Middle East & North Africa

08 May 2021; MEMO: Egypt's Ambassador to Russia Ihab Nasr confirmed that 50 Russian companies have signed contracts to invest in the economic zone in eastern Egypt.

These investments are mainly based in Port Said and Ain Sokhna, near the Red Sea, and will provide a variety of Russian products.

Nasr did not state the value of the contracts nor the most prominent Russian company that signed the new investment contracts.

08 May 2021; MEMO: For the first time on Saturday, Algeria will celebrate the National Day of Memory, which coincides with the 76th anniversary of the massacres of 8 May, 1945, when the French colonial forces suppressed a demonstration calling for the independence of Algeria, killing thousands of protesters east of the country.

08 May 2021; MEMO: Supreme Iranian Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei announced on Friday: "The decline of the enemy Zionist regime has begun and will not stop."

Marking Al-Quds Day, an annual event that takes place on the last Friday of Ramadan, Khamenei asserted: "Israel is not a country, but a terrorist base against the nation of Palestine and other Muslim nations."

(Reuters) --- The head of Ethiopia's Orthodox Church has said that atrocities amounting to genocide are being committed in Tigray, in his first comments on the conflict in the region that broke out in November and has killed thousands.

Abune Mathias, who has been head of the church since 2013, did not say who was responsible for this. He spoke in a video message that was posted on Twitter on Friday by an American religious charity worker.

08 May 2021; MEMO: A Saudi official from the Saudi Foreign Ministry has revealed that the kingdom is talking with Iran to "deescalate tension" in the region, Arabic news sources reported Reuters stating on Friday.

According to the Arabic news sources, Reuters reported Ambassador Raed Karimli, head of Policy Planning at the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs, affirming: "It is early to say that we reached any specific outcomes," hoping success for these talks.

(Reuters) --- Israel "firmly rejects" pressure not to build in Jerusalem, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday following days of unrest and spreading international condemnation of planned evictions of Palestinians from homes in the city claimed by Jewish settlers.

Tensions over Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood in East Jerusalem have stoked daily confrontations. Washington said Saturday it was "deeply concerned" and wanted "authorities to approach the residents ... with compassion and respect".

09 May 2021; MEMO: At least 64 people on Sunday were injured after Israeli police intervention with plastic bullets and sound bombs after dawn prayer time, Anadolu Agency reports.

After performing the dawn prayer, hundreds of people gathered between Masjid Al-Qiblatain and the Dome of the Rock Mosque inside the flashpoint compound and unfurled Palestine and Hamas flags.

CAIRO, May 8 (Xinhua) -- Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi held talks on Saturday with President of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) Felix Tshisekedi, also the current chairperson of the African Union, on the latest developments of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) issue.

During the meeting, Sisi noted "Egypt's appreciation of the Congolese president's relevant efforts and confidence in his ability to deal with the GERD issue," said the Egyptian presidency in a statement.

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli police on Saturday clashed with Palestinian protesters outside Jerusalem’s Old City during the holiest night of Ramadan in a show of force that threatened to deepen the holy city’s worst religious unrest in several years. Earlier, police blocked busloads of pilgrims headed to Jerusalem for prayer at Islam’s third holiest site.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Dubai’s long-haul carrier Emirates will begin shipping aid for free into India to help fight a crushing outbreak of the coronavirus, the airline said Sunday.

The offer by Emirates, which has some 95 flights weekly to nine cities, comes as air freight costs have skyrocketed. That’s as air cargo demand has risen to its highest recorded level ever amid the pandemic, which has seen carriers including Emirates fly cargo in otherwise-empty passenger seats.