An Egyptian man has set himself on fire in his wife’s family home in Giza Governorate after failing to persuade her to return to their marital home. According to Muraselon he poured petrol over himself and then self-immolated, killing himself instantly. The suicide comes just days after a 20-year-old...

Former heavyweight boxing champion Anthony Joshua said he would “definitely be bothered” if his world title rematch against Andy Ruiz Jr was being used to “sportswash” Saudi Arabia’s dismal human rights record. The previously undefeated British fighter is hoping to reclaim three of the Heavyweight world titles tomorrow, which...

Hundreds of pro-Iran militia supporters organised a protest in the Iraqi capital Baghdad near Tahrir Square, the stronghold of anti-establishment protesters, raising fears of clashes between the two sides, Anadolu Agency reported. According to the news site, the participants raised the flags of the pro-Iran Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF)...

Qatar and Sudan have held a joint military drill in the Red Sea province to the east of Sudan, the Qatari Defence Ministry announced in a statement. The head of Qatar’s Colleges and Institutions Authority, Rashid Nasser, and the Sudanese Governor of the Red Sea state Governor Major General Hafiz El...

The Syrian regime has defended China after the US Congress condemned the People’s Republic for its human rights violations and abuse of the Uyghur Muslims. Syria’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement yesterday defending China following the US condemnation, stating that it is a “blatant interference by the US in...

The Palestinian Archbishop of Jerusalem’s Greek Orthodox Church, Atallah Hanna, has spoken out against the Israeli occupation and stressed his support for the Palestinian people and cause, urging Christians around the world to do the same. Speaking exclusively to MEMO at the “First Global Conference on Israeli Apartheid”, which took...

Mohamed Ali, 45 years old, is an amateur actor whose company was involved in the Egyptian army’s contracting investments for 15 years until a dispute arouse over a few million dollars. This resulted in him flying to Spain, taking with him what was left of his wealth, to expose...

The Israeli government yesterday signed a deal with the Czech Republic to sell radar systems used in the Iron Dome missile defence system. The deal, inked by the two country’s respective defence ministries, is worth an estimated $125 million, reported AFP, with delivery set for 2021-2023. According to the...

The United States Congress advanced a new resolution supporting a two-state solution for Israelis and Palestinians, which can be brought to the floor for a vote. According to a report in the Hill, lawmakers “adopted two amendments meant to satisfy Republican and Democratic demands to achieve bipartisan consensus”. Ultimately,...

The director of Israel’s Central Elections Committee yesterday warned that it is unprepared for a likely third vote in less than a year, reported the Times of Israel. “We don’t have staff, offices, equipment. The storerooms are empty. This is the current situation,” Orly Adas said during a press...

Russia and Turkey are working on a contract for the delivery of a new batch of Russian S-400 missile systems, the Interfax news agency cited a senior official at a Russian military cooperation agency as saying on Friday, Reuters reports. Such a deal would be likely to further strain...

Sudan’s ruling council on Thursday hailed the exchange of ambassadors between Sudan and the US which ended a 23-year hiatus, Anadolu reports. “It is a positive step in the right direction toward normalizing relations between the two countries along with removing Sudan from the US list of state sponsors...

The European Union will grant €297 million ($329 million) to support Syrian refugees and host communities in Jordan and Lebanon, the European Commission announced on Thursday, Anadolu reports. The newly adopted assistance package aims at improving healthcare and living conditions of the Syrian refugees and host communities, as well...

Surprisingly, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas made a phone call to former Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal, to get reassured about his health condition, which led to the rapid spread of the news among the Palestinians. Nonetheless, Hamas and Abbas have not revealed the content of the phone call, even if...

European powers will demand Iran stop violating their nuclear deal or potentially face renewed UN sanctions, but with Tehran locked in conflict over US sanctions, there appears to be little scope for compromise when they meet on Friday, Reuters reports. The meeting comes amid heightened friction between Iran and...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is trying hard to persuade US President Donald Trump to give Israel underground bunker-buster bombs to use them in attacking Iran’s nuclear facilities, Israeli political circles reported. The Hebrew version of Al-Monitor website quoted the circles as saying that Netanyahu is trying to convince...

