The US and Israel have agreed to launch a joint international investigation into the attack on the Israeli-managed Mercer Street tanker off the Omani coast. According to Spokesperson Ned Price, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with Israeli Foreign Minister and Alternate Prime Minister Yair Lapid and agreed...

British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab announced on Sunday that it was "highly likely" that Iran was behind the tanker attack off the coast of Oman, killing two people last Thursday, Reuters reported. "We believe this attack was deliberate, targeted, and a clear violation of international law by Iran. UK...

The Journalist Support Committee (JSC) said it has documented 61 Israeli violations against journalists in the occupied Palestinian territories during July, Anadolu news agency reported. The Geneva-based rights group said in a statement yesterday that the violations included the targeting and wounding of 22 Palestinian journalists using rubber-coated metal bullets, sponge...

An Israeli settler shot at Palestinians in the occupied West Bank using an Israeli soldier's weapon, footage released by rights group B'Tselem shows. Palestinian who witnessed the incident, which took place on 26 June, said the soldier gave the settler the weapon, while the Israeli military claims the settler...

The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza on Sunday warned of the repercussions of the lack of medicine and treatment protocols for cancer patients due to the continued Israeli blockade. In a press conference held under the name "save cancer patients", Dr Muhammad Abu Nada, head of the oncology...

The plans to sneak Israel quietly into the African Union as an observer state appear to have backfired spectacularly. Israeli celebrations may be premature as Algeria, one of Palestine's strongest supporters in Africa, garners support to oppose the colonial state's affiliation. News began to emerge last week that Israel...

Tunisia's Ennahda National Youth Movement on Sunday urged the movement's leader, Rached Ghannouchi, to form a national leadership including youth to save the political track of the country, Anadolu Agency reported. The call came a week after President Kais Saied dismissed Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi, removed the immunity of...

The Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas on Sunday praised the Algerian stance on supporting the Palestinian issue and rejecting normalisation of ties with Israel, a statement announced. "We also highly evaluate the steadfast Algerian efforts seeking to dismiss the Zionist entity from the African Union (AU)," the statement added....

Algeria has taken vigorous steps with several African countries to revoke Israel's observer status at the African Union (AU), local media reported on Sunday. Local El-Waq3 quoted official sources stating that Algiers had officially started forming an African state team to reject a recent decision by the union to...

Algeria's forest fires have caused "heavy losses" the National Delegate for Major Risks at the Algerian Interior Ministry Abdelhamid Afra announced on Sunday, stressing that the country would impose "severe penalties" on the arsonists, amounting to 30 years in prison. "The 350 fire spots were reported to have caused...

At least two people have been killed and others wounded in armed clashes on Sunday between Shia mourners in Beirut's southern town of Khalde, when gunmen opened fire at the funeral of a Hezbollah commander who was killed the previous day. Anadolu Agency quoted eyewitnesses stating that the clashes...

Egypt on Sunday called upon Tunisians to avoid escalation and violence amid tension after the country's president dismissed the government and suspended parliament, reports Anadolu Agency. Last week, Tunisian President Kais Saied dismissed the government of Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi, froze the parliament, and assumed executive authority with the...

Iran's outgoing President Hassan Rouhani on Sunday apologised to the Iranians for the hardships they endured during his eight-year administration, reports Anadolu Agency. Speaking during his final cabinet meeting, Rouhani acknowledged that his government shared "only part of the truth" with the people as he was afraid it would...

Eight Egyptian army soldiers have been killed in anti-terrorism operations, the armed forces said on Sunday, reports Reuters. According to an armed forces statement, most of the fighting took place in the northern Sinai, where militants loyal to the Daesh group operate, "during the last period". It was not...

READ: Handicapped Palestinians' demonstration in Gaza...

The Israeli government on Sunday granted 15,000 work permits for Palestinians from the West Bank to work in the construction sector, reports Anadolu Agency. Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz said the granting of 15,000 work permits was done in cooperation with the housing, finance, defense, and regional cooperation ministries....

Seventeen Palestinian detainees in Israel have launched a hunger strike in protest of their administrative detention without charge or trial, a local NGO said on Sunday, reports Anadolu Agency. In a statement, the Palestinian Prisoner Society said the detainees have gone on hunger strike to protest Israel's policy of...

Israeli cabinet ministers on Sunday began debate on the 2021-2022 state budget, more than three years after the government last approved a fiscal spending package, reports Reuters. Due to two years of political stalemate and four elections, Israel is using a pro-rated version of the 2019 state budget that...

