Middle East Experience

Katz's offer is seen as a way to call Gantz's bluff and shift the blame to Blue and White if early elections are initiated.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Blue and White unimpressed by Likud overture on budget

Archaeologists from Haifa and San Diego had to get creative to work on their collaborative excavation without actually travelling due to quarantines.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: How are archaeologists using hi-tech during the coronavirus era?

"We take issue with the Israeli government because they’re denying Palestinians their inalienable rights."
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Djibouti: Ties with Israel only after peace gesture to Palestinians

Argentine President Alberto Fernandez declared three days of national mourning after the news of Maradona's death.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Diego Maradona, Argentine soccer legend, dies of heart attack

As conflict rages in Ethiopia, Egypt welcomes a delegation from Eritrea stressing its support for regional peace and stability while being keen on resuming the GERD talks amidst concerns over its water security.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Egypt weighs stance on Ethiopian Tigray conflict

Saudi Arabia has supported global efforts to develop a coronavirus vaccine and will be “one of the first” to procure a future vaccine, said Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al-Rabeeah, the supervisor general of the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSRelief).“Saudi Arabia is part of the international community to support the creation and development of the vaccine,” said al-Rabeeah, speaking at the virtual media briefing “G20 Saudi Leadership: Challenges and Achievements,” ahead of the G20 Riyadh Summit this weekend.“In Saudi Arabia, the government has established a high-level and well-experienced committee, and now Saudi Arabia will be one of the first countries to procure the vaccine, enough for the people of Saudi Arabia,” he added.Read more: Coronavirus pushed challenges faced by youth to ‘new extremes’ says Saudi Y20 chairAl-Rabeeah outlined the range of efforts taken by both the G20, which Saudi Arabia leads this year, and the Kingdom in particular to combat the coronavirus pandemic.“Saudi Arabia has injected $500 million, $200 million of which will be for the international and regional organizations, and more specifically for the vaccine and drug development,” explained al-Rabeeah, who also highlighted joint efforts by the G20.“The G20 have done their best to maintain the health systems of the world by injecting $21 billion, hoping that people will not suffer from this significant pandemic. Also, there are countries that have faced difficulties due to their fragile economies, and that is why the G20 has injected 14 billion,” he said.Addressing the Kingdom's domestic steps, al-Rabeeah explained why Saudi Arabia had suspended the Islamic pilgrimage of Hajj and Umrah as the virus spread globally.“Saudi Arabia is the hub of the Islamic world, and we didn’t want Saudi Arabia to be a hub of spreading the disease, and the government of Saudi Arabia has been bold enough to suspend both Hajj and Umrah, and has suspended international travel.”Read more: Saudi Arabia ‘didn’t allow COVID-19 to hold us back’ says G20 Sherpa ahead of summitG20 Riyadh SummitSaudi Arabia holds the 2020 presidency of the G20, which rotates among members, and will be hosting the G20 summit across Saturday November 21 and Sunday November 22.Due to the coronavirus, this year’s Riyadh summit is being held virtually, with leaders and ministers attending via webcam.The build-up events, ranging from Women 20 to Business 20, have also taken place virtually.Addressing the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic is top of the agenda this year, as countries try to rebuild from the devastating economic impact of the virus.The environment has also featured, with the looming threat of climate change everpresent on the agenda.This year’s agenda also has a sharper focus on culture than previous years, with culture ministers pledging to support the $2.3 trillion cultural economy in a meeting on November 4.Read more: Al-Jadaan: G20 Leaders’ summit to convene in the spirit of ‘cooperation, solidarity’
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Saudi Arabia will be ‘one of the first’ to procure coronavirus vaccine: KSRelief head

Engagement Groups such as Women 20 and Youth 20 allow the G20 to hear the voices of billions, said G20 Saudi Secretariat Executive Director Reem al-Frayan in a talk on Friday.“The Engagement Groups are independent entitites that reflect and bring the voices of the civil society, billions of people from the civil society and the private sector,” said al-Frayan, speaking at the G20 media briefing “From an Idea to Reality.”Read more: At a glance: G20 Engagement Groups and their rolesAl-Frayan highlighted the influence of a newly standardized process for Engagement Groups to coordinate with the G20 leaders.“This process of giving access and providing to the Engagement Groups did not exist. The way the engagement groups did it, they communicated with the working groups and tried their best to find places,” she explained, adding that this year was the first time there had been a designated cooperation officer to help provide access to the groups.The new process had enabled Engagement Groups to participate in over 140 events and interact with the G20 around 200 times, she said.The G20 had also welcomed various unofficial engagement groups including Interfaith 20, Values 20, and Girls 20.For all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.The eight official G20 Engagement Groups:• The Business 20 (B20), which represents the international business community and focused on inclusive growth.• The Youth 20 (Y20), which represents youth from over 23 countries, calling on G20 countries to take action in youth empowerment, global citizenship and future preparedness.• The Labor 20 (L20), which represents labor unions from G20 countries, who submitted recommendations in social protection and labor market policies.• The Think 20 (T20), which represents the academic community, who submitted recommendations on multilateralism, international cooperation, the digital economy, among others.• The Civil 20 (C20), which submitted recommendations on COVID-19 response and recovery, economic and social justice, and the wellbeing of people and our planet.• The Women 20 (W20), which discussed gender equality as a key driver of sustainable and inclusive growth.• The Science 20 (S20), which represents the scientific community.• The Urban 20 (U20), which represents city mayors from around the globe that provide the urban perspective.Read more: Meet Salma al-Rashed: Saudi Arabia’s Women 20 SherpaEngagement linked to Vision 2030Al-Frayan linked the Riyadh summit's engagement to the Kingdom's ambitious Vision 2030 reform plan.“A vibrant society is a pillar in our Vision 2030, this is how our leadership would like to see Saudi Arabia: empowered people, empowered women, empowered youth. The G20 was an excellent way to accelerate the process,” she said.“I’ve seen an amazing contribution by an important part of policymaking, those billions of people around the G20 presidency,” added al-Frayan.Saudi Arabia holds the 2020 presidency of the G20, which rotates among members, and will be hosting the G20 summit across Saturday November 21 and Sunday November 22.Due to the coronavirus, this year’s Riyadh summit is being held virtually, with leaders and ministers attending via webcam.Read more: Saudi Arabia will be ‘one of the first’ to procure coronavirus vaccine: KSRelief head
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Engagement Groups allow G20 to hear voices of billions: Executive Director Al-Frayan

