Middle East & North Africa

KHARTOUM, Dec 13 (NNN-SUNA) – Sudan denied Ethiopian accusations of supporting the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), which is fighting the Ethiopian army.

“Sudan controls all of its internationally recognised territories and borders with neighbouring Ethiopia, and has never, and will never, allow its use for any aggressions,” said Sudan’s foreign ministry, in a statement yesterday.

The ministry made the statement, in response to news reports from an Ethiopian news outlet, in which it accused Sudan of supporting the TPLF.

DAMASCUS, Dec 13 (NNN-SANA) – Visiting UN special envoy to Syria, Geir Pedersen, said yesterday that, he sees new possibilities for a political solution in Syria, after his meetings with officials from the West and Arab countries.

“I think there is a possibility now to start to explore what I call, a step-for-step approach, where you put on the table, steps that are defined with precisions, that are verifiable, that hopefully can start to build some trust,” Pedersen told reporters in Damascus.

JERUSALEM, Dec 11 (Reuters) - Israeli researchers said on Saturday they found that a three-shot course of the Pfizer/BioNTech (PFE.N), (22UAy.DE) COVID-19 vaccine provided significant protection against the new Omicron variant.

The findings were similar to those presented by BioNTech and Pfizer earlier in the week, which were an early signal that booster shots could be key to protect against infection from the newly identified variant.

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s national currency further collapsed Monday, trading on the black market at nearly 20 times its value two years ago, worsening inflation and people’s despair.

The Lebanese pound was trading at 27,000 to the dollar on the black market, hitting a new low in its downward trajectory since October 2019 as the Lebanese economy went into a tailspin. The currency is officially pegged at 1,500 pounds to the dollar.

13 Dec 2021; MEMO: The Palestinian resistance movement, Hamas said that yesterday's explosion at a refugee camp in southern Lebanon was caused by an electrical short-circuit in a storage area for oxygen bottles used for coronavirus patients.

13 Dec 2021; MEMO: A Palestinian man was killed and two others were injured by Israeli soldiers when they stormed the West Bank city of Nablus in the early hours of Monday, a health official said.

Sources reported to Wafa News Agency that the Palestinian man, Jameel al Kayyal, 31, was shot in the head by the Israeli occupation forces.

Two others were also wounded, the sources said, noting that all of them were rushed to a Palestinian hospital.

12 Dec 2021; MEMO: More than 7,000 Russian Wagner mercenaries are still operating in Libya, according to the head of the country's High Council of State on Sunday, Anadolu Agency reported.

In statements on audio-chat app Clubhouse, Khalid al-Mishri said the Wagner mercenaries are armed with different types of weapons, including warplanes.

13 Dec 2021; MEMO: Israeli occupation forces raided on Sunday night the home of senior Hamas leader in occupied West Bank, Hassan Yousef, 65, and arrested him.

According to Safa, a large number of Israeli occupation forces raided the city of Betonya in the outskirts of Ramallah and broke into Yousef's house, before arresting him.

Yousef, who is an MP, was released in July 2020 after spending 10 months under administrative detention inside Israeli prisons.

13 Dec 2021; MEMO: Tunisia's Assembly of People's Representatives (parliament) is preparing to resume its activities in the coming days, Deputy Speaker Maher Medhioub said on Sunday.

Medhioub wrote on his Facebook that the parliament is to resume its meetings virtually due to the "unlawful" closure of its premises by President Kais Saied.

Medhioub said the parliament has been in a state of continuous meeting since the start of October 2021.

13 Dec 2021; MEMO: "Salah has been released from prison and is on his way home," Omar Khamaysi told Anadolu Agency.

Waving green banners, scores of Palestinians stood outside Megiddo prison in northern Israel to welcome Salah.

The Higher Follow-Up Committee for Arab Citizens of Israel, the highest representative body of Arab residents of Israel, is also planning to organize a reception ceremony for Salah in his hometown Umm al-Fahm.