Waiting in line to receive a COVID-19 jab from the Tunisian army, Zubeir Bin Ammar was in little doubt that the military and President Kais Saied were succeeding where the government he removed from power had failed, reports Reuters. "May God bless the army and the president. I hope...

Twenty-one electoral coalitions will run in Iraq's upcoming parliamentary elections in October, according to the country's election commission, reports Anadolu Agency. "There are a total of 3,249 candidates vying in the polls, including 951 women and 789 independents," commission spokesperson Jumana al-Ghalay said in a statement. The Al-Fatah Alliance...

UN experts on Friday called on all private military contractors and mercenaries to leave Libya immediately, saying their departure is "overdue" and a "vital precondition" for the peaceful elections planned for this year, reports Anadolu Agency. Jelena Aparac, head of the UN Working Group on the Use of Mercenaries,...

Two humanitarian rescue ships pulled 394 migrants from a dangerously overcrowded wooden boat in the Mediterranean overnight on Sunday in an operation lasting about six hours, a Reuters witness said. The German and French NGO ships Sea-Watch 3 and Ocean Viking rescued the migrants in Tunisian waters 68 km...

Iran on Sunday denied involvement in an attack that targeted an Israeli-operated oil tanker off the shores of Oman, in which two crew members were killed, reports Anadolu Agency. Speaking in his weekly news conference, Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said the Israeli accusations for Iran of being behind...

Turkey welcomed the reopening of a strategic coastal road linking Libya's east to its west, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said Saturday, reports Anadolu Agency. "We welcome the official opening of the Misrata – Sirte Coastal Road on 30 July 2021, which has been closed for a long time," it...

Qatar-based Al Jazeera television broadcast live from Egypt on Saturday for the first time in eight years, reports Anadolu Agency. Al Jazeera, which closed its offices after Egyptian security forces broke up demonstrations in Rabia and al-Nahda squares on August 14, 2013, began broadcasting again. The live broadcast was...

Ismail Haniyeh has been elected to a second term as head of Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist group that controls the Gaza Strip, two Palestinian officials told Reuters on Sunday. "Brother Ismail Haniyeh was re-elected as the head of the movement's political office for a second time," one official told...

Tunisia's Parliament Speaker Rached Ghannouchi was discharged from hospital after conducting medical checks, the moderate Islamist Ennahda party said, reports Anadolu Agency. The party said in a statement that Ghannouchi was admitted to the hospital on Saturday after feeling ill. Ghannouchi "left the hospital after conducting medical checks and...

Ninety-eight of 107 forest fires in Turkey are under control, the nation's Agriculture and Forestry Minister said late Saturday, reports Anadolu Agency. Efforts to contain nine blazes are still ongoing, Bekir Pakdemirli said during a news conference at a fire management center in the Degirmenyani district of southwestern Mugla...

The head of Tunisia's biggest party, the moderate Islamist Ennahda, on Saturday postponed a meeting of its highest council after senior members called for his resignation over his handling of the political crisis, party sources said, reports Reuters. Rached Ghannouchi, who is also parliament speaker, has played a critical...

Syrian President Bashar al Assad has tasked Prime Minister Hussein Arnous with forming a new government following an election in May that extended Assad's two-decade-old presidency, reports Reuters. Assad originally named Arnous as prime minister last August to replace Imad Khamis, who was fired as Syria grappled with a...

The US Navy is assisting an Israeli-managed petroleum products tanker attacked off Oman with two crew members killed, the US military said on Saturday, adding the ship was most likely hit by a drone strike, reports Reuters. Mercer Street, a Liberian-flagged, Japanese-owned vessel that was attacked on Thursday, is...

Tunisian authorities have placed a former judge under house arrest, according to local media on Saturday, Anadolu Agency reported. A security force enforced a decision by Interior Minister Reda Gharslawi to place Bechir Akremi under house arrest, the private radio station, Mosaique FM, reported. According to the decision, Akremi is banned...

Algerian authorities on Saturday withdrew the accreditation of the Saudi-funded Al-Arabiya TV channel for propagating "misinformation", Anadolu Agency reports. "A decision was reached to withdraw the accreditation of Al-Arabiya news channel for not respecting the rules of professional ethics and practicing media misinformation and manipulation," the Algerian Ministry of Communications said in a brief...

