FinPol Digest

 Israel and Bahrain agreed on Monday to seek to sign a free trade agreement between the two countries by the end of the year, Anadolu News Agency reports. This came during a meeting between Israeli Economy Minister , Orna Barbivai, and Bahraini Industry and Commerce Minister, Zayed Alzayani, in Israel, according to the Israeli Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper. Both ministers agreed to accelerate the process in order to reach the signing of a free trade agreement before the end of the year, the daily said. An Israeli delegation is expected to arrive in the Bahraini capital, Manama, in mid-November to complete the talks on the free trade deal. Alzayani's visit to Israel is the third since both countries normalized their relations in September 2020. In 2021, the trade volume between Israel and Bahrain stood at $7.5 million. In May, Israel signed a free trade agreement with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to expand economic relations between the two countries.

Saudi billionaire Al Waleed Bin Talal, one of the owners of Twitter, joined the new private Twitter company announced by Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk after acquiring the world's most famous micro-blogging site. This was reported on Friday in a statement by the Kingdom Holding Company (KHC) and the private office of Prince Al Waleed Bin Talal. KHC and the private office of Al Waleed Bin Talal announced the transfer of their stake in the current Twitter shares, amounting to 34,948,975 shares valued at $1.89 billion, to the new Twitter company led by Musk. The statement added that KHC and the private office of Prince Al Waleed Bin Talal are the second largest shareholders after Musk. Earlier, Bin Talal expressed his belief that Musk would be an excellent leader and maximize Twitter's potential. This comes after a rejection of a previous offer by Musk to buy Twitter, as the Saudi prince responded: "The offer is not close to the intrinsic value of Twitter." On Thursday,...

 A Tunisian judicial official revealed that the Italian authorities refused to return the Tunisian child, Linda, to Tunisia. He also pointed out that the Tunisian judiciary had decided to ban her family from travelling to Italy, while a lawyer talked about the formation of a "human rights commission" to pressure the Italian authorities to return Linda to Tunisia. A week ago, Linda (4 years old) arrived alone on the Italian island of Lampedusa via a secret immigration boat, following which the Italian authorities put her in a shelter in Palermo. At the same time, the Tunisian authorities detained her family, which was unable to join the boat. Farid Ben Jeha, the spokesman of the Courts of Monastir and Mahdia, confirmed that the Italian authorities assigned a lawyer and accused him of refusing to return the child, Linda, stressing that "the representative of the protection of children will appear on Friday before the Italian judiciary to prove that the judicial authoritie...

 Displays of popular support for the son of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak could be a cause of concern for current President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi. Gamal Mubarak attended the funeral of a well-known lawyer this week and news of his presence went viral on social media. For the second day running, #GamalMubarak has topped social media, with pictures and video clips showing people rushing to shake his hand. This has prompted observers to suggest that this support is an expression of public discontent about Egypt's political and economic situation. "The images can be read from two angles," explained journalist Massad Al-Barbary. "The first is that the Egyptian people were under Mubarak's rule for three decades and were influenced by it. His son was likely to succeed his father, which is why it is not strange for some to flock to him. The second is that the scenario may have been set up by a group that supports the Mubarak era." Barbary told Arabi 21 tha...

 Riot police have been deployed in force in Tehran and other major Iranian cities as Wednesday marks 40 days since a young Iranian woman died in police custody, Anadolu News Agency reports. According to eyewitnesses, small groups of protesters took to the streets in the Iranian capital, mostly at busy roundabouts in central Tehran, chanting anti-government slogans. A demonstration was also held outside the Tehran University campus, where students rallied in large numbers, carrying posters of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini , a student told Anadolu Agency. Traffic was also disrupted due to the heavy police deployment in the area. It has been 40 days since Amini died, after being held by the country's morality force for allegedly wearing "inappropriate dress". Amini, hailing from a small town in western Iran, was at the time visiting her relatives in Tehran when she was detained outside a subway in north Tehran. Her family alleges that she was beaten in police custody, which result...

 More than half of professionals in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region have contemplated leaving their current job over a lack of a work-life balance, a recent survey has found. According to the survey entitled "Work-Life Balance in the MENA Workplace" carried out by the region's leading job portal Bayt.com, 52 percent of those surveyed said they had thought about quitting in search of a better work-life balance at least once during the past 12 months. Around 23 percent of respondents also felt they had neglected their personal and family obligations due to being overworked, while 47 percent said they worked between 40 and 60 hours per week. Sixty percent of those polled said the family was the most important factor that influenced their happiness, while 30 percent chose their job and seven percent cited hobbies and activities. However, the survey also found that 84 percent of MENA professionals said company management respected their time and work-life balanc...

 A Tunisian organization specializing in transparency and combating corruption has called on President Kais Saied to disclose his property after three years in power, noting that Saied dissolved the Tunisian Anti-Corruption Authority (INLUCC) to avoid declaring his gains. In a statement issued on Friday, the I Watch organization stated: "Today, October 21, 2022, marks three years since Kais Saied assumed office as president of the republic. On October 21, 2019, he declared his gains for the first time before the INLUCC on the occasion of his assumption of Presidency. This was according to the provisions of Chapter 5 of Law No. 46 of 2018 dated August 1, 2018, relating to the declaration of gains and interests and the combating illicit enrichment and conflict of interests." According to Chapter 10 of the same law: "Every person subject to the obligation to declare shall submit a new declaration every three years if this person continues assuming positions requiring decl...