Egypt

CAIRO, Oct 17 (Reuters) - Jordan's Civil Aviation Regulatory Commission said that there are no current plans to operate flights between Jordan and Syria, state news agency PETRA reported on Sunday.

Jordan's state carrier, Royal Jordanian (RJAL.AM), said in September it would resume direct flights to Damascus for the first time in nearly a decade, in what would have been the latest step to restore extensive business ties with Syria.

16 Oct 2021; MEMO: Member of Hamas Political Bureau Khalil Al-Hayya announced on Friday that his movement had presented its vision to rearrange the Palestinian national home during the latest visit of its delegation to Cairo.

Speaking to Al-Aqsa TV, Al-Hayya explained that his movement's vision to rearrange the Palestinian national home consists of three stages.

CAIRO, Oct 15 (NNN-MENA) – Egyptian President, Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, and British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, discussed yesterday, means of promoting bilateral ties, especially in defence, security and anti-terrorism fields, the Egyptian presidency office said in a statement.

The two leaders, in a phone conversation, also tackled the topic about reviving tourist flows from the United Kingdom (UK) to Egypt.

13 Oct 2021; MEMO: The death of businessman Khaled Al-Adawy is "considered premeditated murder" as he was forcibly disappeared, tortured, and denied medical treatment, the Egyptian Network for Human Rights said in a statement.

Khaled, 51, owned the Pancho Readymade Garments Factory from which he was arrested in July and taken to the National Security headquarters where he was interrogated, beaten, tortured by electric shock, and verbally humiliated.

12 Oct 2021; MEMO: Egypt ranks fifth worldwide in underreporting coronavirus and first in the Middle East, according to a report published by the World Bank.

According to the report, Egypt's ratio of reported deaths to excess mortality was 13.1 in the first year of the pandemic.

Analysts and doctors in Egypt have, since the start of the pandemic, accused Egypt of undercounting the real figures of deaths and infection rate, but in response have faced punitive action including jail sentences.

CAIRO, Oct 9 (Reuters) - Taliban representatives asked the United States to lift a ban on Afghan central bank reserves at a meeting with U.S. counterparts in Doha, Afghanistan's acting foreign minister said on Saturday in remarks reported by Qatar-based Al-Jazeera television.

The minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, also said Washington would offer Afghans coronavirus vaccines, Al-Jazeera reported, after the first senior face-to-face meeting between the two sides since the hardline group took over the country in August following a U.S. troop pullout.

07 Oct 2021; MEMO: The Egyptian authorities yesterday renewed the pre-trial detention of Ola Al-Qaradawi for a period of 45 days. The daughter of prominent Islamic scholar Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi has already been detained for four years.

Al-Qaradawi's lawyer, Ahmed Abu El-Ela Madi, said that the extension was issued after allegations that she has "broadcast and published false news, as well as joined a terror group."

07 Oct 2021; MEMO: Egyptian mediators have been unable to bring Israeli and Hamas representatives closer during indirect talks regarding a potential prisoner swap, Israeli sources reported today.

07 Oct 2021; MEMO: The Egyptian authorities yesterday announced the release of 3,886 prisoners on the occasion of the 48th anniversary of the 6 October 1973 war.

"Prisoner files were examined nationwide before determining those who deserved to be pardoned," said the interior ministry." The process was concluded with the release of 3,886 prisoners." Those being released, the ministry added, are being transferred to police stations in preparation for their release.

Cairo Oct 6 (Reuters) - Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati told Sky News Arabia on Wednesday that he signed a draft law lifting immunity on everyone facing prosecution over the Beirut blast case.

The blast, which happened on August 4th 2020, left more than 200 dead.

He added in an interview that the constitution stipulated that senior government officials must be tried in front of a special tribunal.