Middle East & North Africa

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — The head of the United Nations’ atomic watchdog met Tuesday with Iranian officials to press for greater access in the Islamic Republic on the eve of diplomatic talks restarting over Tehran’s tattered nuclear deal with world powers.

CAIRO (AP) — Security forces have targeted hospitals and blocked injured protesters from treatment since the military seized control of the country last month, Sudanese doctors said Monday, after raising the total number of anti-coup protesters killed to 41.

Security forces have stopped ambulances, entered emergency rooms to arrest patients, and fired tear gas inside at least two hospitals in Khartoum since the Oct. 25 coup, according to a report from The Unified Office of Sudanese Doctors, a coalition of medical workers.

JERUSALEM/DUBAI, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Israel and Jordan have signed a declaration of intent for a water-for-energy deal, Israel's Energy Ministry said on Monday, in the first such deal between the two countries.

The project would see Jordan build 600 megawatts of solar generating capacity which would be exported to Israel, contingent upon Israel providing water-scarce Jordan with 200 million cubic metres of desalinated water.

Feasibility studies would start in 2022, said a statement from Israel's diplomatic mission in the United Arab Emirates, where the deal was signed.

KHARTOUM, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Sudan's Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok said on Monday that maintaining the economic gains from the past two years was among the reasons he had decided to return to his post, under a deal with the military nearly a month after he was removed in a coup.

In an interview with Reuters at the Khartoum residence where he had been held under house arrest following the Oct. 25 military takeover, Hamdok said he believed a technocratic government he is expected to appoint would have a chance to improve living standards.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iranian state media on Monday published photographs of the trial investigating the shootdown of a Ukrainian passenger jet in 2020 by the country’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, trying to tamp down criticism of the largely closed-door proceeding.

JERUSALEM (AP) — A one-time confidante to Benjamin Netanyahu began testifying against him Monday in the former Israeli prime minister’s corruption trial in Jerusalem.

Nir Hefetz, a former spokesman for Netanyahu, is a key prosecution witness expected to deliver critical testimony in the trial, which revolves around accusations that Netanyahu committed fraud, breach of trust and accepted bribes. The former premier, now opposition leader, denies any wrongdoing.

CAIRO (AP) — Security forces have targeted hospitals and blocked injured protesters from treatment since the military seized control of the country last month, Sudanese doctors said Monday, after raising the total number of anti-coup protesters killed to 41.

Security forces have stopped ambulances, entered emergency rooms to arrest patients, and fired tear gas inside at least two hospitals in Khartoum since the Oct. 25 coup, according to a report from The Unified Office of Sudanese Doctors, a coalition of medical workers.

22 Nov 2021; MEMO: Israel, Jordan and the UAE are expected to sign a deal today in Dubai under which a solar plant in the Jordanian desert will generate power for Israel, in exchange for a desalination plant in Israel that will provide Jordan with water, news agencies said.

The Israeli news website Walla reported officials saying that the agreement is the biggest regional cooperation project ever reached between Israel and its neighbours.

21 Nov 2021; MEMO: A group of US congressmen will hold meetings with crisis-hit Lebanon's leaders to report back to US President Joe Biden, The New Arab reported.

The delegation headed to Lebanon on Friday and will stay three days, goes with the intention of how to best help the country through the economic crisis.

21 Nov 2021; MEMO: Human Rights Watch (HRW) has accused the UAE of clamping down on activism and freedom of expression under the guise of counterterrorism.