State-owned oil giant Saudi Aramco’s initial public offering (IPO) will be the biggest in history, but will fall short of the towering $2 trillion valuations long sought by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Reuters reports. Aramco priced its IPO at 32 riyals ($8.53) per share, the top of its...

Saudi Arabia will meet Bahrain in the Arabian Gulf Cup final after Abdullah Al-Hamdan scored a first-half goal as they beat hosts Qatar 1-0 in the semi-finals on Thursday, Reuters reports. Al-Hamdan headed home after 28 minutes and the Saudis withstood late pressure from the Asian champions to reach...

Avigdor Lieberman, chairman of the Yisrael Beiteinu party, said that all efforts “to form a unity government or a narrow government in Israel have failed” and therefore, we are heading to another election. Lieberman added that the responsibility for establishing a unity government rests with the Likud parties, led...

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived in Rabat on yesterday for an official visit to Morocco to discuss economic and security partnership between the two countries.  Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccan Expatriates, Nasser Bourita along with Chargé d’Affaires of the Washington Embassy in Morocco David...

Iranian security forces may have killed more than 1,000 people since protests began over the government’s decision to raise fuel prices, according to a top State Department official, Anadolu Agency reports. “We can’t be certain because regime blocks information,” US Special Representative for Iran Brian Hook told a press conference at...

The Turkish president on Thursday said Turkey took NATO allies’ security concerns seriously and expected a similar policy toward Turkey from its alliance partners, Anadolu Agency reports. Speaking to reporters about his meetings during Wednesday’s NATO leaders’ summit in London, Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the main topics were the refugee crisis, fight against terrorism,...

Israel marked the International Day of Persons with Disabilities by donating three paediatric wheelchairs to the UN Human Rights Council. The aim, according to Israel’s Permanent Representative in Geneva, was “to make the UN truly accessible, so that persons with physical disabilities can actively take part and influence world...

OPEC was advised to lower its oil production level by an additional 500,000 barrels per day (bpd), Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said Thursday, Anadolu Agency reports. “Global oil demand is on the decline due to the winter season,” Novak told reporters in Vienna after leaving a meeting of the Joint...

Iran on Thursday rejected pressure to shelve its ballistic missile programme after a European letter to the UN Security Council accused Tehran of developing missiles capable of being delivering nuclear bombs, Reuters reports. The British, German and French ambassadors to the UN Security Council, in a letter circulated on Wednesday,...

Egypt has sold almost half of the land earmarked for the first phase of a huge project to develop a new capital 50 km east of Cairo, an official at the state-owned company building it said, Reuters reports. The as-yet unnamed city is being built in the desert by a company...

It is hardly surprising to see Middle Eastern countries at the bottom of the World Press Freedom Index, as the worst violators of freedom of the press. But equally alarming is the complete polarization of public opinion as a result of self-serving media and, bankrolled by rich Arab countries,...

In the midst of the 2011 uprising then newly appointed Vice President Omar Suleiman said that Egyptians were not ready for democracy. Such comments were to be expected from a remnant of the ancien regime who had obvious vested interests in keeping the mechanisms of the deep state in...

READ: UK prince made ‘unbelievable’ racist comments against Arabs...

The US Department of Justice has charged eight individuals with conspiracy to hide the “source of excessive contributions” made by groups supporting Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, including Lebanese-American businessman George Nader, who was also named as a witness in the report of the special investigator on Russian intervention...

US President Donald Trump praised Turkey yesterday for its efforts to ensure security and stability in northern Syria, as well its commitment to a deal with the US and Russia in the region. Trump made the comments to reporters during his meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in London...

Israel announced that it will likely indict seven high-ranking former Israeli officials including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s former attorney David Shimron, with bribery and money laundering in connection with the $2 billion submarine bribery scandal. Among those facing charges in the case, known as Case 3000, are former chief...

Israel’s continued occupation of Palestinian territory, as well as the efforts that Israel goes to to impose second-class citizen status on Palestinian citizens and inhabitants of the occupied West Bank prompted the “First Global Conference on Israeli Apartheid” to take place in Istanbul, Turkey, last weekend. Inaugurating the conference,...

The US is seriously considering bulking up its military presence in the Middle East to counter Iranian threat. Some 14,000 additional troops, dozens of war ships and other military hardware could be deployed to the region, the Wall Street Journal reported. President Donald Trump is expected to make a...

