All Stories Archive

Since 2021, criticism of Israel has focused heavily on its apartheid system and practices. The gradual awareness within the international community, since B'Tselem's declaration, which was followed by that of Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, as well as other institutions, validated the Palestinian people's earlier assertions of apartheid....

The Saudi Arabian-led coalition fighting in Yemen said, on Thursday, it would release 163 prisoners from Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi group who fought against the Kingdom, as part of a humanitarian initiative, Reuters reports. The coalition had already begun taking measures to release the prisoners in coordination with the International...

The United States called on Libyan leaders, on Wednesday, to work "immediately" to end the closure of oil installations. It considered the suspension of production as a hasty measure that harms the Libyans and undermines international trust toward Libya as an actor in the global economy. The US Embassy...

Six Israeli reserve battalions will be stationed along the illegal Separation Wall that isolates the occupied West Bank from Israel, the military announced yesterday. The decision to call-up reserve battalions in replacement of regular forces was approved by the Chief of the Israeli Army, Aviv Kohavi, in order to...

Turkiye's President, Tayyip Erdogan, is planning a visit to Riyadh on Thursday in a push to mend ties, Anadolu News Agency reports. According to the report, Erdogan will meet King Salman bin Abdulaziz to bolster trade with Saudi Arabia as Turkiye's current economic crisis costs him support ahead of...

Jordan has intensified efforts to push Israel to respect the historic status quo of Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque and avoid violent confrontations that could threaten a wider conflict, Jordanian officials and Western diplomats said on Thursday. According to Reuters, the officials said that Jordan had notified Washington that it was...

China and Iran have agreed to expand their military cooperation following the visit by Chinese Defence Minister Wei Fenghe to Tehran yesterday, where he held talks with senior Iranian officials, including President Ebrahim Raisi. The agreement was announced by the chief of staff of Iran's armed forces, Major General...

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) report shows that there has been a 9 per cent increase in discrimination against Muslims in the US During a press conference of a newly published report "Still Suspect: The Impact of Structural Islamophobia", CAIR Director, Nihad Awad, said Islamophobia is structural and deep...

Egyptian President, Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, called on the country's political parties for a comprehensive dialogue, which is considered the first since he took power in 2014, Anadolu News Agency reports. An Egyptian expert told Anadolu Agency that the political dialogue will include the participation of civilian and Salafist Islamist...

A Military Court Investigative Judge in Lebanon, Najat Abu Chacra, has issued an arrest warrant in absentia against journalist Maria Maalouf, on charges of "espionage, treason and incitement" in connection with an interview she gave to Israeli army spokesman Avichay Adraee. The journalist is accused of violating Article 7/1...

Russia, on Thursday, urged Israel to cease its strikes on Syria, saying the attacks are "categorically unacceptable and inadmissible", Anadolu News Agency reports. Speaking at a press briefing in Moscow, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, strongly condemned the Israeli actions, stressing that they violate international law. "We demand that...

Israeli naval forces detained six Palestinian fishermen yesterday and destroyed their boat off the Rafah coast, south of the blockaded Gaza Strip, reported Wafa news agency. Zakaria Baker of the Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAEC) in Gaza said that Israeli gunboats opened fire on a group of fishermen while they...

A French lawyer has expressed deep concern over the recent assault of two veiled young Muslim women by police officers at the Pont de Clichy in the north-western part of the capital, Paris, Anadolu News Agency reports. Video footage showing police officers involved in the incident on 14 April...

At the very centre of Palazzo Mora, an old Venetian building, I stepped across the front yard and then through rooms where workers were still setting up artworks from parallel shows, in preparation for the 2022 Venice Art Biennale running from 23 April to 27 November 2022. Finally, I...

Algeria threatened, Wednesday, to cut off gas supplies to Spain if any of the gas winds up in a different location than specified by a contract, Anadolu News Agency reports. Transporting any amount of Algerian gas to a different destination is considered a breach of contractual obligations and would...

The US yesterday thanked Turkiye for its role in the release of a former Marine who had been held in Russia for three years. Trevor Reed, an American citizen, was exchanged for Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko at an airport in Turkiye. White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said the Biden...

The uncle of Jordan's King Abdullah II has been sentenced to 18 years in jail and fined $268 million on corruption charges. Walid Al-Kurdi, who is married to the king's aunt, was sentenced yesterday in absentia on charges relating to his time as chairman and CEO of the state-owned...

