Middle East & North Africa

Tehran, IRNA – Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei agreed to pardon or commute the sentences of tens of thousands of convicts, including the arrestees of the recent riots in Iran.

On the occasion of the anniversary of the glorious victory of the Islamic Revolution, Iran's Judiciary Chief Gholamhossein Mohseni-Eje'i in a letter to Ayatollah Khamenei proposed amnesty or commutation of tens of thousands of convicts which was agreed by the Supreme Leader.

05 Feb 2023; MEMO: Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman warned on Saturday Western sanctions against Russia could result in a shortage of energy supplies in future, Reuters reports.

05 Feb 2023; MEMO: Pakistan's former military ruler Gen. Pervez Musharraf passed away after a protracted illness in a hospital in the United Arab Emirates on Sunday, family and local media reported. He was 79.

Musharraf, who ruled the South Asian nation from 1999 to 2008, was under treatment at American Hospital in Dubai and died early Sunday morning, his family confirmed.

04 Feb 2023; MEMO: Buying and selling in the Egyptian market have halted with the depreciation of the Egyptian pound against the US dollar. On Friday, the exchange rate against the dollar reached 30.2174 Egyptian pounds for purchase and 30.3129 for sale, according to the Central Bank of Egypt.

04 Feb 2023; MEMO: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has criticised US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's words relating to the planned judicial overhaul as: "Flagrant, clear, stupid and unnecessary interference."

This came during an internal meeting with members of the Likud party, Sama News Agency reported Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth disclosing on Friday.

04 Feb 2023; MEMO: Many Sudanese parties have rejected the normalisation of ties between their country and Israel, Anadolu Agency reported on Friday.

This came following an announcement made by the Sudanese Foreign Ministry after a visit of Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen to Khartoum, stating: "It was agreed to go ahead with the normalisation of ties."

04 Feb 2023; MEMO: Israeli occupation forces on Friday executed a 26-year-old Palestinian man at Huwwara military checkpoint, south of the occupied West Bank city of Nablus.

ANKARA, Feb 3 (Reuters) - Turkey's airport ground service provider Havas told Russian and Belarusian airliners that it may stop providing services to their United States-origin aircraft, in line with Western sanctions against Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.

A Havas letter dated Jan. 31 and seen by Reuters, with the subject line of "potential restrictions on Boeing aircraft", was sent days before U.S. officials met Turkish government and private sector officials to urge cooperation with U.S. curbs on Russia.

RAMALLAH, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- A Palestinian young man was killed on Friday by Israeli soldiers near the village of Huwara south of the West Bank city of Nablus, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said.

Abdulla Qalalweh, 24, died after being shot by Israeli soldiers at an army checkpoint near the village, the PRCS said in a press statement.

Meanwhile, Israeli media reported that a Palestinian driving a car approached the checkpoint, got out of his car, and tried to grab the weapon of a soldier before he was shot dead by other soldiers.

ADDIS ABABA, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- About 22.6 million people in Ethiopia are food insecure due to a combination of drought, conflict and increase in food prices, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) has warned.

The UNOCHA said in its latest situation update issued late Thursday that an estimated 11.8 million people are food insecure in Ethiopia's drought-affected areas of Afar, Somali, Oromia, and Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples (SNNP) regions, and Dire Dawa city administration.