Iran has been sharply rebuked by Britain, France and Germany over its testing of ballistic missiles. In a letter to the UN, the European countries alleged that the Islamic Republic was behaving in a manner that contravened the 2015 UN Security Council resolution which called on Tehran not to...

On Tuesday the United States House Intelligence Committee, investigating President Donald Trump, issued its report on the impeachment of the republican. Yesterday, the process of impeaching him moved to the House Judiciary Committee where actual charges against the president will be articulated. The drama is expected to continue for...

WATCH: Cockroaches in Madina...

At least 430 women were killed across Turkey in the first 11 months of 2019, with 39 murdered in November, 36 in October and 53 in September, according to a report by KCDP women’s rights organisation that monitors violence against women. On Monday, 20-year-old university student and ballerina Ceren...

The Kuwaiti Court of Appeals yesterday commuted a sentence against a Kuwaiti man accused of the attempted murder of an Egyptian expatriate in Shuwaikh Industrial Area. The court decided to reduce the man’s prison term from 17 years to four with hard labour on charges of attempted murder following...

We are a group of Liberal Democrats committed to free speech, particularly concerning Israel and Palestine. On 16 September, we used this Open Democracy article to ask our leaders to distance themselves from the constant anti-Semitism smears against Labour. Tim Farron started by welcoming “Jewish people who feel alienated by the...

The son of Iran’s Supreme Leader’s representative in Manchester is currently running as a Liberal Democrats candidate for a seat in parliament ahead of next week’s elections. Ali Avaei, who has been a member of the party for more than a decade, immigrated to the UK in 2001 and...

For the first time, 13 countries changed their longstanding positions and voted against a pro-Palestine measure at the United Nations on Tuesday. Germany, the Czech Republic, Austria, Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, Greece, Lithuania, Netherlands, Romania, Slovakia, Brazil and Colombia voted against the annual resolution regarding the “Division for Palestinian Rights...

Turkey will begin oil and gas exploration and production studies in the Eastern Mediterranean soon after signing a memorandum of understanding with Libya last week, the energy minister announced yesterday. Turkey Energy and Natural Resources Minister Fatih Donmez said the move comes after Ankara signed an agreement on maritime...

An Israeli delegation consisted of 100 officials was stopped and carefully inspected at Jordanian-Israeli border crossing as they were heading to Amman, Israeli media reported on Tuesday. The delegation, which included religious and ultra-Orthodox deputy mayors of Israeli Jewish settlements were heading to Petra for an official tour. Israeli...

Backed by the Democrats, the US House of Representatives is planning to vote on a resolution reaffirming the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict tomorrow. The resolution was introduced by Representatives Alan Lowenthal (D-Calif.), Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) and Karen Bass (D-Calif.). Originally, this was introduced in April and referred to the...

Israeli yesterday released Hamas leader Jamal Al-Taweel after two years being held under administrative detention. The 57-year-old, who was elected mayor of Al Bireh in 2006, spent his time in administrative detention in Al Naqab Prison. His daughter, Bushra, said that her father went on hunger strike against his...

A senior Fatah leader revealed that Palestinian Authority (PA), Fatah and PLO President Mahmoud Abbas is to visit Cairo soon to meet with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi. Reporting the Deputy Commissioner of Fatah’s International Relations, Abdullah Abdullah, Arabi21 said that this visit will potentially take place on 14...

The Israeli government has increased discretionary spending on settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory by 50 per cent over the last two years, reported the Jerusalem Post. According to data published by settlement watchdog Peace Now, so-called “discretionary spending” “is expenditure by various ministries outside the general budget, including...

Israeli authorities have advanced plans for a major expansion of Gilo, a key settlement in occupied East Jerusalem just north of Bethlehem. According to human rights NGO Ir Amim, the plans will add more than 1,500 housing units to Gilo. On 27 November, the Local Planning Committee discussed two...

Former Knesset member and NGO Monitor board member Einat Wilf has been questioned by police “over accusations that she assaulted a minor”, reported the Times of Israel. The story had been previously reported in the Israeli media but it was only yesterday that Wilf’s name was permitted for publication...