The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Tuesday said it would hold an emergency meeting later this week to discuss the terrorist attacks on two mosques in New Zealand, Anadolu reports. Coming at the request of Turkey, the meeting slated for March 22 is to be held in Istanbul...

Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu on Tuesday met Syria’s Bashar al-Assad in the Syrian capital of Damascus, according to Russian Defense Ministry, Anadolu reports. The visit was made on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s directives, the ministry said in a statement. Shoygu held talks with Assad and conveyed to him...

The US on Tuesday pledged $500,000 in security assistance to Libya’s UN-backed National Accord Government, Anadolu reports. US Ambassador to Tripoli Peter Bodde and AFRICOM Commander Gen. Thomas Waldhauser met Libyan Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj in the capital Tripoli. The US officials “affirmed Washington’s support for Libya as a...

Hungary on Tuesday opened a foreign trade representation office in Jerusalem, according to a statement issued by the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office, Anadolu reports. The inauguration was attended by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hungarian Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Peter Szijjarto. Speaking on the occasion, Netanyahu said it...

Three Palestinian protesters were injured on Tuesday by Israeli army gunfire near the Gaza-Israel buffer zone, according to Palestinian Health Ministry, Anadolu reports. In a statement, the ministry said that the three — whose names were not provided — were wounded by live ammunition while they were participating in demonstrations...

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Israeli occupying forces today demolished a Palestinian school in occupied East Jerusalem. According to eyewitnesses, a large number of Israeli occupation forces broke into the Shuafat refugee camp and evacuated the students and faculty before the demolition of the two-story building. No warning was given prior to the demolition...

One of the foremost human rights groups in the world has criticised the failure to publish a long-awaited database of companies facilitating illegal Israeli settlements and denounced the obstruction of an investigation by the International Criminal Court (ICC) into possible war crimes and crimes against humanity carried out by...

Israeli occupation forces have announced that no crossings or checkpoints will operate from today until Saturday leaving the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip cut off. The decision comes as Israel prepares to mark the Jewish holiday of Purim tomorrow and Thursday. The closure will last from midnight tonight...

MEMO photographer from the Gaza Strip Mohammed Asad is in Qatar to display his work covering the popular March of Return protests. The exhibition, part of events held by the Qatar Youth Opposed to Normalization (QAYON), is an effort to highlight the occupation’s manoeuvres to limit freedom of the press, attack...

US Congressman Ilhan Omar has called on America to put human rights, justice, and peace at the centre of its foreign policy and cited examples in the Middle East where she said: “Washington has failed to apply these universal values to all nations”. “I believe in an inclusive foreign...

The family of a Palestinian businessman has appealed to Ghanaian authorities to investigate the whereabouts of their son, who disappeared upon arriving in the capital city Accra three months ago, fearing he has been kidnapped by foreign intelligence forces. Mahran Baajour was last seen on 13 December 2018 when...

UN war crimes investigators yesterday called on Israel to stop its snipers using lethal force against protesters in the Gaza Strip, as the anniversary approached of the start of demonstrations there, Reuters reported. The Commission of Inquiry said Israel should investigate the shooting of more than 6,000 people, far beyond...

Despite the dissonance between Israel and humanitarian aid, there is no lack of propaganda seeking to portray the settler-colonial state as a shining beacon for others to emulate. A forthcoming photo exhibition is now set to be hosted at the UN to showcase, in the words of Israel’s Ambassador...

Israel Channel 2 said Iran has obtained information leaked from the mobile phone and computer of former Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Barak. According to the channel, the head of the Shin Bet security service, Nadav Argaman visited Barak in July last year and informed him that his phone and...

During his most recent visit to Abu Dhabi, British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt hailed the United Arab Emirates as a beacon of tolerance. Barely four months earlier, the tone was somewhat different, with the Matthew Hedges “spying” debacle threatening to cause a serious rift in bilateral ties. News has...

