Middle East & North Africa

NICOSIA, Nov 13 (NNN-AMNA) – A small boat carrying 61 migrants from Syria and Lebanon, including 28 children, was reportedly sailing towards Italy yesterday, after it slipped out of a port in Cyprus, under the cover of darkness, a Cyprus police spokesman said here yesterday.

The boat, carrying 22 men, 11 women and 28 children aged between two and 14 years, was originally escorted into the yacht harbour of the south-western city of Paphos on Wednesday, after being spotted off the Cypriot coast, floundering in stormy seas.

KUWAIT, Nov 13 (Reuters) - Kuwait's emir issued two decrees on Saturday granting pardons and reduced sentences to 35 dissidents, meeting a key demand of opposition lawmakers locked in a months-long standoff with the government.

Emir Sheikh Nawaf al-Ahmad al-Sabah paved the way in October for an amnesty for politicians and former MPs, which the opposition has made a condition to end a political impasse holding up planned fiscal reforms in the wealthy Gulf state. 

ISTANBUL, Nov 13 (Reuters) - The wife of prominent jailed Kurdish opposition figure Selahattin Demirtas has been sentenced in Turkey to 2-1/2 years in jail after being found to have provided inaccurate information over a date in a medical report, her lawyers said.

Lawyers for Basak Demirtas, 44, said she was sentenced by a court over an incorrect date on a medical report issued by a doctor in the southeastern province of Diyarbakir in 2015, which she passed to her employer while taking sick leave.

TEHRAN, Nov. 13 (Xinhua) -- Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian has called for a "serious" approach of the negotiating sides in the upcoming nuclear talks for a "good deal," Tasnim news agency reported on Saturday.

"I believe that if the opposite sides enter the Vienna talks with a serious and positive approach, it will be possible to achieve a good agreement in a short time," Amir Abdollahian was quoted as saying.

BEIRUT, Nov. 12 (Xinhua) -- A senior UN official on Friday warned that Lebanon may be turned into a "failing state" if the government does not succeed in implementing quick and serious reform measures amid the current unprecedented financial crisis.

"The prime minister should exercise his authority and move the country forward. There is no time to waste," said Olivier De Schutter, UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, during a press conference held at the end of his mission in the capital Beirut.

SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Forces loyal to Yemen’s internationally recognized government have withdrawn from the strategic port city of Hodeida, allowing the rebels to retake their positions, Yemeni officials and the U.N. said.

The Joint Forces, backed by the United Arab Emirates, said late Friday they redeployed troops from Hodeida because there was no need to stay in the city amid a U.N.-brokered cease-fire deal.

KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) — Sudanese security forces fired live ammunition and tear gas on Saturday to disperse protesters denouncing the military’s tightening grip on the country, killing at least three and wounding several, activists said.

The violence came as thousands of pro-democracy protesters yet again took to the streets across Sudan to rally against the military’s takeover last month. The coup has drawn international criticism and massive protests in the streets of the capital of Khartoum and elsewhere in the country.

12 Nov 2021; MEMO: An Israeli couple detained in Turkey for photographing the palace of Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, are to be deported to Israel on Friday, following a court hearing in Istanbul, their lawyer told Hebrew media.

The pair, both Egged bus drivers in their 40s, were arrested after the woman filmed Erdogan's palace during a ferry ride, likely not knowing it was illegal.

They were identified by Hebrew media on Friday as Mordy and Natali Oknin, of Modiin.

13 Nov 2021; MEMO: Yemeni forces under a Saudi-led coalition said on Friday they have withdrawn from around the main port of Hodeidah held by their foes, the Houthis, as the Red Sea city's governor announced the reopening of a main road linking it to the capital, Sana'a, Reuters reported.

The Giants Brigade southern forces supported by the United Arab Emirates, posted on Twitter that they had redeployed from around Hodeidah city in western Yemen, the main entry point for commercial imports and aid flows.

13 Nov 2021; MEMO: At least three senior officials from Israeli intelligence agency Mossad have resigned over "organisational changes" made by the new director, Israeli Channel 13 reported on Thursday.

According to the Israeli TV channel, the three officials were some of Mossad's most senior officials.