Middle East & North Africa

13 Nov 2021; MEMO: Algerian Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra has declared that the normalisation of ties with the Israeli occupation state is an "irresponsible" decision, Al-Quds Al-Arabi reported on Friday.

In an interview with a local TV channel, Lamamra affirmed that the next Arab League summit slated to be held in Algeria would be dealing with Arab unity.

13 Nov 2021; MEMO: Qatari Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohammed Al-Thani on Friday called to halt normalisation with Syria's Bashar Al-Assad regime.

13 Nov 2021; MEMO: Former Head of Qatar's Ministerial Council Hamad Bin Jassim Al-Thani revealed on Friday that Israel and an Arab state had planned the latest military coup in Sudan.

13 Nov 2021; MEMO: Gaza is still suffering "from a particularly difficult economic situation with very high unemployment and deteriorating social conditions", the World Bank warned in a report this week.

Varanasi (UP), Nov 12 (PTI) Union Home Minister Amit Shah told Uttar Pradesh BJP leaders and workers here on Friday that they must focus on polling booths if they want the party to win the coming assembly polls.

Booth jeeta to UP jeeta, (Win the booth and you will win UP), he said, according to BJP's state president Swatantra Dev Singh who briefed reporters on the meeting which is being seen as an indication that Shah will be actively involved in the ruling party's campaign to return to power in the state.

RAMALLAH, Nov 10 (NNN-WAFA) – Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, yesterday slammed the Israeli regime, for refusing to resume the stalled Middle East peace process.

Abbas made the remarks at the opening ceremony of the new headquarters of the Palestinian Central Elections Commission, near the West Bank city of Ramallah, it said.

The Israeli regime’s refusal to resume the peace process in the Middle East “will not benefit it,” Abbas said, adding that, “Israel can’t reject making peace with the Palestinians forever.”

SANAA, Nov 11 (NNN-YPA) – The Yemeni Houthi militia, pulled 178 bodies of their fighters, from a frontline in Marib Province and moved them to mortuaries in neighbouring Dhamar Province, yesterday, medics said.

“They were killed in the past 24 hours, when fighting with Yemeni government troops, backed by the Saudi-led coalition airstrikes, on the frontline of Al-Jubah district,” one of the medics in Dhamar said.

The Houthi group usually doesn’t disclose its casualties.

BEIRUT, Nov 12 (NNN-NNA) – Lebanese Prime Minister, Najib Mikati, yesterday, launched a 25 million-U.S. dollar-fund, to support the recovery of targeted micro and small enterprises (MSEs), damaged by the Port of Beirut explosion, a statement by Lebanon’s Council of Ministers reported.

CAIRO, Nov 12 (Reuters) - The United States and other Western powers expressed grave concern on Friday at the appointment of a new Sudanese ruling council by the general who led last month's coup, saying it complicated efforts to restore a transition to democracy.

The United States, Britain, Norway, the European Union and Switzerland also urged the security services to respect the right to free speech "without fear of violence or detention" ahead of protests set for Saturday by critics of the army's move.

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.