Fatah Youth banned the activities of the Islamic Bloc, Hamas’ student arm, in Al-Najah University in the occupied West Bank, leading the university’s administration to ban both groups, Safa reported yesterday. The Deputy Head of the University Maher Al-Al-Najah told the media that he had decided to freeze the...

Discussions about the status of the holy city of Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque led to quarrels among Jordanian MPs, Safa news agency reported yesterday. The quarrel took place during an urgent session held specially to discuss the status of Jerusalem and the ongoing Israeli aggression on Al-Aqsa Mosque. Safa...

Hamas yesterday denied holding meetings with Israeli officials in the Egyptian capital, Cairo. The movement’s spokesman, Hazem Qassem, described the reported meeting as “false and baseless”. “The promotion of this false news is a miserable attempt to distort the resistance,” Qassem said. On Saturday, the Independent Arabia reported that...

The Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (ISESCO) called on the United Nations to declare 15 March an International Day to Combat Islamophobia. The date was chosen to honour the 50 people who were killed last week in terror attacks on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand. ISESCO Director...

Gulf countries have supported Egypt with nearly $92 billion since the revolution that overthrew the regime of President Hosni Mubarak in 2011. Sources in the Central Bank of Egypt told the New Khaleej news site that the Gulf countries’ support for Egypt included aid, grants, loans and deposits in...

Last week, the US Special Envoy to the Middle East, Jason Greenblatt, took to Twitter to attack the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement — Hamas, the de facto government of the Gaza Strip — for dispersing violent protesters in Deir Al-Balah and Jabalia. The protesters — some of whom were...

Director of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Mounir Kleibo said yesterday that unemployment and poverty rates in the Gaza Strip hit record highs in recent history, Felesteen.ps reported. Kleibo made his remarks during a visit of the ILO’s fact-finding mission to Gaza which lasted two days and aimed to document...

The Sudanese President’s government reshuffle following the imposition of a state of emergency on 22 February has been greeted with mixed reactions. The most outstanding feature of the changes is the lack of any appointments worthy of mention. Many of the same faces remain or have returned to government...

The United States on Sunday denied a Wall Street Journal report which claimed it intends to leave about 1,000 troops in Syria. The paper had reported that “as protracted administration talks with Turkey, European allies and US-backed Kurdish fighters have so far failed to secure an agreement to create...

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has slammed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his son for verbally attacking Turkey. On Saturday Erdogan called on Netanyahu to “twist the ear” of his son, Yair, as punishment for “calling Istanbul Constantinople”, warning that he had “other ways to educate Israel” if...

The number of illegal Jewish settlers who live in the occupied West Bank reached 449,805 in January this year, Israeli TV Channel 7 reported yesterday. According to the station, these Jewish settlers are distributed among 11 illegal settlement blocks across the occupied West Bank. Settlements are illegal under international...

The Palestinian Farmers’ Union in West Bank yesterday accused the Palestinian Authority (PA) of collecting “unjustified” taxes which contravene laws approved by President Mahmoud Abbas, Felesteen.ps reported. Head of the Farmers’ Union Raafat Khandaggi said the body had recorded several “violations” carried out by the PA’s Ministry of Finance....

The assault on worshippers at the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem last week by Israeli forces is yet another sobering reminder of ills afforded by Washington’s unwavering support for Israel, a Muslim-American advocacy group said Monday, Anadolu reports. Around 16 Palestinians were injured, according to Jerusalem’s Religious Endowments Authority, after Israeli police shut...

Thirteen independent trade unions in Algeria have refused to support the efforts of newly-appointed Prime Minister Noureddine Badawi to form a government he hopes will help pacify protesters who are pressing President Abdelaziz Bouteflika and his inner circle to step down. Boualem Amoura, one of the leaders of the...

Political commentators sympathetic to the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the Fatah Movement, in particular, fanned out as soon as the news was announced of Mohammad Shtayyeh’s appointment as the new Palestinian Prime Minister. It is no surprise to witness this gush of support and enthusiasm, for Shtayyeh is a...

