Lebanese President Michel Aoun announced today that his country has entered an unprecedented crisis characterised by an economic recession, a severe shortage of foreign currencies, high unemployment and poverty rates and inflation. Aoun’s remarks came in a speech he delivered before members of the International Support Group for Lebanon (ISGL), during their meeting at the Presidential Palace in east Beirut, in the presence of Prime Minister […]
Middle East Monitor
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![New Israeli settlements in Jerusalem [Cartoon/Arabi21]](https://1buv.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/1586215686_Coalition-talks-discuss-annexing-30-of-West-Bank-–-Middle.jpg)
The two most prominent political parties in Israel today continued marathon negotiations to reach an agreement to form a coalition government before the Jewish Passover holiday, which lasts for a week, starting from Wednesday evening. “Everybody feels anxious to reach an agreement as soon as possible, preferably before the Passover,” said a senior official in the Blue and White (Kahol Lavan) party. The official told Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA) that the […]
A university in eastern Turkey has begun using blood plasma for the passive immunisation of novel coronavirus patients. “Treatment started yesterday [Sunday] by collecting plasma from a patient who has recovered from the novel coronavirus and subsequently tested negative,” said Ahmet Kizilay the rector of Inonu University in Malataya province. Pointing to China’s reported success with this method, Kizilay said in a statement: For the first time in […]
One of the latest survivors of the novel coronavirus in Turkey is a 95-year-old man, who was released from the hospital with applauds in western Izmir city on Monday. Ismail Kirdar, who was staying at a nursing home, was taken to the hospital due to high fever on March 25. He tested positive for the coronavirus at the hospital. After receiving treatment at Izmir Katip Celebi University’s […]
Lebanon will audit its central bank’s accounts in a bid to show transparency after launching debt restructuring talks with creditors, Prime Minister Hassan Diab said on Monday. A crippling financial crisis that has gripped Lebanon for months saw it default on its hefty foreign-currency debt for the first time and launch restructuring talks in late March. Lebanon’s coronavirus lockdown has compounded woes in a country with […]
![Coronavirus and the oil [Cartoon/Arabi21]](https://1buv.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/1586198426_Oil-falls-after-Saudi-Arabia-Russia-delay-meeting-–-Middle.jpg)
Oil prices slumped on Monday, pulling back from last week’s gains after Saudi Arabia and Russia delayed a meeting of oil producers aimed at resolving growing worldwide oversupply as the coronavirus pandemic pummels demand. The global oil market rebounded last week after sources at the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, including Russia, said they were willing to come together to cut supply, […]
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has approved the withdrawal of one billion euros from the country’s sovereign wealth fund to help fight the coronavirus epidemic, President Hassan Rouhani’s official website said on Monday. Iran is the Middle Eastern country worst-affected so far by the coronavirus, with 3,739 deaths and 60,500 people infected as of Monday, official data showed. Shut out of international capital markets and […]
![Coronavirus and the world [Cartoon/Arabi21]](https://1buv.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Norway-calls-for-international-donors-to-help-Palestine-tackle-pandemic.jpg)
Norway has called for more aid to support the struggling economy of the occupied Palestinian territories in the face of the coronavirus crisis, Haaretz has reported. The Palestinian Authority estimates that it needs $120 million to respond to the pandemic, but Norway’s Foreign Minister Ine Eriksen Søreide expects the needs to grow as the measures already taken to prevent the spread hit the Palestinian economy and […]
![Coronavirus and the oil [Cartoon/Arabi21]](https://1buv.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/US-threatens-Saudi-Russia-with-tariffs-if-oil-feud-continues.jpg)
US President Donald Trump yesterday said he would be willing to impose a tax on foreign oil should Saudi Arabia and Russia fail to reach a settlement in their dispute in cutting oil production which has contributed to the global collapse in energy prices. Referring to the two countries, Trump told reporters at the daily White House coronavirus briefing “If they don’t get along, I would do […]
The Israel Defence Forces on Saturday ordered soldiers at its largest base not to leave their rooms amid reports of a coronavirus outbreak there, Israel’s Kan news channel has reported. Soldiers at Camp Sharon in the Negev Desert have been told to stay there until further notice. Although it did not mention the number of coronavirus cases inside the base, the channel said that the decision […]
The Palestinian Authority (PA) is banning the import of all types of Israeli products in its effort to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. The new move, decided yesterday, comes after the Jerusalem Governor Adnan Ghaith warned Arab residents of Jerusalem not to risk purchasing goods or used items from Israelis on the eve of the Jewish Holiday of Passover, as they may be contaminated. Issued by PA Minister of […]
