Middle East & North Africa

25 Oct 2021; MEMO: Israeli occupation forces detained more than 1,282 Palestinians over the past three months, a joint report issued by a number of Palestinian rights groups said yesterday.

The report was issued by Addameer for Human Rights, the PLO's Commission for Prisoners and Freed Prisoners, the Palestinian Prisoners' Club and Wadi Al Hilwah Information Centre.

According to the rights groups, the report covered the period between July and September, noting that 525 detentions were carried out in Jerusalem alone.

25 Oct 2021; MEMO: The Israeli occupation government invited bids for the construction of 1,355 new settlement units in the illegal Jewish-only settlements in the occupied West Bank, local media reported yesterday.

25 Oct 2021; MEMO: Soldiers arrested most of the members of Sudan's cabinet today and a military officer dissolved the transitional government, while opponents of the takeover took to the streets where gunfire and injuries were reported, Reuters said.

Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, a military officer who headed the Sovereign Council, a power-sharing ruling body, announced a state of emergency across the country and dissolved the council and the transitional government.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A former senior Saudi security official who helped oversee joint counter-terrorism efforts with the United States, claimed in an interview with “60 Minutes” that the kingdom’s crown prince once spoke of killing a sitting Saudi monarch before his own father was crowned king.

Saad al-Jabri did not provide evidence to the CBS News program, which aired Sunday.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Two years ago, Apple threatened to pull Facebook and Instagram from its app store over concerns about the platform being used as a tool to trade and sell maids in the Mideast.

After publicly promising to crack down, Facebook acknowledged in internal documents obtained by The Associated Press that it was “under-enforcing on confirmed abusive activity” that saw Filipina maids complaining on the social media site of being abused. Apple relented and Facebook and Instagram remained in the app store.

CAIRO (AP) — Sudan’s leading general declared a state of emergency Monday, hours after his forces arrested the acting prime minister and disrupted the internet in an apparent coup as the country was nearing a planned transition to a civilian leadership.

RIYADH, Oct 24 (NNN-SPA) – Saudi’s Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, inaugurated yesterday, the annual Saudi Green Initiative Forum, in the capital, Riyadh.

He announced the introduction of the first package of initiatives, representing investments worth more than 700 billion Saudi Riyals (186.6 billion U.S. dollars).

ADDIS ABABA, Oct 24 (Reuters) - Ethiopia conducted two air strikes in Tigray on Sunday as the government intensifies a nearly week-old campaign of aerial bombardment against the rebellious forces who control most of the region.

One strike hit the western Tigray area of Mai Tsebri, targeting a training site of the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), government spokesperson Legesse Tulu said. The other hit the northern Tigray town of Adwa, targeting a military manufacturing facility controlled by the TPLF, the government said in a statement.

TRIPOLI, Oct 24 (Reuters) - Registration for candidates in Libya's presidential and parliamentary elections should open in November, the head of the electoral commission said on Sunday.

Elections are a key step in a U.N.-backed process to end a decade of violence by creating a new political leadership whose legitimacy is widely accepted.

But wrangling over the constitutional basis for elections, the rules governing them and questions over their credibility have threatened to unravel the peace process in recent months.

JERUSALEM, Oct 24 (Reuters) - Israel's deputy foreign minister said on Sunday that the Biden administration may shelve its plan to reopen a U.S diplomatic mission for Palestinians in Jerusalem after Israel voiced opposition to such a move.

The Jerusalem consulate was subsumed into the U.S. Embassy that was moved to the contested city from Tel Aviv in 2018 by the administration of former President Donald Trump - a reversal of U.S. policy hailed by Israel and condemned by Palestinians.