Saudi Arabia has allocated half a billion dollars for vaccine research, said Kingdom’s Minister of Health Dr. Tawfiq al-Rabiah during a G20 roundtable discussion on Friday entitled “G20 to protect people’s lives.”He participated along with Dr. Abdulaziz Al-Wasil, the Saudi Permanent Representative in Geneva, Abdulaziz Al-Rasheed the Assistant Minister for International Affairs and Financial Policies at the Saudi Ministry of Finance, Guy Ryder the Director-General of the ILO, Dr. Tedros Adhanom the Director General For the World Health Organization, Dr. Seth Barkley the CEO of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization and Mr.Gian Lonrenzo Cornado the Italian Permanent Representative in Geneva.“The world needs to invest in more resilient systems that will withstand any [pandemic] that we may endure in the future so that we never witness those losses again.”On a national level, Saudi Arabia has proactively undertaken unprecedented measures to contain the outbreak of COVID-19 to show that people’s health and safety is always put first, said the Saudi Health minister.Read more: Saudi Arabia will be ‘one of the first’ to procure coronavirus vaccine: KSRelief headThe Saudi Health minister emphasized that his ministry had introduced new digital applications utilized to leverage quarantine and monitor cases to ensure the safety of all and the general public health, especially during this year’s Hajj.Top priority is protecting livesAbdulaziz Al-Rasheed, the Assistant Minister for International Affairs and Financial Policies at the Saudi Ministry of Finance, said that the Kingdom has placed at the top of its priorities to protect lives and the economy from the pandemic.“There’s no denying that 2020 has been one of the most challenging years for all of us, families, businesses, and governments. Beyond the health concerns, the social and economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic continues to be significant. Hence I would like to focus my remarks on the G20 efforts to support the global economy and response measures to combat COVID-19”, Al-Rasheed added.Al-Rasheed added that the G20 summit has committed to specific actions to drive forward international economic cooperation in health, economy, and financial responses, including international support to countries in need.“As part of this work, G20 launched its historic service mission initiative to provide the most vulnerable countries with urgent and immediate liquidity relief from official bilateral creditors. The initiative can provide US$14 billion in 2020 alone from official bilateral creditors for 73 eligible countries enabling them to strengthen their response to the pandemic and its social and economic impact,” Al-Rasheed concluded.“We are all still struggling with an unprecedented crisis. The impact on employment remains daunting, indeed. Data indicates there’s an equivalent of 225 million full-time jobs that were lost in G20 countries alone. Unfortunately, the short term outlook is still bleak, the situation does not stand to improve by the end of this year given the impact of the new lockdowns in many countries”., says Guy Ryder, the Director-General of the ILO“I want first to congratulate Saudi Arabia’s outstanding skillful and agile leadership in an extraordinarily challenging situation switching to virtual events and adapting the G 20 priorities rapidly to reflect the new circumstances.”, Ryder added.Dr. Seth Barkley, the CEO of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization, said that the world could not afford to have another epidemic.“Other diseases need to remain under control, and the best tool we have is vaccination. Once again, we are only safe unless we are all safe,” Barkley added.Dr. Tedros Adhanom, the Director-General for the World Health Organization, congratulated Saudi Arabia on the G20 presidency, adding that it has not been an easy year and that the Saudi G20 presidency has been quick to adapt to the changing environment.“WHO is looking forward to participating in tomorrow’s leader summit.”, Director-General Adhamom added.Mr.Gian Lonrenzo Cornado, the Italian Permanent Representative in Geneva, also thanked the Saudi presidency of the G20 for hosting this important event.“In 2020, one of the most challenging years in decades, the G20 Saudi presidency has confronted problems of unprecedented scale. Thank you for providing me with the opportunity to contribute. Italy is honored to build on your rich legacy to advance our common agenda in 2021.”, Cornado added.G20 Riyadh SummitSaudi Arabia holds the 2020 presidency of the G20, which rotates among members, and will be hosting the G20 summit across Saturday November 21 and Sunday November 22.Due to the coronavirus, this year’s Riyadh summit is being held virtually, with leaders and ministers attending via webcam.The build-up events, ranging from Women 20 to Business 20, have also taken place virtually.Addressing the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic is top of the agenda this year, as countries try to rebuild from the devastating economic impact of the virus.The environment has also featured, with the looming threat of climate change everpresent on the agenda.This year’s agenda also has a sharper focus on culture than previous years, with culture ministers pledging to support the $2.3 trillion cultural economy in a meeting on November 4.Read more: G20 Riyadh summit taking place under exceptional circumstances: Saudi Arabia's FM
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Saudi Health Minister: We have allocated half a billion dollars for COVID-19 research

The recent arrests of both Christians and Muslims accused of insulting Islam have renewed calls from rights groups to end prosecution for blasphemy in Egypt.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Egypt cracks down on blasphemy in wave of arrests

The man appeared to be a professional who had been blown off course.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Mysterious Turkish paraglider lands in Lebanon north of Israel