All Stories Archive

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, denounced the increasing violence in Egypt, renewing her call for an independent, fast and credible investigation into the extensive killing operations which the security forces are heavily implicated in, calling for the prosecution of those responsible. In a statement, Pillay...

In a meeting with EU foreign policy chief Catharine Ashton on Monday, the National Alliance against the military coup asserted the need to regain constitutional legitimacy by reinstating the removed president Mohammed Morsi. As a number of initiatives to solve the current political deadlock in Egypt were proposed, the...

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a supporter of ousted Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, has slammed the European Union and other parties because they did not condemn the killing of dozens of Morsi supporters clearly enough. Erdogan accused the EU of double standards for questioning the use of tear...

Turkish President Abdullah Gul said on Friday that the release of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi would facilitate national reconciliation. After he performed the Friday prayer at the Sultan Ahmed Mosque in Istanbul, Gul called for Egyptians to cooperate and integrate for the sake of Egypt's future. He noted that...

The director of London-based satellite channel Al-Hiwar TV has said that the station has been told to stop covering the anti-coup protests in return for which its signal will be un-jammed by the Egyptian authorities. Dr Azzam Tamimi rejected the offer. "They bargain with us: Stop your Rabaa El...

The BBC's insistence on describing Jerusalem as an Israeli city, despite such a status not being recognised under international law, has been condemned by Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC). In a ruling delivered this week, the BBC Trust appears to have accepted Israel's facts on the grounds, namely that Jerusalem...

Three major supermarkets in the Netherlands have announced their boycott of Israeli settlement products, following the European Union announcement of its own plan to boycott such items. Dutch newspaper Trouw reported that major supermarkets Hoogvliet, Aldi and Jumbo have announced the boycott. These companies are considered to be retail...

The military coup and removal of Mohamed Morsi took many observers by surprise, much like the January 25th Revolution which no one seemed to have been expecting. Unexpected as it was, however, the military has used the coup to make a grab for power and remove Dr Morsi and...

The founder of the Reunion Movement and the Egyptian Renaissance Party has announced details of a delegation formed of politicians and revolutionary youth among others to explain the bloody nature of the Egyptian coup to the EU, UN and African Union. Ahmed Abdel Gawad's Popular Diplomatic Revolutionary Delegation plans...

VIDEO  Turkey's Prime Minister has said that he still believes Mohammed Morsi to be the legitimate president of Egypt. "Not," said Recep Tayyip Erdogan, "because it is him personally, but because I respect the people who elected him in free and fair elections and gave him 52 per cent...

Following the deaths of hundreds and the wounding of thousands of protesters across Egypt the Middle East Monitor has been following responses by British officials closely. As well as the scores of Egyptians killed, foreign journalists are now being counted amongst the dead including a Sky News cameraman. Prime...

Tzipi Livni has told Germany's Foreign Minister that it is none of the EU's business to interfere in the drafting of any future borders between Israel and a Palestinian state. The Israeli Justice Minister told Guido Westerwelle on Sunday that the issue is on the table for the two...

A leading Macedonian NGO has hosted a debate on the situation in Egypt and the Arab Spring countries, and the future of the democratic process therein. The Centre for Understanding and Institutional Cooperation (CUIC) invited Dr Daud Abdullah, the Director of Middle East Monitor (MEMO) in London, and Nevzat...

Reuters have reported that Israel has asked the European Union to rethink its plans to impose sanctions on Israeli organisations based in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, a step that was seen as a transformation from the previous disapproving discourse into action and retaliatory measures. On Thursday, the Israeli government...

Dutch foreign minister, Frans Timmermans, left Cairo after a two-day visit in which he discussed the situation in the country, bilateral relations, and other regional issues with interim President Adli Mansour. In an interview with Reuters news agency on Wednesday, Timmermans said that diplomatic mediation failed to break Egypt's...

Saudi Arabia has reportedly offered to buy arms worth up to $15 billion from Russia, and provided a raft of economic and political concessions to the Kremlin – all in a bid to weaken Moscow's endorsement of Syrian President Bashar Assad. The diplomatic initiatives were anonymously voiced to Reuters...

