TUNIS: Tunisia President Kais Saied said on Sunday he has decided to dissolve the Supreme Judicial Council, the body that deals with judicial independence, a controversial move that will spark a struggle over the judiciary.
Saied said the council has become a thing of the past, adding that he will issue a temporary decree to the council. He gave no other details about the decree.

(Developing story)

LONDON: Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed on Saturday held talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping to discuss ways of developing ties and opportunities for increasing joint cooperation, especially in investment and economy.
The two leaders also discussed the latest regional and global issues of common concern, Emirates state news agency WAM reported.
Sheikh Mohammed arrived in China on Friday to attend the opening ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games, following an invitation from Xi.
Sheikh Mohammed congratulated the president on the Chinese New Year, and thanked him for the invitation to attend the Olympic games.

I had the pleasure of meeting with President Xi Jinping in Beijing today. We discussed the robust partnership between our two nations & ways to strengthen these growing ties. Our talks covered areas of mutual interest including ways to promote peace & stability in the Middle East pic.twitter.com/bGl4vSg9U3

— محمد بن زايد (@MohamedBinZayed) February 5, 2022

Meanwhile, Xi also met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing to discuss strengthening communication and political consultation between the two countries on regional and international issues.
The Chinese leader said his country attaches special importance to its relations with Egypt in view of its pivotal role in the Middle East, Africa and Eastern Mediterranean, El-Sisi’s spokesman Bassam Rady said.
“In the context of the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries, the (Egyptian) president affirmed Egypt’s keenness to build on the momentum reached in bilateral meetings” and develop bilateral cooperation in many fields, especially development, economic and trade, and to attract more Chinese investments to take advantage of the promising opportunities available in Egypt in various sectors.
Rady said both sides discussed enhancing cooperation in scientific research activities, technology transfer in the pharmaceutical industries, manufacturing COVID-19 vaccines, industrial technologies, communications and information technology, electric vehicles and health care.

TEHRAN: Some 50 members of Iran’s 290-seat parliament have contracted COVID-19, a senior MP said on Saturday as the omicron variant spreads unabated across the county.
MP Alireza Salimi, speaking to YJC, a news agency linked to Iran’s state TV, said this week’s parliamentary session would be held in accordance with health regulations.
Parliament was suspended for two weeks last April due to an outbreak among MPs. In the early days of the pandemic, several lawmakers died from the virus.
Iran has seen a surge in cases after a brief respite following mass vaccinations. In recent days it has reported an average of more than 30,000 new infections a day. However, the number of cases over the previous 24 hours was 23,130, the Health Ministry said on Saturday.
Iran, with a population of about 85 million, has reported more than 6.5 million infections and more than 132,500 coronavirus-related deaths since the pandemic began.
More than 50 million people have received two doses of coronavirus vaccine, and more than 19 million have received three doses.

TEHRAN: US steps on lifting sanctions are “good but not enough,” Iran’s foreign minister said on Saturday, hours after Washington announced it was waiving sanctions on Iran’s civilian nuclear program.

The US action came as talks to restore a 2015 deal between Tehran and world powers over its nuclear program reached an advanced stage, with the issue of sanctions relief a major issue.

“The lifting of some sanctions can, in the true sense of the word, translate into their good will. Americans talk about it, but it should be known that what happens on paper is good but not enough,” Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian was quoted as saying by ISNA news agency.

The US State Department on Friday said it was waiving sanctions on Iran’s civilian nuclear program in a technical step necessary to return to the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA.

Former President Donald Trump withdrew from the pact in 2018 and reimposed crippling sanctions on Iran, prompting the country to begin pulling back from its commitments under the deal.

The waiver allows other countries and companies to participate in Iran’s civilian nuclear program without triggering US sanctions on them, in the name of promoting safety and nonproliferation.

Iran’s civilian program includes increasing stockpiles of enriched uranium.

Amir-Abdollahian reiterated that one of the “main issues” in the JCPOA talks is obtaining guarantees that the US will not withdraw from the 2015 deal again. “We seek and demand guarantees in the political, legal and economic sectors,” he said, adding that “agreements have been reached in some areas.”

The Vienna negotiations, which include Iran, the United States, Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia, are at a stage where the sides have to make important “political decisions,” different parties to the negotiations said last week.

“Our negotiating team in the Vienna talks is seriously pursuing obtaining tangible guarantees from the West to fulfil their commitments,” Amir-Abdollahian said.

Earlier on Saturday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said: “Naturally, Tehran is carefully considering any action that is in the right direction of fulfilling the obligations of the JCPOA,” local media reported.

Mikhail Ulyanov, Moscow’s ambassador to the UN in Vienna, on Saturday called the US waiver decision “a move in the right direction.”

“It will help expedite restoration of #JCPOA and mutual return of #US and #Iran to compliance with 2015 deal. It also can be seen as an indication that the #ViennaTalks have entered the final stage,” he said on Twitter.

Talks on reviving the nuclear deal were halted last week and the negotiators returned to their capitals for consultations. Experts say the JCPOA talks could resume next week.

CAIRO: Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry held talks with Palestinian Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh on the sidelines of the African Union Summit, which began on Saturday.
The spokesman for Egypt’s Foreign Ministry tweeted that Shoukry affirmed Cairo’s support for the Palestinian cause, and the importance of reviving negotiations in pursuit of the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.
At the AU Summit in Ethiopia, Shoukry spoke about the state of peace and security in Africa. The summit’s theme is: “Strengthening resilience in nutrition and food security on the African continent.”