Middle East & North Africa

29 May 2021; MEMO: A Saudi court has sentenced one of the royal family princes, who works in the Ministry of Municipal, Rural Affairs and Housing, to two years in prison with a fine of 100,000 Saudi riyals after obtaining a forged qualification.

The court indicated in its verdict that the convict is addressed as a "Royal Highness", a title that is exclusively granted to the offspring of King Abdulaziz Al-Saud.

29 May 2021; MEMO: According to Speaker of Tunisia's Parliament Rached Ghannouchi, Tunisia is most capable of assisting Libya in its reconstruction process, Anadolu Agency reported on Friday.

29 May 2021; MEMO: Repeated Israeli provocations might end the ceasefire in Gaza, Qatar's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani told Al Araby TV.

He reiterated that the Palestinian factions did not offer any concessions to the Israeli occupation in return for the ceasefire, pointing to his country's role in reaching the ceasefire, noting that several initiatives were proposed but met with Israeli arrogance.

29 May 2021; MEMO: Head of Hamas's Political Bureau Ismail Haniyeh is expected to arrive in Cairo to discuss several "thorny" files with Egyptian officials, most notably the ceasefire agreement with Israel.

29 May 2021; MEMO: Father Manuel Musallam, head of the World Popular Organisation for Jerusalem Justice and Peace, called on Friday for the election of members of the Palestinian National Council to produce a new leadership for the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) and to choose a president for the Palestinian National Fund (PNF).

ADDIS ABABA, May 29 (Xinhua) -- The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Africa reached 4,802,687 as of Friday evening, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said.

The Africa CDC, the specialized healthcare agency of the 55-member African Union, said the death toll from the pandemic stands at 129,753 while 4,343,800 patients across the continent have recovered from the disease.

South Africa, Morocco, Tunisia, Ethiopia and Egypt are the countries with the most cases in the continent, according to the Africa CDC.

DAMASCUS, May 28 (Xinhua)-- After scoring a sweeping victory in the presidential election, incumbent Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said on Friday that the vote was "a slap in the faces of enemies."

Assad made the remarks in a televised speech after his election victory, where he said the vote constituted an "unprecedented challenge to enemies of the homeland," apparently referring to the Western-backed exiled opposition, the armed rebels, and the United States and its allies which have denounced the election as "illegitimate."

TRIPOLI, May 28 (Xinhua) -- Libyan Foreign Minister Najla al-Mangoush on Friday met with his Italian and Maltese counterparts and the European Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement to discuss the cooperation against the illegal immigration.

"Libya has been suffering from the illegal immigration," al-Mangoush said at a joint press conference following the meeting, adding she and the other three all agreed to secure the southern Libyan border from illegal immigration with the assistance of the European Union.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Where is Sheikh Jaber? Kuwait was abuzz with the question as citizens on social media demanded to know the whereabouts of their 79-year-old former prime minister. He’d been ordered detained pending trial in an unprecedented move last month over the alleged embezzlement of millions of dollars from a military aid fund.

28 May 2021; MEMO: Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad has won 95.1 per cent of the vote in the Syrian elections that the international community has branded "fraudulent", granting him a fourth seven-year term.