Middle East & North Africa

01 July 2022; MEMO: Turkiye has blocked access to Deutsche Welle's websites after demanding it apply for a license, DW reports.

According to the report, the Turkish Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTUK) has blocked the websites of German public broadcaster, Deutsche Welle, over licensing issues.

The German public broadcaster says it plans to take legal action against the move, report says.

DW Director General, Peter Limbourg, said: "This is simply unacceptable for an independent broadcaster."

01 July 2022; MEMO: Britain, France and Germany said yesterday that Iran should seize the diplomatic opportunity and conclude the deal to revive the 2015 nuclear agreement "while it is still possible".

01 July 2022; MEMO: The Head of the Tunisian Bar Association and one of the members of the authority entrusted to draft the new Constitution received great criticism after he warned Tunisians of the possibility that the Speaker of the Tunisian dissolved Parliament, Rached Ghannouchi, to assume power in case the referendum on the new Constitution fails.

01 July 2022; MEMO: The Tunisian judiciary charged the head of the Ennahda movement Rached Ghannouchi, along with 32 other figures, with terrorism.

Lawyer Iman Gazara said: "On Monday, 33 people were officially charged in this case [the assassination of Chokri Belaid and Mohamed Brahmi] including the head of the Ennahda movement, Rached Ghannouchi, on charges relating to membership in a terrorist organisation."

She added that "the first investigating judge … brought 17 charges against the 33 defendants."

01 July 2022; MEMO: A delegation from the International Monetary Fund will visit Tunisia on Monday to start negotiations over a loan programme, a Central Bank official told Reuters on Friday.

This follows the completion of technical talks between the IMF and Tunisia, said Zied Mouhli, a Central Bank spokesperson.

Tunisia, which is facing a financial crisis, is seeking to reach a loan deal in return for an unpopular reform package to shore up its struggling public finances.

01 July 2022; MEMO: Turkiye can re-export grain products like wheat, oat, and barley from the Black Sea to countries in need after talks with Russia and Ukraine, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday, adding he would discuss the matter with both countries in the coming days, Reuters reports.

02 July 2022; MEMO: Israeli occupation forces on Friday attacked the funeral of a Palestinian woman in the town of Beit Ummar, in the southern West Bank city of Hebron, local sources reported.

Mohammad Awad, a local Palestinian activist, told Wafa News Agency that the Israeli occupation forces attacked the coffin of the deceased Palestinian woman as well as the pallbearers.

The attack occurred as the funeral passed through the town's main entrance.

RIYADH, Jul 1 (NNN-SPA) – Saudi Arabian Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, announced yesterday, national priorities in research, development and innovation in the next 20 years.

The national “priorities and aspirations” aim to boost the contribution of the sector to GDP, to 60 billion Saudi riyals (about 16 billion U.S. dollars), in 2040.

The two-decade plans cover human health, environmental sustainability, energy and industry pioneering, and future economies, it said.

SANAA, Jul 1 (NNN-YPA) – Yemen’s Houthi group sent a delegation to Jordan’s capital, Amman to resume the UN-sponsored truce talks with the Yemeni government, the Houthi-run al-Masirah TV reported, yesterday.

The delegation would discuss violations of the ongoing truce and the opening of roads in Taiz.

There was no comment yet from the Yemeni government.

Gurugram, Jun 30 (PTI) With the arrest of nine people, including five women, the Gurugram cyber crime police on Thursday claimed to have busted a fake call centre that was being run from a rented building in DLF phase-2.

A laptop and nine CPUs were seized from the possession of the accused.

The fake call centre was allegedly cheating foreign nationals, police said, adding that an FIR has been registered at the Cyber Crime police station under the relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Information Technology Act.