Middle East & North Africa

RAMALLAH, Nov 6 (NNN-WAFA) – Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, called on the U.S. to compel Israel, to stop its violations against the Palestinians, in the Palestinian territories.

Abbas made the appeal in a phone conversation with U.S. Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, said an official press statement.

During their conversation, Abbas briefed Blinken on “the Israeli aggressions against the Palestinian people in cities, villages, and camps, including sieges, killings, house demolitions, and settlements’ expansion.”

DUBAI, Nov 6 (Reuters) - Hardline Iranian lawmakers urged the judiciary on Sunday to "deal decisively" with perpetrators of unrest, as the Islamic Republic struggles to suppress the biggest show of dissent in years.

Widespread anti-government demonstrations erupted in September after the death of young Kurdish Iranian woman Mahsa Amini, who had been detained by morality police for allegedly flouting the strict dress code imposed on women.

RAMALLAH, Nov. 5 (Xinhua) -- A Palestinian was killed and another seriously injured on Saturday in clashes with Israeli soldiers northeast of the central West Bank city of Ramallah, the Palestinian health ministry and eyewitnesses said.

The ministry said in a press release that Mos'ab Nafal, 18, from the village of Sinjil, northeast of Ramallah, was killed after he was shot in the chest by Israeli soldiers.

Eyewitnesses in Ramallah said Israeli soldiers opened fire at the two men while they were throwing stones at Israeli military vehicles near the village.

TEHRAN, Nov. 6 (Xinhua) -- Iran on Sunday unveiled an upgraded version of the Bavar-373 (Belief-373) surface-to-air missile system with a range of more than 300 km, official news agency IRNA reported.

The unveiling ceremony was attended by Iranian Defense Minister Mohammadreza Ashtiani, during which the system was successfully tested by launching a long-range Sayyad B4 (Hunter B4) missile.

IDLIB, Syria (AP) — Syrian government forces shelled tent settlements housing families displaced by the country’s conflict in the rebel-held northwest early Sunday, killing at least nine people and wounding dozens, opposition war monitors and first responders said.

The shelling was the latest violation of a truce reached between Russia and Turkey in March 2020 that ended a Russian-backed government offensive on Idlib province. Idlib is the last major rebel-held stronghold in Syria.

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (AP) — Earth’s warming weather and rising seas are getting worse and doing so faster than before, the World Meteorological Organization warned Sunday in a somber note as world leaders started gathering for international climate negotiations.

“The latest State of the Global Climate report is a chronicle of climate chaos,” United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said. “We must answer the planet’s distress signal with action -- ambitious, credible climate action.”

06 Nov 2022; MEMO: Archaeologists in the UAE have unearthed what they consider to be the remains of an ancient Christian monastery on the Al-Sinniyah Island belonging to the emirate of Umm Al-Quwain.

On Thursday, the Umm Al-Quwain Tourism and Archaeology Department announced the find which included a church, refectory, cisterns and individual cells for monks.

05 Nov 2022; MEMO: Tunisia's Independent High Authority for Elections (ISIE) announced the acceptance of 1,058 candidacy applications for the legislative elections scheduled to be held on 17 December.

"We accepted 1,058 candidacy applications for the legislative elections out of 1,427," shared Head of ISIE Farouk Bouasker in a press conference on Thursday.

05 Nov 2022; MEMO: Likud Head Benjamin Netanyahu is seeking to include Benny Gantz and Yair Lapid in his cabinet to avoid international isolation, Israel's public broadcaster Kan reported on Friday.

06 Nov 2022; MEMO: Sweden has reaffirmed its decision to distance itself from Kurdish militant groups in its bid to join NATO, as it attempts to secure Turkiye's approval to join the military alliance.

Earlier this year, Sweden and Finland applied to join NATO as a result of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the potential threat it would pose to them. While that bid was approved by 28 of the alliance's 30 member states, Turkiye and Hungary refused to approve it.