Middle East & North Africa

10 Nov 2022; MEMO: Qatar has reportedly provided $1 billion to Egypt's Central Bank, as Cairo continues to suffer from an economic crisis, despite having received tens of billions of dollars from Arab States.

According to Bloomberg, sources close to the matter said that the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) deposited the $1 billion into the Egyptian Central Bank amid discussions between the two nations over the QIA acquiring stakes in major Egyptian companies.

10 Nov 2022; MEMO: Turkiye has rejected Israel's request that it deport Hamas leaders living in the country, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Tuesday.

Responding to a question from MPs, Cavusoglu said Turkiye does not view Hamas as a terror group and refused to expel the movement's members.

"We did not satisfy any [Israeli] request on Hamas, because we do not perceive Hamas as a terror group," Cavusoglu said.

9 Nov 2022; MEMO: Iran's Army Ground Forces Commander said, on Wednesday, that "rioters" would have no place in the Islamic Republic if the country's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, ordered a tougher crackdown on nationwide protests, the semi-official Mehr news agency reported, Reuters reports.

"… should he decide to deal with them, rioters will no longer have a place in the country," Brigadier General, Kiumars Heydari said.

9 Nov 2022; MEMO: At least two fuel trucks were destroyed in an air strike by an unidentified drone on the Syrian side of the border with Iraq late on Tuesday, Iraqi security and border officials told Reuters.

The strike was carried out by a drone and targeted a tanker truck convoy carrying Iranian fuel that had entered Qaim border crossing into Syria, the officials said, Reuters reports.

"No Iraqi casualties have been reported," said an Iraqi border police officer.

10 Nov 2022; MEMO: A former Palestinian Authority Health Minister has claimed that there has been no real investigation into the 2004 death of late PA President Yasser Arafat. Jawad Al-Tibi made his comments in an interview with Al-Resalah following reports that fourteen cubic metres of concrete were poured into Arafat's tomb in Ramallah.

He was the last Health Minister in the Arafat era and headed the first committee formed to investigate Arafat's death.

BEIRUT, Nov 9 (NNN-NNA) – Lebanese Health Minister, Firas Abiad, said yesterday that, his country will launch the first-phase vaccination campaign against cholera on Saturday, as the outbreak is now under control.

“There was a rapid alert to the epidemic, whether by equipping hospital centres, boosting prevention, or securing vaccines,” Abiad said, during a press conference held at the Health Ministry, on launching the vaccination campaign against cholera.

TEL AVIV, Nov 9 (Reuters) - Israel on Wednesday described what has been an open secret for two decades - that it has used drones not just for surveillance but also in strikes within the country, against Palestinian militants in Gaza, and possibly targets as far away as Iran or Sudan.

SHARM EL SHEIKH, Nov 9 (Reuters) - The United States and European Union plan to unveil a joint agreement this week to step up efforts to reduce emissions of the potent greenhouse gas methane from the fossil fuel sector, and are hoping other nations will sign up.

A draft of the pledge, seen by Reuters, said the United States and EU will agree to target the energy sector with both domestic and international measures, such as policies to stop routine venting and flaring of natural gas, and require companies to fix leaks in their infrastructure.

ISTANBUL, Nov. 9 (Xinhua) -- An overnight house fire in Türkiye's northwestern city of Bursa left at least nine people dead, including eight children, the city governorate announced on Wednesday.

Responding to an emergency call made at midnight, firefighters quickly extinguished the fire, only to find the dead bodies of a family caught by the blaze in their sleep.

According to the governorate, the deceased belonged to the same Syrian family of six siblings, their mother and two cousins. The children were no more than 11 years old.

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt, Nov. 8 (Xinhua) -- The developed countries should fulfill their promise of providing 100 billion U.S. dollars in climate finance as soon as possible and draw a road map for doubling the adaptation fund, China's Special Envoy for Climate Change Xie Zhenhua said Tuesday.