The Syrian Response Coordination Group has expressed its deep concern and anger over the recurring cases of food poisoning among displaced civilians in Idlib Governorate after consuming "spoiled food" provided by relief organisations operating in the area. In a media statement released on Wednesday, the group condemned such reckless...

The Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) and the Palestinian Authority (PA)'s positions towards the events in Jerusalem are "weak and marginal", member of the Fatah Revolutionary Council, Hatem Abdel Qader, said. In remarks to Al-Resalah, Abdel Qader said the PLO's position did not rise to the level of risks facing Jerusalem,...

Hamas political bureau member Mousa Abu Marzook said on Wednesday that the movement continues to make contacts with many parties in order to curb the Israeli attacks and provocations in the occupied city of Jerusalem. The senior official said that these contacts were both international and regional in order...

A British judge on Tuesday denied a bid by Qatar Airways to reinstate a jet contract cancelled by Europe's Airbus, Reuters reports. The companies have been locked in a safety dispute for months on Europe's A350 long-haul jet. Their unprecedented bust-up widened in January when Airbus revoked a separate deal for...

German-Turkish footballer Mesut Ozil has taken to twitter to spread awareness of the plight of India's Muslims who face persecution in the Hindu-majority country. Yesterday, on one of the final ten days of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, the former Real Madrid and Arsenal player called on the...

Some 250,000 Muslim worshippers prayed at Al-Aqsa Mosque last night to mark the 27th evening of the holy month of Ramadan. The Department of Islamic Endowments in occupied East Jerusalem said 250,000 Palestinian worshippers from the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, and from Israel, flocked to Al-Aqsa Mosque to...

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has received legal submissions accusing Israel of systematically targeting journalists working in Palestine and failing to properly investigate killings of media workers, which amount to war crimes. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), the Palestinian Journalists' Syndicate (PJS) and the International Centre of Justice...

Algeria has completed work on a crude oil refining project in Hassi Messaoud, the largest oil city in the country, to pump 60,000 barrels per day. state-owned Sonatrach said today. The statement stated that the CEO, Taoufik Hakkar, yesterday travelled to the southeastern city of Hassi Messaoud, and visited...

Tunisian President Kais Saied asked his Egyptian counterpart to persuade Gulf states to provide Tunis support after economists warned that economic collapse is possible as a result of the political situation in the country, the former minister of foreign affairs has said. In a Facebook post Rafik Abdessalem said...

The Egyptian authorities have pardoned 3,273 prisoners to commemorate Sinai Liberation Day on 25 April, the interior ministry in Cairo has announced. According to a ministry statement, the releases result from President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi's decision "to reactivate the Presidential Pardon Committee." It added that it will work "in...

Somalia's lawmakers elected a new parliamentary speaker on Thursday following a tense standoff between African Union peacekeepers and police, Reuters has reported. The situation underscores bitter divisions within Somalia's security forces exacerbated by delayed elections. On Wednesday, police loyal to President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, usually known by his nickname...

Israel sees an existential threat in everything, because it is a state like no other; it cannot close its eyes at night and sleep soundly when the rest of the world is stormy. It was created after decades of a game between superpowers, and it maintains this balancing act...

Tunisia could be saved if President Kais Saied was impeached, and presidential and parliamentary elections were held, former President Moncef Marzouki said yesterday. "Saied's impeachment, reopening dissolved institutions, arranging a transition phase based on the constitution, changing the electoral law, and holding presidential and legislative elections overseen by an...

Latin America is one of the most supportive regions of the Palestinian cause. This was evident with the official recognition of the State of Palestine by most countries in the region, except for Mexico and Panama. Latin American governments proved their positions over the years by supporting United Nations...

Kuwait yesterday summoned the Iraqi ambassador to protest against recent remarks by a lawmaker who accused the Gulf state of "assulting Iraqi fishermen." According to a statement by the ministry, the Kuwaiti Deputy Foreign Minister, Majdi Al-Dhafiri, held a meeting with the Iraqi Ambassador, Al-Manhal Al-Safi, where he expressed...

After Israeli occupation forces stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque once again during Ramadan, several Arab and Islamic states condemned its actions. This angered Israel as it fears the effect this will have on the normalisation deals it signed with a number of Muslim states in 2020, and the outcome of efforts...

