Speaking to CNBC on Monday, the executive director of the International Energy Agency spoke about the intricacies of the energy transition and the competing challenges that will need to be balanced in the years ahead. Imaginima | E+ | Getty Images Sweltering summer temperatures and soaring gas prices have boosted the use of oil in […]
Tag: Middle East
UN special rapporteur says Israeli strikes on Gaza are ‘illegal’ | Israel-Palestine conflict News
Francesca Albanez calls on the United Nations to investigate whether Israel has breached international law and ensure accountability. The United Nations special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories says Israel’s air raids on the besieged Gaza Strip “not only are illegal but irresponsible”, calling for a diplomatic solution to the latest bout of violence, which […]
The Gaza Strip explained in maps | Israel-Palestine conflict News
Israeli air raids have killed at least 31 people, including six children, across the Gaza Strip. More than 250 others have been wounded. The Israeli attacks on Gaza have destroyed apartment buildings and struck refugee camps. The Palestinian armed group Islamic Jihad has responded by firing rockets towards Israel. According to Israeli media, most were […]
Will fighting in Gaza trigger a wider war? | Israel-Palestine conflict News
Video Duration 24 minutes 40 seconds 24:40 Fears are growing of another war in Gaza after Israel launched air strikes on the besieged Palestinian territory. The Israeli military is warning of a week of operations against armed groups. Tension had been building since Tuesday when Israeli forces arrested Palestinian Islamic Jihad commander Bassam al-Saadi in […]
Gaza attack: What is the Palestinian Islamic Jihad? | Explainer News
Israel has repeatedly launched air raids on the Gaza Strip, killing at least 15 people including a commander of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement who was targeted on Friday. After bombing Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid described the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) as “an Iranian proxy that wants to destroy the state of Israel”. […]
Iran says Swedish national arrested on spying charges | News
The arrest comes amid increasing tensions between Tehran and Stockholm. Tehran, Iran – Iran’s intelligence ministry says it has arrested a Swedish national on charges of spying after having him under surveillance for some time. An intelligence ministry statement on Saturday did not name the Swedish citizen or provide any information about his age or […]
France’s Macron talks energy with Saudi Crown Prince MBS in Paris | News
MBS’s visit to France has been controversial, with President Macron criticised by some in his country. Energy was the main topic on the agenda between French President Emmanuel Macron and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, during talks in Paris seen as a diplomatic rehabilitation of the de facto leader of the Saudi kingdom. Aides […]
South Africa applies for Guptas’ extradition over ‘state capture’ | Corruption News
The Gupta brothers fled to Dubai in 2018 as investigations intensified into their role in siphoning off state assets under the administration of President Jacob Zuma. South Africa has formally filed a request with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to extradite two brothers accused of orchestrating industrial-scale corruption in the country, according to its justice […]
Iran says suspected Israel cell members planning attack arrested | News
The intelligence ministry says the arrested individuals were purportedly about to blow up an unspecified ‘sensitive centre’ in Isfahan. Tehran, Iran – Iran says its intelligence forces have arrested suspected members of an Israeli cell hours before they were allegedly planning to carry out a major “terrorist” bombing operation in the central Iranian city of […]
Will Tunisia’s constitutional referendum lead to turmoil? | Politics
From: Inside Story Rivals fear president’s plan to ‘correct the course of the revolution’ will dismantle democracy. Protesters in Tunisia say Monday’s referendum on constitutional reforms is illegal. The proposed changes would sideline parliament and remove most checks on the president’s power. Opposition groups say it is a return to autocracy. If approved, the new […]
Saudi police arrest man who helped Israeli sneak into Mecca | Religion News
Mecca regional police have arrested an unnamed Saudi national who helped sneak the Israeli reporter into Mecca. A Saudi man who allegedly helped a Jewish Israeli journalist enter the holy city of Mecca has been arrested, police in the kingdom have said, after a backlash on social media. The journalist, Gil Tamary of Israel’s Channel […]
Turkey says Russia, Ukraine to sign UN grain export deal Friday | Russia-Ukraine war News
Russia, Ukraine and Turkey will gather on Friday to sign a deal proposed by the United Nations to free up grain exports from Ukraine’s besieged Black Sea ports, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan’s office says. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who earlier announced that he was heading to Istanbul on Thursday, will attend the event along with […]
Five things to know about inflation and how it is affecting us | Business and Economy
Filling up the gas tank costs more than it did six months ago. So does the price of flour and sofas. A cheap used car is harder to find. And if you want to buy a home, you’d better move fast. Mortgage rates are going up. It seems that every time you make a purchase, […]
Libya’s elites may unite, but elections still elusive | News
Divisions that have riven Libya since 2011, when the dictatorship of Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown, have continued to prevent presidential elections initially scheduled for December 2018 from taking place. To many observers, the delays appear to be the result of the entrenchment of political and military figures on all sides, and their preference for the […]
Death toll from tribal clashes in Sudan soars to 65: Official | Armed Groups News
About 150 others have been wounded in the southern Blue Nile state since the clashes erupted a week ago. The death toll from days of tribal clashes in Sudan’s Blue Nile state has climbed to at least 65 people, the province’s health minister said. The fighting between the Hausa and Birta ethnic groups in the […]
