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Media Summary

Iran dismisses threats of US arms embargo as ‘illegitimate’

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Reuters reports that Iran has dismissed efforts by the US to extend the UN Security Council arms embargo on Tehran, calling them “illegitimate” an Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Monday.
The Guardian and Reuters report that Benjamin Netanyahu could be barred from forming a government after Israel’s Supreme Court began assessing petitions that seek to obstruct the interim prime minister because he is under criminal indictment.

The Financial Times and The Independent report that opposition parties in Egypt have called for an investigation into the death of a young filmmaker in detention, who was jailed for two years without trial for directing a music video that mocked President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

The Guardian and The Telegraph report that Syria’s richest man, who is accused by the US and EU of bankrolling the Assad regime, has fallen out with the Syrian leader after accusing him of sending security forces to arrest his employees and take over his businesses.

The Financial Times reports that a public fight between Lebanon’s new prime minister and its once untouchable central bank governor is jeopardising the state’s efforts to secure badly needed international financial support, as the country grapples with its worst economic crisis in decades. The Associated Press reports that Lebanon’s restaurants can open at 30 per cent capacity during the day, although many say they will not given the costs associated with re-opening.

The Times reports that the Abu Dhabi royal family has accused its former property managers in London of siphoning tens of millions of pounds in fraudulent payments.
The Associated Press and Reuters report that police in Kuwait dispersed what they described as a riot by stranded Egyptians unable to return home amid the coronavirus pandemic, authorities said early Monday.
Reuters reports that the Taliban claimed responsibility for an attack at a military centre in southern Helmand province in Afghanistan on Monday, where at least 150 members of the Afghan army and intelligence wing were stationed.
In The Guardian, Ruth Michaelson writes that the new Saudi city, called Neom, is being built on the blood of local tribes, such as the Huwaitat, who have spanned Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the Sinai peninsula for generations.
In The Times, Anthony Loyd returns to the country that has always obsessed him – Afghanistan – and asks, what next for a nation more divided than ever?
In The Independent, Stefania D’Ignoti speaks to Mohamed al-Hassan, a Syrian refugee whose tailoring skills have led him to sewing face masks for Italians since Italy’s coronavirus pandemic began.

All the Israeli media report on the steep drop in the number of new coronavirus cases. Kan Radio News reports this morning that there were only 29 new confirmed cases in Israel yesterday, the smallest number since the start of March. The number of people currently infected is 6,200, of whom 94 are in serious condition, of whom 76 patients are on ventilators. Since the outbreak of the pandemic, 16,200 have been infected, and nearly 10,000 have recovered. The number of people who have died of the coronavirus is 232.

Haaretz reports that schools reopened yesterday in grades one through three, and today this will be expanded to many other cities, including Tel Aviv. In Haifa, schools will reopen tomorrow. Israel’s Education Ministry said that 60 per cent of students were present at school on Sunday, and Education Minister Rafi Peretz said that 80 per cent of the schools had been opened. However, the report notes the official data only includes public Jewish elementary schools and shows that 23 per cent of first-through-third graders and students in 11th and 12th grade attended school, whilst only half of the country’s elementary schools opened, and only a few of the high schools were active.

Yediot Ahronoth reports that the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) detained five Sudanese citizens on Sunday on the Israeli-Lebanese border suspected of trying to infiltrate Israel. Israeli media said the five were job seekers who were returned to Lebanon in coordination with the UN. A spokesman for the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon said they are looking into the case with the parties without elaborating. The infiltration attempt comes after a tense few weeks on the border between the IDF and Hezbollah. Last month, foreign media reports claimed an Israeli drone fired two missiles near an SUV carrying Hezbollah members in Syria, close to the border with Lebanon. A few days later, Hezbollah broke the security fence along the border at three separate places.