A leading member of the Houthi movement yesterday announced that he expects the liberation of Marib province to be achieved soon. Mohammed Al-Bukhaiti is the Deputy Speaker of the Shura Council and member of the AnsarAllah Political Bureau and stated on his Facebook page that “the liberation of Marib has become a matter of time”. Al-Bukhaiti also discussed allegations of the failed attempts of the Saudis […]
![New Israeli settlements in Jerusalem [Cartoon/Arabi21]](https://1buv.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/1586169025_Israeli-settlements-are-‘epicentres’-of-coronavirus-outbreak-–-Middle-East.jpg)
The Palestine Liberation Organisation has warned that Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem have become epicentres of the coronavirus pandemic, threatening nearby Palestinian cities, towns and villages. The PLO’s National Office for the Defence of Land and Resistance of Settlement added in its weekly report that the Palestinian Authority has called on Palestinian labourers who work in the settlements to stay at home […]
The Kuwaiti Ministry of Oil announced yesterday that it had exported the first shipment of Al-Khafji oil from joint operations in the neutral zone between it and Saudi Arabia. The ministry stated on Twitter that the shipment was loaded on Saturday and Sunday “via the Kuwaiti carrier, Dar Salwa.” On Friday, Minister of Oil Khaled Ali Al-Fadhil said Dar Salwa will head to Asia loaded with […]
Increasing oil production will not serve the interests of any country, Russia warned yesterday, stressing that Russian President Vladimir Putin was seeking “constructive negotiations aimed at stabilising the global energy market.” “Russia did not back the termination of OPEC+ deal – The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries,” Russia Today (RT) quoted the Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, as saying. “President Putin and the Russian side in general are determined […]
Turkey said on Sunday it would minimise its troop movements in operation zones in neighbouring Syria in response to the coronavirus outbreak as the Turkish death toll and infections in the country rose, Reuters reports. Turkey’s death toll from the COVID-19 disease has risen by 73 to 574 in the last 24 hours, with new confirmed cases jumping by 3,135 to total 27,069, Health Minister Fahrettin […]
Thousands of African migrants without revenue during Morocco’s coronavirus lockdown could run out of money for food and essentials, and rights groups have urged the government to offer them the same cash help it has promised to citizens, reports Reuters. The North African country has imposed a month-long lockdown restricting movement to purchases of food or medicine and to staffing some key jobs, with 761 cases […]
The number of cases of the new coronavirus detected in Egypt jumped by more than 100 for the first time on Friday, bringing total infections to 985, Reuters reported the health ministry as saying. The ministry said in a statement that 120 new cases had been discovered, and that eight new deaths had been recorded. That brought the total number of deaths to 66. Egyptian officials […]
The United Arab Emirates has extended its night-time curfew indefinitely to disinfect public areas to fight the spread of coronavirus, the state-run news agency WAM and Reuters reported late on Friday. The disinfection drive, which consists of spraying and cleaning streets, parks and public transport facilities, is being carried out between 8 pm and 6am each day, and people have been ordered to stay at home […]
Tunisia’s parliament on Saturday ceded some powers to the North African country’s government for two months to help it handle the coronavirus crisis and the expected economic fallout, reported Reuters. The decision, backed by all political parties, will allow Prime Minister Elyes Fakhfakh’s government to issue decrees, strike purchasing agreements and seek finance without consulting parliament. Tunisia has 495 confirmed cases of the coronavirus, including 18 […]
Algeria will extend curfews it has put in place to limit the spread of the coronavirus from Sunday, the prime minister said on Saturday, as the number of confirmed cases rose to 1,251, reported Reuters. The curfew will last from 3pm until 7 am in the capital Algiers and eight other provinces, and from 7pm until 7am in most of the others. The two southernmost provinces, […]
Morocco’s King Mohammed VI has pardoned 5,654 prisoners and ordered measures to protect inmates from the coronavirus outbreak, the justice ministry said on Sunday. The inmates were selected on the basis of their age, frail health, time spent in prison and good conduct, the ministry said in a statement. The north African country has confirmed as of Sunday morning 919 coronavirus cases, including 59 deaths. Morocco’s […]
Greece has quarantined a second migrant facility on its mainland after a 53-year-old man tested positive for the new coronavirus, the migration ministry said on Sunday, as reported by Reuters. The Afghan man lives with his family at the Malakasa camp along with hundreds of asylum seekers. He has been transferred to a hospital in Athens. Tests on his contacts will continue as the public health […]
Warring factions in Yemen accused each other on Sunday of attacking an oil pipeline pumping station in the central province of Marib, where clashes have raged for weeks and displaced tens of thousands of civilians, reports Reuters. The oil ministry of the Saudi-backed government in Yemen said on Sunday the Iran-aligned Houthi group had targeted the station, according to the Saudi state news agency SPA. Hussein […]