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Items by Reuters
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On the run, Lebanon woman who stole own savings says she is not the criminal
On the run from authorities after forcing a bank to release her family savings at gunpoint to treat her cancer-stricken sister, 28-year-old Lebanese interior designer, Sali Hafiz, insists she is not the criminal. “We are in the country of mafias. If you are not a wolf, the wolves will eat...
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Lebanon bid for IMF deal hits snags
Five months after Lebanon’s draft IMF deal raised hopes it could finally pull together an economic reform plan to address its financial meltdown, political and financial elites are obstructing prospects of securing any rescue package. Efforts to enact eight reforms sought by the IMF are going nowhere or falling short,...
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Healing with humour, Palestinian comedians strike a chord in occupied cities
Palestinian-American, Amer Zahr, is on a mission to heal through humour. In 2015, he started bringing fellow Arab-American comedians from the United States to perform stand-up across occupied Palestinian cities including Nablus, Bethlehem and Ramallah. Seven years later, Zahr’s now annual Palestine Comedy Festival is still going strong. “Laughter is therapy,” he...
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Attacks on major Iraqi gas field drive out US contractors
A series of rocket attacks on a gas field in northern Iraq has sent the US contractors working on its expansion packing, dealing a blow to the Kurdish region’s hopes of boosting its revenues and offering a small alternative to Russian gas. The project to expand the Khor Mor field...
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From the US to China and Europe, Saudi seizes the diplomatic moment
Last Wednesday, Uzbek President, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, became the first leader from his country to visit Saudi Arabia in 30 years, the latest recipient of a Saudi diplomatic offensive that has included the United States, France, China and other powers. Four years after the murder of dissident Saudi journalist, Jamal Khashoggi,...
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Fatal stabbings highlight violence against women in Egypt
A series of violent crimes against women in Egypt has drawn attention to gaps in legal and social protection that leave female citizens vulnerable to attacks and harassment, victims and activists say. The highest profile case was the murder in late June of 21-year-old student, Naira Ashraf, who was stabbed...
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Russia Jews head for Israel as Kremlin targets emigration group
In the hours after Russia invaded Ukraine in February, Ilya Fomintsev, a 43-year-old oncologist and director of a medical charity, took to the streets of Moscow to protest. He was arrested and sentenced to 20 days’ detention. Fearing for his future, like many other opponents of the “special military operation”...
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Does everyone want to leave Lebanon?
It’s a weekday, but 50-year-old Lebanese finance ministry employee Walid Chaar is not at work and hasn’t been since June. He rushes to water the garden at his home in the hills south of Beirut, using the single hour of rationed state power to run the sprinkler. He then phones...
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For children in Gaza, another round of violence reopens trauma
When Israeli missiles started landing in Gaza in early August, shattering glass and destroying buildings, Jouman Abdu put on headphones, covered her eyes with a blindfold and stretched on the couch. The eight-year-old Palestinian girl said that she came up with this ritual to escape the bang of the...
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Ben & Jerry's Unilever fight shows risks of ceding control
Ben & Jerry’s legal battle with Unilever sheds light on an issue affecting a growing number of purpose-led brands: how to maintain their identity after being bought by a major consumer company. Multinational consumer groups have raced to snap up socially conscious brands in recent years, seeking to tap into a...
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Iran nuclear deal limbo may serve interests of both US and Iran
Whether or not Tehran and Washington accept a European Union “final” offer to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, neither is likely to declare the pact dead because keeping it alive serves both sides’ interests, diplomats, analysts and officials said. Their reasons, however, are radically different. For US President Joe Biden’s...
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The issues holding back revival of the Iran nuclear deal
Iran and the United States are struggling to overcome divisions on three major issues in indirect talks on revival of a 2015 nuclear deal while months of negotiations have entered a crucial stage. A senior EU official shuttling between the parties said on August that a “final” offer was proposed...
