CAIRO: The first preparatory meeting for the forthcoming Arab Summit kicked off on Wednesday at the International Conference Center west of Algiers.

The preparatory session was held as a prelude to the 31st Arab summit, to be hosted by Algeria on Nov. 1-2.

The Palestinian crisis is expected to top the summit agenda, also covering relations with Africa and Europe at various levels. 

Algerian officials have announced the completion of arrangements for the event.

ISTANBUL: Kurdish politician Aysel Tugluk was released from jail in northwest Turkey late Thursday after a medical report that her dementia did not allow her to remain behind bars.
Tugluk, 57, was the deputy co-chair of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) before her arrest in 2016.
The prosecutor’s office in Kocaeli province postponed Tugluk’s sentence after a medical assessment that staying in jail threatened her life, private broadcaster NTV reported.

DUBAI: Iran’s supreme Leader vowed on Thursday to retaliate against those threatening the country’s security after the massacre of Shiite pilgrims, an assault claimed by Daesh which threatens to inflame tensions amid widespread anti-government protests.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the assailants “will surely be punished” and called on Iranians to unite. “We all have a duty to deal with the enemy and its traitorous or ignorant agents,” he said in a statement read on state television a day after the attack killed 15 people.

PARIS: Iranian security forces have killed at least eight people since Wednesday evening as they push on with a deadly crackdown against nearly six weeks of women-led protests, Amnesty International said.
“Iran’s security forces killed at least eight people since last night as they again opened fire on mourners and protesters,” Amnesty said on Thursday, condemning the “reckless and unlawful use of firearms.”

Istanbul, Oct 26, 2022 Agence France Presse: Turkish police on Wednesday arrested the head of Turkey’s doctors’ union after she called for a probe into the army’s alleged use of chemical weapons against Kurdish militants, prosecutors said.
Sebnem Korur Fincanci was being detained on “terror propaganda” charges, said the prosecutor’s office.
Turkey has rejected the allegations made in media outlets close to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) that its army was using chemical weapons in operations in northern Iraq.