Tunisia's moderate Islamist Ennahda party on Saturday called on President Kais Saied to engage in dialogue to avoid deepening the country's political crisis, Anadolu Agency reported. "The possible and effective way-out of these problems will not be through monopolizing power, which can only increase the spread of corruption, nepotism, and injustice,"...

Bill 13.21, the bill to legalise the use of cannabis, came into force on Friday in Morocco after it was published in the Official Gazette. Last May, the Moroccan House of Representatives (the first chamber of Parliament) approved a bill legalising the use of cannabis for medical and industrial...

Tunisian President Kais Saied on Friday received Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Prince Faisal Bin Farhan Bin Abdullah Al-Saud at Carthage Palace. The Tunisian presidency announced in a statement that the Saudi foreign minister conveyed the greetings of King Salman and his crown prince...

Oil revenues in Libya rose to record levels in June, reaching around $2.13 billion. The National Oil Corporation (NOC) announced that June's net revenues from sales of crude oil, gas, condensates, petroleum products and petrochemicals reached record levels, driven by increased demand for oil and a surge in global...

A Tunisian judicial source has revealed that four people affiliated with the Ennahda Movement were released on Friday after being summoned by an examining magistrate on charges of "attempting to carry out acts of violence in front of Parliament" on Monday and Tuesday. A source at the Court of...

The European Union (EU) announced on Friday that it had approved a legal framework for a sanctions mechanism targeting Lebanese individuals and entities. This comes following a year-long crisis that left Lebanon reeling from financial collapse, massive inflation and food and fuel shortages. The EU added in a statement...

Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi, son of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, announced on Friday that he is arranging a return to political life in his first video interview since his disappearance ten years ago. In an interview with The New York Times, Gaddafi's son asserted: "Now, I am a free...

A number of Republican senators are backing a bill that would see the products of illegal Israeli settlements labelled as "Made in Israel", Israeli newspaper The Jerusalem Post reported on Saturday. One of the last orders of the former US President Donald Trump required products of Israeli settlements to...

Tens of Palestinians took part in an anti-settlement and eviction demonstration in the neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah in occupied East Jerusalem, Anadolu Agency reported on Friday. An Anadolu Agency reporter disclosed that tens of Palestinians, including Arab Israeli MKs, gathered in Sheikh Jarrah and chanted against Israeli settlements and...

The US State Department has approved the potential sale of 18 heavy-lift helicopters to Israel in a deal valued at up to $3.4 billion, a statement issued on Friday revealed. According to the statement, Israel will receive 18 CH-53K heavy-lift helicopters to replace the ageing Yasur squadron. It will...

At least 270 Palestinians have been wounded in a violent Israeli crackdown on protests in the occupied West Bank on Friday, the Palestine Red Crescent Society announced. Seven Palestinian protesters were wounded with live bullets, and 50 others were injured with rubber-coated metal bullets. The others were either suffocated...

Israeli officials have blamed Iran for the attack on a tanker owned by Israeli businessman Eyal Ofer, Israeli media and AP reported on Friday. The Times of Israel also reported that the US shares Israel's belief that Iran is allegedly responsible for the attack on the ship, which took...

Hanging off the side of a valley in Turkey's picturesque southwest is a spellbinding snow-white cascade of travertine terraces where mineral-rich thermal water flows down from 17 hot springs. Pamukkale, which literally translates to 'cotton castle' in Turkish, owes its name to enchanting formations of white limestone and calcium...

During his visit to Khartoum, Algerian Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra will propose his country's mediation of the dispute over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, Anadolu Agency reported on Friday. Lamamra has started a diplomatic tour of several African countries to discuss a number of issues, including cooperation between Algeria...

Israeli occupation forces have killed four Palestinians, including two children, and wounded 1,090 others, including 141 children, during the previous 20 days, a United Nations (UN) report revealed on Saturday. In the report, which covered the period between 8 and 28 July, the United Nations Office for the Coordination...

In a phone call on Friday, Turkish and Afghan defense ministers discussed the security of Hamid Karzai International Airport, Turkish authorities said, Anadolu Agency reported. In a statement, the Turkish National Defense Ministry said Hulusi Akar and his Afghan counterpart Bismillah Khan Mohammadi also addressed the regional security and bilateral relations....

A German court sentenced a neo-Nazi woman to six years in prison on Friday for planning terror attacks against politicians, mosques, and pro-refugee NGOs in the country, Anadolu Agency reports. The Higher Regional Court in Munich found Susanne G. guilty of attempting to disturb public peace and making preparations for serious...