In the weeks since President Mohamed Morsi was deposed, Egyptian protesters have taken to the streets with increasing frequency. Their demands for a return to electoral legitimacy have been met with lethal force at the hands of the authorities. Both the military and police forces have been behind some...

Ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have said that the Russian initiative to place Syria's chemical weapons under international supervision will not halt the bloodshed in the country. The ministers made their statement at a GCC meeting in Jeddah looking at the situation in Syria. The Chairman of...

The representative of Amnesty International in Geneva, Peter Splinter, announced on Tuesday that 1089 people were killed in the period between 14 and 18 August during the operation to disperse protestors at Rabaa Al-Adawiyya square and Al-Nahda square. He added that the Egyptian security forces killed many of the...

Watan newspaper has reported that several Turkish F-16 aircraft from the main Turkish Air Force base at Diyarbakir have flown over Urfa province on the border with Syria. It is believed that this was to deter Syrian aircraft from entering Turkish airspace. The newspaper said that the aircraft were...

Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth revealed that Russia has officially reprimanded Israel over the latter's launch of an Anchor ballistic missile into the eastern Mediterranean Sea last week. According to its website, Ynet, Russia's Deputy Defence Minister Anatoly Antonov summoned both the Israeli and American military attachés, demanding that their...

Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu warned that backing off from a military strike against Syria "signals a green light to the Syrian regime to commit more massacres." He pointed out that "Turkey has no doubt the chemical attack was carried out by the regime," adding that, "This conclusion is...

According to the Maariv news site, European and Israeli officials are scheduled to meet in Jerusalem on Wednesday to discuss Israel's participation in the EU's Horizon 2020 programme, which is a grand initiative running from 2014 to 2020 seeking to establish a common framework for research and innovation. The...

An EU delegation is expected to arrive in Israel on Tuesday and meet with officials from the Israeli foreign ministry to discuss the EU decision to boycott Israeli settlements built in occupied Palestinian territories. European sources ruled out that the boycott, which was announced last July and is to...

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius wants those who used chemical weapons in Syria to be brought before the International Criminal Court (ICC), not to be left without punishment. In a statement issued in Paris, Fabius described the initiative by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to put the Syrian chemical...

Beji Group for Oil and Gas announced on Monday that the political instability, which has been plaguing Egypt ever since the military coup on 3 July, has resulted in the delay of its projects, thus causing declines in its expected production for the next year. According to the group,...

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday that Russia and Syria are calling for the US to concentrate its efforts on holding a peace conference, urging the US not to carry out a military strike. In a press conference held jointly with his Syrian counterpart Waleed Al-Mu'alem, Lavrov...

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius announced on Sunday that Paris and Washington do not need a military commitment from every European country to intervene in Syria; but they do welcome the 28 EU member states to pledge political support. Fabius told television channel France 3, "We do not need...

For the first time since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, a large number of ships from the Russian fleet are gathering along the Syrian coast of the Mediterranean. In the midst of a potential US-led strike on the Al-Assad regime, many wonder what is the reason behind the...

A Dutch company which specialises in engineering and environmental consultancy has announced its decision to withdraw from a partnership agreement with Israel for a project in occupied East Jerusalem. Royal Haskoning DHV said that it is cancelling a contract signed with the municipality of Jerusalem to build a sewage...

An informed source in Palestine has claimed that former Fatah leader Mohamed Dahlan, who is currently a senior government advisor in the UAE, has visited Turkey and met opposition groups. The close aide to Dahlan said that the visit was planned by UAE Crown Prince Shaikh Mohamed bin Zayed...

The Russian Foreign Ministry has warned of the consequences of a military strike against Syria, which could include an attack on the small nuclear reactors near the capital Damascus. There could well be a nuclear catastrophe in the region, said a spokesman. Alexander Ukashević; told Russia Today, "The anticipated...

The Arab Organisation for Human Rights in the UK (AOHR) sent a letter to INTERPOL asking it to suspend its cooperation with Egyptian authorities following arrest warrants which had been issued against political opponents. According to the AOHR, following the military coup against freely elected president Mohammed Morsi in...

