Middle East & North Africa

16 Nov 2021; MEMO: The European Union yesterday imposed sanctions on four ministers recently appointed to the Syrian government, blaming them for playing a role in the continued repression of civilians in the country.

16 Nov 2021; MEMO: The family of former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has formally requested an extension of the state-funded security protection, the Jerusalem Post reported yesterday.

Six months of state-funded security protection for Netanyahu, his wife and his two sons, which was approved by the cabinet for the six months after he left office, is due to come to an end next month.

16 Nov 2021; MEMO: The number of cases of domestic violence against women in Israel jumped sharply from 688 in 2019 to 2,853 in 2020, a 315 per cent spike, the Women's International Zionist Organisation (WIZO) said on Sunday.

Ynet News said WIZO's annual report collected data from government ministries, the State Comptroller's office, Israel Police and the Israel Prison Service.

DUBAI, November 15. /TASS/: Russia’s latest S-550 missile defense system will feature an extended target detection and missile range, which will be able to intercept any targets, Rostec CEO Sergey Chemezov told reporters on the sidelines of the Dubai Airshow.

"This is work that never stops and will carry on being implemented to boost the detection range and the missile range with the capability of intercepting any target,’’ he said. ‘’That’s the focus of the work on the S-550.’’

GAZA/JERUSALEM, Nov 15 (Reuters) - A Palestinian doctor appealed to Israel's Supreme Court on Monday for compensation over the killing of his three daughters and a niece in an Israeli strike in Gaza in 2009.

Israel has long acknowledged that one of its tanks killed the four during a three-week offensive against Palestinian militants.

But it argued successfully in a lower court in 2018 that the deaths of Izzeldin Abuelaish's daughters Mayar, 15, Ayah, 13, and Bessan, 21, and his niece Nour, 14, stemmed from an "act of war", thereby shielding the state from damages claims.

15 Nov 2021; MEMO: Turkey's central government budget balance saw a deficit of 17.4 billion Turkish liras ($1.7 billion) in October, the Treasury and Finance Ministry announced today.

This was up from 4.9 billion Turkish liras ($490 million) in the same month last year.

Turkey's budget revenues increased by 22.9 per cent year-on-year to 114 billion liras ($11.4 billion) in October.

The country's budget expenditures totaled 131.4 billion liras ($13.1 billion), up 34.6 per cent from a year ago.

15 Nov 2021; MEMO: Russia has deployed the S-300 anti-missile defence system in Tabqa airport in the Governorate of Raqqa, northeastern Syria, Russian ANNA News reported on Saturday.

The agency said Moscow deployed the defence system in Tabqa airport and plans to deploy 12 Mi-8 transport helicopters and five Ka-52 attack helicopters at the Sarrin base in the city of Ayn Al-Arab (Kobani), east of Aleppo.

The agency explained that the deployments aim at securing the airspace in northern and eastern regions of Syria.

15 Nov 2021; MEMO: Turkey did not reply to a request by Israel's consul to meet two Israeli citizens detained in Istanbul for allegedly spying, the Jerusalem Post reported today. The consul apparently submitted the request on Saturday for an urgent visit.

15 Nov 2021; MEMO: The son of former Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi has submitted his application to stand as a candidate in next month's presidential election, the country's High Electoral Commission has announced. Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi submitted the application although an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) is still "valid".

ICC spokesman Fadi Al-Abdullah told Anadolu on Sunday that, "The arrest warrant remains in force and has not changed." However, "The ICC does not comment on political issues."

15 Nov 2021; MEMO: Three people have died and almost 500 were injured following a scorpion swarm in Egypt's southern city of Aswan caused by thunderstorms since Friday, bringing many of them onto the streets and into peoples' homes. Many of the attacks occurred in the mountainous areas of the governorate.