‘Iranophobia’: Day after Biden trip, Iran says US stoking tension | News
A day after Joe Biden wraps his first Middle East tour as president, Iran accuses the US of inciting regional tensions. Tehran, Iran – Iran has accused the United States of trying to incite tensions across the Middle East through “Iranophobia”, the charge coming a day after Joe Biden ended his first tour of the […]
Dozens killed in tribal clashes in Sudan’s Blue Nile State | News
At least 39 others have been wounded and 16 shops torched since violence broke out on Monday over a land dispute between tribes. Dozens of families are fleeing violence in Sudan’s Blue Nile State, where continuing clashes between two tribes have killed at least 31 people, according to the state’s security committee and other officials. […]
Israel launches air raid on Gaza after rockets fired | Gaza News
The missile attacks came after US President Joe Biden left Israel to travel to Saudi Arabia. Israel has struck Gaza with multiple missiles after rockets were launched from the territory, as US President Joe Biden continued a tour of the Middle East that included Israel and Saudi Arabia. The Israeli military said early on Saturday […]
Palestinian universities are once again under attack | Education
Palestinian universities are under attack once again. Later this month, the Israeli authorities are expected to put into effect a 97-page ordinance, called Procedure for Entry and Residence for Foreigners in Judea and Samaria Area (PDF), which would grant the Israeli Ministry of Defence and thus, the military, absolute power to determine how many and which […]
Biden heads to Saudi Arabia for what could be a welcome reset
President of the United States Joe Biden holds a press conference on the final day of the NATO Summit in Madrid, Spain on June 30, 2022. Jakub Porzycki | Nurphoto | Getty Images President Joe Biden is headed to Saudi Arabia this week as part of his first Middle East trip as commander-in-chief. He’s going […]
Psychotherapists help Yazidis heal layers of trauma in Iraq | Mental Health
Listen to this story: Duhok, northern Iraq – Rawnaq Abdulrahman peeks out of the door of her counselling room and invites Ahmad in. The slim 37-year-old settles across from the psychotherapist, his leather jacket melting into the comfortable leather armchair. A lamp floods the room in a warm glow. Photographs of waterfalls and forests on […]
The case of Alaa Abd el-Fattah and Egypt’s crushing of dissent | Media
From: The Listening Post The story of an imprisoned activist exposes the grim climate for speech in Egypt. Plus, what might Chile’s new constitution portend for the media there? As Egypt’s President el-Sisi kicks off a “National Dialogue” on human rights, the precarious fate of jailed writer and activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah exposes the grave […]
Israel asks Saudis to let Mecca pilgrims fly in from Tel Aviv | News
Israeli official asks Saudi Arabia to admit direct flights from Tel Aviv for Muslim pilgrims ahead of US President Joe Biden’s visit to the kingdom. Israel’s regional cooperation minister says that he has asked Saudi Arabia to admit direct flights from Tel Aviv for Muslim pilgrims to perform the Hajj, pointing to a possible new […]
Israel shoots down three unarmed Hezbollah drones | Hezbollah News
Israeli army says it intercepted three drones launched by Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement headed towards an offshore gasfield. The Israeli army has said it intercepted three drones launched by Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement headed towards an offshore gasfield in the Mediterranean. “Three hostile drones approaching the airspace in Israel’s economic waters have been intercepted,” the army said […]
Ukraine asks Turkey to detain Russian-flagged cargo ship | Russia-Ukraine war News
Kyiv official says the Zhibek Zholy loaded 4,500 tonnes of Ukrainian grain at the Russian-occupied port of Berdyansk. Ukraine has requested Turkey to detain the Russian-flagged cargo ship Zhibek Zholy carrying grain taken from the Russian-occupied port of Berdyansk, according to a Ukrainian official and a document seen by the news agency Reuters. The Ukrainian […]
Unilever sells local Ben & Jerry’s business to Israeli firm | Israel-Palestine conflict News
Multinational consumer goods company Unilever has sold its Ben & Jerry’s ice cream business in Israel to its local licensee for an undisclosed sum, after the United States brand announced last year that it would stop marketing products in Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories, saying it was “inconsistent” with its values. Under the new arrangement, announced on […]
US, Iran indirect talks on 2015 nuclear pact not progressing: EU | News
Indirect talks did not make the progress that ‘the EU team as coordinator had hoped-for’, EU envoy said. Indirect talks between Tehran and Washington aimed at breaking an impasse about how to salvage Iran’s 2015 nuclear pact have not progressed as expected, an EU official said. The talks in the Qatari capital Doha did not […]
Iran and EU agree to restart nuclear deal talks on Borrell visit | Nuclear Energy News
Indirect talks between Iran and the US are set to resume after the EU foreign policy chief visits Tehran to resolve the impasse. Tehran, Iran – Iran and the European Union have agreed during a visit by the bloc’s foreign policy chief to resume nuclear talks with the United States that have stalled since March. […]
‘Sonic Detective’: The artist using sound to expose crimes | Arts and Culture News
Athens, Greece – Beirut-based sound artist Lawrence Abu Hamdan has become known as the “Private Ear”, as his research-based, investigatory work has been used to investigate killings and expose other human rights abuses. Sonic Detective, a retrospective of two key audio-visual works by the 37-year-old Jordanian-born artist, is now on show at the newly-revamped National […]
Jordan’s king says he would support a Middle East version of NATO
Jordan’s King Abdullah said he would support the formation of a Middle East military alliance similar to NATO, and that it can be done with countries that are like-minded. Thomas Kronsteiner | Getty Images News | Getty Images Jordan’s King Abdullah II said he would support the formation of a Middle East military alliance similar […]