Middle East & North Africa

ISTANBUL, April 29 (Xinhua) -- The strictest lockdown declared so far since the beginning of the pandemic to curb COVID-19 in Turkey began on Thursday at 7 p.m. local time (1600 GMT).

Intercity travel is banned except for compulsory cases, and all commercial businesses are closed, with several exceptions, during the complete lockdown which will last until May 17.

With the start of the restraint, security forces started patrolling the empty streets and squares in Turkey's biggest city, Istanbul, establishing over 300 checkpoints.

JERUSALEM (AP) — President Mahmoud Abbas announced early Friday that the first Palestinian elections in 15 years will be delayed, citing a dispute with Israel to call off a vote in which his fractured Fatah party was expected to suffer another embarrassing defeat to the Hamas militant group.

Hamas slammed the move as a “coup.” But the indefinite postponement will be quietly welcomed by Israel and Western countries, which view the Islamic militant group as a terrorist organization and are concerned about its growing strength.

JERUSALEM (AP) — A stampede broke out early Friday at a Jewish religious festival attended by tens of thousands of people in northern Israel, killing nearly 40 people and leaving some 150 hospitalized, medical officials said.

CAIRO, Apr 29 (NNN-MENA) – Egyptian Health Minister, Hala Zayed, said yesterday, the current weekly COVID-19 infections in Egypt are five times higher than that of the same week last year.

The current weekly infections reached 5,845 cases, compared to 1,248 cases in 2020, said the minister at a cabinet meeting.

On Tuesday, the daily COVID-19 cases in Egypt exceeded 1,000 cases for the first time since Jan 14, pushing the tally of confirmed cases in the country to 224,517.

(Reuters) --- The Turkish government's decision to ban alcohol sales during a 17-day COVID-19 lockdown that starts on Thursday has angered some secular Turks who see it as President Tayyip Erdogan's latest imposition of a religious lifestyle on all of society.

Erdogan announced the lockdown on Monday, saying schools and most shops would be closed and people would be required to mostly stay at home in order to curb a surge in infections and deaths. 

(Reuters) --- Three crew members aboard the cargo vessel that blocked global shipping in the Suez Canal last month will be allowed to return home, the ship's manager said on Thursday.

The Ever Given has been anchored in a lake between two sections of the canal since being dislodged on March 29 and is caught in a legal dispute linked to a $916 compensation claim made by the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) against the ship's Japanese owner.

29 Apr 2021; MEMO: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reappointed Blue and White leader Benny Gantz as justice minister in the current caretaker government, local media reported yesterday.

On Tuesday night, the Israeli High Court froze Netanyahu's attempt to appoint the Likud member and Regional Cooperation Minister Ofir Akunis as justice minister.

29 Apr 2021; MEMO: Dubai International Airport received 5.75 million passengers in the first quarter of 2021, down 67.8 per cent compared to the same period last year due to the spread of the coronavirus, the facility operator, Dubai Airports, announced yesterday.

29 Apr 2021; MEMO: Egypt's state budget incurred losses of 370 billion Egyptian pounds ($23.6 billion) in 2020 due to the repercussions of the coronavirus outbreak, the finance minister announced yesterday.

Mohamed Maait told Al-Arabiya that the most affected sectors had included "civil aviation, tourism and construction."

28 Apr 2021; MEMO: The leaders of Greek Cypriot and the Turkish Cypriots met in Geneva yesterday to find a common ground on the divided Mediterranean island with the support of the UN, four years after the last peace talks failed, Reuters reports.

According to the report, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he is being realistic about the prospect of progress during key talks on reunifying Cyprus and urged Greek and Turkish Cypriot parties to be creative in their approach.