Over the last few months, Libya's Internal Security Agency (ISA) has rounded up seven young Libyans, accusing them of very serious crimes including that of apostasy, contempt of Islam and spreading of atheism. Such accusations in the predominantly Muslim and overwhelmingly conservative country could be a death sentence, even...

The US Embassy in Libya, on Wednesday, voiced concern over the continued shutdown of the country's oil facilities by tribal groups demanding the departure of Prime Minister, Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh, Anadolu News Agency reports. "The United States is deeply concerned by the continued oil shutdown, which is depriving Libyans...

Israel's housing policies in East Jerusalem amount to "racial segregation and discrimination" against the Palestinian people and a violation of their human rights, a group of UN experts said Thursday, and Anadolu News Agency reports. The experts made their assessment based on reports that Palestinians have been subject to...

The ultimate ambition of those who supported the coup in Tunisia on the night of President Kais Saied's introduction to his "great people", when hundreds of cars in the capital's upscale neighbourhoods roamed the city streets, was to rid them of the Ennahda movement, which they were unable to...

Turkiye said no warship has passed through the Straits since the country restricted them through Turkish Straits, Defence Minister, Hulusi Akar, said Wednesday, Anadolu News Agency reports. According to the report, Turkiye implemented the Montreux Convention to block warships due to the war between Russia and Ukraine. "There has...

The Israeli High Court of Justice, on Monday, ordered the State to submit a plan detailing steps to ensure settlers living in Nokdim, an illegal West Bank settlement, will stop attacking the Palestinian villagers. According to Haaretz, the Israeli settlers have been given 15 days to justify their illegal...

Former British Prime Minister, David Cameron, issued a robust defence yesterday of UK's counter-terrorism strategy, known as "Prevent". Writing in the Times, the 55-year old took-aim at mainstream Muslim organisations critical of the so-called de-radicalisation programme. In the article, Cameron endorsed a new report by the Policy Exchange think...

Turkiye could acquire the second part of the S-400 air defence system from Russia, the head of the country's top defence body said late Tuesday and Turkish national broadcaster, TRT reports. According to the report, Ismail Demir, chairperson of the Presidency of Defence Industries (SSB) said the purchasing of...

On Saturday, a Cairo court found journalist and writer Rasha Azab not guilty of charges of insult, defamation, and deliberately disturbing film director Islam Azazi. The case dates to December 2020 when the online blog Daftar Hekayat published anonymous testimonies from six survivors who said that Islam had sexually...

Can you imagine what it must be like to know that your child is being kept in solitary confinement, in a room without light and electricity, and without enough food and water? And that he has been there for more than five months? Could you bear to see your...

The 12-minute film, created by Amira Al-Shanti and produced by Interbang Productions in 2021, is a piece of digital spoken word which explores the complex feelings and identity of a Palestinian Diaspora in Scotland. It captures the intricate balance between the nostalgic romanticism of a homeland she cannot return...

Over 500 civilians in Yemen were kidnapped and forcibly disappeared last year, according to a report by the Abductees' Mothers Association. The association's sixth annual report, entitled 'Mothers at the Gates of Justice 3', revealed that 586 civilians were kidnapped in 2021, of that figure 422 were kidnapped by...

A civil society group in Tunisia has called on President Kais Saied to cancel the referendum scheduled for July because the committee to prepare the bills for political reforms has not been put together yet, Anadolu has reported. A statement issued by I Watch on Tuesday pointed out that,...

A Tunisian judge detained seven crew members of a commercial ship that sank off the coast of the southern city of Gabes this month, a judicial official said on Wednesday, as authorities investigated whether the ship may have been deliberately sunk, Reuters reports. Tunisian officials said, this month, that the ship, the Xelo,...

Somalia's prime minister has asked African Union soldiers to take over protection of lawmakers as they pick new leadership, after warning police and intelligence officials not to interfere in the long-overdue elections, Reuters reports. Somalia's long-delayed election process has been beset by violence and a power struggle between President Mohamed Abdullahi...

An Israeli court today convicted seven people of incitement to violence and terrorism for their role in a 2015 wedding where far-right Jews were videotaped mocking a murdered Palestinian toddler, Reuters reports. One of the accused was also found guilty of supporting a terrorist organisation and incitement to racism, a...

When in 2014 Daesh fighters seized control of parts of Iraq's territory, Mosul became the jihadists' main bastion in the country. Following the takeover, Daesh began a campaign of terror against civilians. In 2016 the Iraqi army launched a military offensive to recapture the city and, after more than...