenazi, who landed in Cairo on Sunday. It was the first public visit by an Israeli foreign minister in over a decade, according to the Egyptian Foreign Ministry.