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From blast to banking crisis, one woman embodies Lebanon's complete collapse
Liliane Cheaito’s scratchy, laboured breathing went on until a nurse appeared at her hospital bed, where the 28-year-old has spent nearly every moment of the last two years in silent suffering following the Beirut port explosion of 2020. Using a suctioning machine, the nurse emptied her lungs of built-up phlegm...
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Detentions loom over Egypt's political dialogue
After nine years of sweeping crackdowns on dissent, Egypt is set to launch a carefully choreographed political dialogue, but the main Islamist opposition movement is excluded and critics say a parallel move to release prisoners is proceeding too slowly. The dialogue, announced by President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi in April and...
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What became of the Arab Spring?
Tunisian President Kais Saied is set to secure more power under a new constitution that is expected to pass in a referendum on Monday, in what critics fear is a march to one-man rule over a country that rose up against dictatorship in 2010. Saied’s opponents fear the changes will...
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What's in Tunisia's proposed constitution?
Tunisians will vote on a proposed new constitution significantly enhancing President Kais Saied’s powers, hardening critics’ fears he will entrench one-man rule and undo democratic gains from the 2011 revolution. The proposed charter weakens the parliament empowered by the 2014 constitution, remaking a system that critics say led to years...
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Relatives of some Saudi detainees anxiously await Biden trip
Malik Al-Dowaish was arrested this month following years of campaigning for the release of his father, who was himself detained in 2016 after he gave a sermon seen as critical of the Saudi Arabian Royal family, two sources familiar with the matter said. “I really don’t know the secret behind...
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Embraced as an old friend, Biden arrives in Israel at start of Mid-East visit
US President Joe Biden arrived on Wednesday in Israel, which embraced him as an old friend on the first leg of a high-stakes trip dominated by efforts to bring it closer to Saudi Arabia and to persuade Washington’s Gulf allies to pump more oil. Arriving on Air Force One at...
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With world in energy shock, Saudi oil cushion gets very thin
When French President, Emmanuel Macron, whispered in Joe Biden’s ear last month that top global oil exporter, Saudi Arabia, has very little additional capacity to increase output, the US President looked surprised. Biden is due to land in Riyadh later this month, and he will likely hear the same sobering...
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Rise of Arab-Israel axis pushes Iran to redouble nuclear talks push
The spectre of an emerging Arab-Israeli bloc that could tilt the Middle East balance of power further away from Iran is driving the Islamic Republic to pursue nuclear talks with world powers with renewed determination, officials and analysts said. Indirect talks in Qatar between Tehran and Washington on salvaging a...
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Saudi Arabia walks oil policy tightrope between Biden and Putin
Saudi Arabia’s push for swifter oil production hikes by OPEC+, which were agreed in June, involved behind-the-scenes diplomacy to ensure Russia backed the move that followed US appeals for more supply, two sources familiar with the discussions said. The OPEC+ group of oil producers made a larger-than-expected output rise when...
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Tunisia: Saied poised for more power but economy crumbles
President Kais Saied looks on course to tighten his grip on Tunisia through a constitutional referendum in July, but it could prove to be a poisoned chalice as the economy sinks deeper into crisis and opposition to his rule widens. Nearly a year since Saied began amassing power, the 25...
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A long trail of assassinations in Iran fuel hostilities with Israel
Iran said, this week, it will soon put on trial what it said were three Mossad-linked agents arrested in April amid simmering tensions between the Islamic Republic and arch-foe, Israel, which has been waging a shadow war in the Middle East for years. A prosecutor said the three detained men...
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Egypt's Sharm El-Sheikh reels from Ukrainian and Russian exodus
On Sharm el-Sheikh’s sandy beaches, many of the sun loungers lie empty. At a central promenade packed with shops, cafes and nightclubs, crowds are thinner than usual. The resort on the southern tip of Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula is reeling from the impact of the war in Ukraine, which has seen...
