Middle East & North Africa

CAIRO (AP) — Sudanese security forces shot dead two people Saturday during mass protests against the country’s recent military coup, a doctors’ union said. The shootings came despite repeated appeals by the West to Sudan’s new military rulers to show restraint and allow peaceful protests.

Thousands of Sudanese have taken to the streets, where whistles and drums accompany chants of “revolution, revolution” in protest of Monday’s coup, which threatens to derail the country’s fitful transition to democracy.

29 Oct 2021; MEMO: Celebrations marking the 98th anniversary of the founding of the Republic of Turkey started Friday with state officials' visit to Anitkabir, the mausoleum of the country's founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in the capital, Ankara, Anadolu News Agency reports.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, visiting Anitkabir to mark the Republic Day, stressed the nation's determination to achieve its 2023 goals, when the Republic is set to celebrate its 100th birthday.

30 Oct 2021; MEMO: The security of the Black Sea region can only happen with cooperation between Turkey and Ukraine, Ukraine's Foreign Minister said on Thursday, Anadolu News Agency reports.

"Ukraine and Turkey are developing a clear vision for the future security of the Black Sea region," Kuleba wrote in an article for Atlantic Council, an American think tank.

30 Oct 2021; MEMO: Israeli Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked was heard in leaked recordings stating that Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett will not grant the prime minister's position to Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, as stipulated by the coalition agreement.

Shaked spoke about the coalition partners, Lapid and Defence Minister Benny Gantz, describing the former as "shallow" and the latter as "worse than Lapid".

30 Oct 2021; MEMO: Israeli occupation forces on Friday locked up two Palestinian neighbourhoods with iron gates in the occupied West Bank, Anadolu Agency reported.

According to Anadolu Agency, the Israeli occupation closed the iron gate of the neighbourhood of Sanjal in the north of the West Bank city of Ramallah, preventing people from entering or leaving the area.

30 Oct 2021; MEMO: Israeli Envoy to the United Nations (UN) Gilad Erdan on Friday literally tore to pieces the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC)'s annual report while on the podium of the UN General Assembly, claiming it was biassed against Israel, news agencies reported.

JERUSALEM, Oct 29 (NNN-Xinhua) — The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) will open a diplomatic and trade representative in Jerusalem.

Felix Tshisekedi, president of the DRC and the current African Union (AU) chairperson, held a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett in Jerusalem on Thursday, said an announcement from Bennett’s office.

BEIRUT, Oct 29 (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury has imposed sanctions on two top Lebanese contractors and a lawmaker close to the Hezbollah movement over alleged large-scale corruption that undermined the rule of law in Lebanon.

Businessmen Jihad al-Arab and Dany Khoury, close to former Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri and Christian politician Gebran Bassil respectively, were sanctioned on Thursday for alleged corruption related to state contracts.

28 Oct 2021; MEMO: Turkey will continue its cooperation with Bosnia and Herzegovina on police force training, the Turkish Embassy in Sarajevo said on Thursday, Anadolu News Agency reports.

The embassy's statement came after a visit by three of its officials—internal affairs consultants, Ali Durmaz and Mehmet Erdugan and Security Attaché, Cemil Cem Aydin—to the head of Bosnia and Herzegovina's Police Academy, Damir Vejo.

Expressing his satisfaction with the visit, Vejo said he always favours cooperation with Turkey.

29 Oct 2021; MEMO: Lebanese President Michel Aoun has asked Russian Ambassador Alexander Rudakov for satellite images from 4 August 2020, when a huge explosion rocked Beirut's port, according to a Lebanese presidency tweet today. Reuters reports.

The blast killed more than 215 people, injured thousands and destroyed swathes of the Lebanese capital.