German tourism investors have decided to extend their decision to suspend trips to Egypt as a result of the internal situation in the country which leaves tourists facing increasing risks. The largest German tour operator, TUI, said that it would extend its decision to ban travel to Egypt until...

Russia's Interfax news agency has quoted a military source as saying that the Russian navy is to send a missile-armed battle cruiser into the eastern Mediterranean Sea to take over naval patrols in the region. The move is significant as the United States prepares for a possible military attack...

The EU has said that the best choice for solving the conflict in Syria is dialogue and not the use of force, which would have disastrous results on the whole region. Michael Mann, the EU's spokesman for foreign policy, also said on Wednesday that, "The EU strongly condemns the...

The EU renewed its call on Monday for Egypt to release all political prisoners. The call follows the decision by Egypt's prosecutor to refer deposed President Mohammed Morsi and 14 other leaders and members of the Muslim Brotherhood to the criminal court in Cairo on charges of inciting violence....

According to the Russian news agency RIA, Russia's early warning system spotted today two ballistic missiles fired from the Mediterranean Sea towards the eastern beaches. The report did not include details of the origin of the missiles or who was responsible. According to the report, two ballistic missiles were...

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has said that the alliance is ready to confront the security challenges in Syria but noted that a decision has not been reached yet regarding a potential military strike on the country. Speaking at a press conference he insisted that there is evidence...

French newspapers have described US President Barack Obama's last minute decision to seek Congressional approval for a potential military strike against Syria as a "trap" for his French counterpart Francois Hollande. Pierre Rosslyn wrote in Le Figaro that Francois Hollande has fallen "into the same vortex of events just...

According to German newspaper, Der Spiegel, the CIA has been spying on Al-Jazeera network and successfully infiltrated its internal network of communication. Der Spiegel reported that a document released by whistle-blower Edward Snowden from 2006 stated that the United States agency had succeeded in obtaining information from important sources,...

Sources in Russia have revealed that the government in Moscow has delayed the delivery of fighter jets and missile defence systems to the Assad regime, citing Syria's failure to pay for earlier consignments. According to Kommersant newspaper, an unnamed source at Russia's state arms exports agency Rosoboronexport said that...

A poll conducted in France has revealed that 64 per cent of respondents reject military intervention in Syria. Despite his vocal support for the US-proposed strike against the Assad regime in Damascus, a majority of the French people do not believe that President Francois Hollande will go ahead with...

Turkish-flagged ships in Istanbul harbour have been involved in a unique demonstration in support of Egypt's pro-democracy movement. Crews on board a number of ships projected images of the young martyr Asma Al-Beltaji onto the building housing the Egyptian Consulate in the city in condemnation of the military coup...

Donors will not continue to subsidise the Palestinian Authority forever and if Palestinian-Israeli talks do not make any progress, donations could be stopped according to the Norwegian foreign minister, Espen Barth Eide, in the Jerusalem Post. "The donors will not be ready to keep funding Palestinian state-building much longer...

The Spanish government has announced the suspension of all military export licenses to Egypt, in condemnation of the use of excessive force against civilians. The suspended licenses included those for military planes, which represents about 90 per cent of Spanish sales to Egypt. This announcement came after a similar...

A number of Finnish, Swedish, Danish and Norwegian tour companies have cancelled about 60,000 tourist flights to Egypt from now until next April, the Associated Press reported. The newswire said that the companies have also withdrawn hundreds of tourists from Egypt, as well as suspended any remaining flights planned...

Italy's Foreign Minister has said that the complete exclusion of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt would hinder the democratic process and the "Road Map" produced by the coup government, which she believes is the political way out of the country's crisis. Emma Bonino was briefing a meeting of the...

Western envoys have already told Syria's National Coalition opposition that a military strike will take place "within days", sources close to the meetings in Istanbul between the two groups have claimed. "The opposition was clearly informed that the move to prevent the Assad regime from using chemical weapons again...

The Dutch government has asked local firms not to deal with Israeli companies working in illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories because this violates international law. Israel fears that this move will become a trend among EU member states. According to a report in Haaretz, the Dutch government...