Middle East & North Africa

DAMASCUS, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) -- For Abdul-Rahman Dari, doing business in China wasn't on his to-do list when he was a university student in Damascus, but his good luck has led him to unexpected success.

Dari graduated from Damascus University in 1994. At the time, he never imagined that he will be going to China.

But being an A student, Dari went to China in pursuit of further education three years later and got to know Chinese lifestyles and businesses before starting to visit factories and companies.

DEIR AL-HATAB, West Bank (AP) — Israeli troops exchanged fire with Palestinians during an arrest raid in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, killing one Palestinian and forcing the surrender of a wanted man.

The raid unfolded in the village of Deir al-Hatab, near the West Bank city of Nablus, a recent flashpoint of violence.

The Israeli military identified the wanted man as an activist in the Islamic militant group Hamas, and said he was suspected in a shooting attack on an Israeli bus and a taxi near Nablus earlier this week.

5 October 2022; MEMO: A Russian Antonov An-26 jet avoided a collision with two US drones in the northern airspace of Syria, Deputy Chief of the Russian Centre for Reconciliation, Oleg Yegorov, has announced.

Egorov said that "the so-called international anti-terror coalition led by the US continues to carry out illegal drone flights with combat equipment in the airspace of the Syrian Arab Republic," according to Russia's RT channel.

4 October 2022; MEMO: Saudi journalist's wife, Hanan El Khashoggi, calls Turkiye to provide more evidence on the murder of her husband.

Jamal Khashoggi's wife wrote an article for the Guardian newspaper, on the anniversary of Jamal Khashoggi's murder.

5 October 2022; MEMO: Saudi Arabia has won the bid to host the Asian Winter Games in 2029 at its planned megacity, NEOM, making it the first Arab and Middle Eastern country set to do so.

The development was announced by Saudi Sports Minister, Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al-Faisal, on Twitter, where he stated that "With the unlimited support by the Saudi leadership & HRH Crown Prince [Mohammed bin Salman] to the sports sector we are proud to announce we have won the bid to host AWG TROJENA2029 as the first country in west Asia".

5 October 2022; MEMO: Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz yesterday vowed to counter any Palestinian anti-occupation resistance during Jewish holy days.

On Twitter, Gantz wrote that he had held a situation assessment at the Central Command with the participation of Chief of Staff of the Israeli Army, Aviv Kohavi, and Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar.

Several other military and security chiefs attended the assessment, including Commander of the Central Command Colonel Yehuda Fox.

5 October 2022; MEMO: Islamic Jihad in Palestine (IJP) and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) said yesterday that they had received invitations from Algeria to participate in the internal Palestinian dialogue hosted by the North African country.

Spokesman of the IJP, Daud Shehab, announced his movement's acceptance of the invitation and hailed the Algerian efforts to end the internal Palestinian division.

TEHRAN, Oct 4 (NNN-IRNA) – Iran is expected to receive its frozen assets from the Republic of Korea (ROK), via the central bank of a third regional country, the Nour News, affiliated with Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, reported yesterday.

With the continuation of the indirect negotiations between Iran and the United States, relevant parties agreed upon transferring the Iranian assets frozen in ROK via the designated central bank, it reported, without revealing the name of the third country.

The only obstacle now was the lack of a bank account, said Nour News.

RAMALLAH, Oct 4 (NNN-WAFA) – Palestinian Prime Minister, Mohammed Ishtaye, said yesterday Britain’s intention to move its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem “is a violation of international law.”

Moving the British embassy to Jerusalem “will harm bilateral relations with Palestine and the Arab and Islamic countries, and remove Britain from any future international endeavours, to reach a solution that ends the conflict in Palestine,” Ishtaye said at a weekly meeting of cabinet.

JERUSALEM, Oct 4 (NNN-XINHUA) – A former Israeli minister was found guilty yesterday of breach of trust, in a bribery case involving a multi-billion-U.S. dollar deal, to purchase naval vessels from Germany’s ThyssenKrupp conglomerate.

Eliezer Sandberg, who was convicted by the Tel Aviv District Court in a plea bargain, is expected to be sentenced to seven months of community service, and pay a fine of 50,000 new shekels (14,081 U.S. dollars.)