Egypt has signed a $2 billion deal with Russia to buy more than 20 Sukhoi SU-35 multi-role fighter jets, Russia’s daily Kommersant reported yesterday. The contract, which was signed at the end of 2018, would see Russia supply “more than 20” of the aircraft, along with weapons for the planes,...

Turkey repeated on Monday that it and Iran were carrying out a joint operation against Kurdish militants, despite a denial from Tehran that it was involved, Reuters reports. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said the joint operation targeting militants from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) on Monday was the...

“Happy Birthday, Rachel!” This is what she would have heard in her hometown, Olympia, Washington. Her family and friends would have cheerfully flocked around her as she blew out forty candles on April 10, 2019. However, Rachel Corrie deserves a warm international celebration on this day to appreciate her...

Hundreds of protesters, mostly students, took to the streets in and near Sudan’s capital Khartoum on Monday, continuing a three-month wave of demonstrations that has posed the most serious challenge yet to President Omar al-Bashir’s three-decade rule, Reuters reports. Students, activists and other protesters frustrated with economic hardships have held...

The ban list imposed by Egyptian intelligence services on the appearance of ministers on official and private TV channels has been extended to include MPs. Well-informed sources revealed to Arabi21 that the ban “has included MPs and other political figures from the regime, such as Mustafa El-Gindy, and others....

US-backed fighters said they had taken positions in Daesh’s last enclave in eastern Syria and air strikes pounded the tiny patch of land beside the Euphrates River early on Monday, a Reuters journalist said. Smoke rose over the tiny enclave as warplanes and artillery bombarded it. Another witness said...

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani yesterday said that his government would file a legal case against the United States (US) over the imposition of economic sanctions on the Islamic republic, local semi-official Fars News Agency has reported. “The presidency’s legal department together with the justice and foreign affairs ministers will...

Britain’s first Member of Parliament of Palestinian descent is preparing for a historic debate on Friday to have the government give official recognition to the state of Palestine in what she says is probably the “most personal and poignant” piece of legislation she has submitted since arriving in Westminster....

Syrian refugees in Lebanon will not be able to return home as long as the Bashar al-Assad regime rejects taking them back, veteran Lebanese politician Walid Jumblatt said Monday, reports Anadolu Agency. Jumblatt, president of the Progressive Socialist Party, said the refugees are afraid to go back home out...

Sudan and South Sudan have agreed to demilitarize the disputed common borders between the two countries within one month, the defense ministries of the two countries said on Monday, says Anadolu Agency. Lt. Gen. Kamal Abdul Maroof, chief of staff of the Sudanese national army, told a press conference...

Amid ongoing protests against his rule, Algeria’s president on Monday reaffirmed his decision to hold a national conference meant to lead to a constitutional referendum, says Anadolu Agency. In a letter reported by local media, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, 82, said that Algeria is about to change its political regime and political...

Turkey on Monday condemned a shooting that had claimed three lives in the Netherlands, reports Anadolu Agency. “We strongly condemn the attack that took place today (18 March 2019) in the city of Utrecht, in the Netherlands regardless of the identity of the perpetrator and the motivation behind it,”...

The influence of Saudi Arabia‘s Bin Laden family on its eponymous construction business has been curtailed in a restructuring that follows an anti-corruption crackdown by Riyadh, a document seen by Reuters shows. Saudi businessman Khalid Nahas has been named chairman of the newly-established Binladin Group Global Holding Company, which...

Libya’s UN-backed administration agreed with the central bank and other players on a 2019 budget worth 46.8 billion dinars ($33.83 billion), it said on Monday after months of arguments, says Reuters. The “financial arrangements”, as the budget is called officially, mark an increase from last year’s 42 billion dinars....

An Iraqi court sentenced a Belgian man to death by hanging on Monday for being part of Daesh, one of dozens of foreign nationals facing the death penalty in Iraq, says Reuters. Iraq has put hundreds of suspected members of the ultra-hardline jihadist group on trial, many of whom...

Dutch police arrested a man of Turkish origin suspected of involvement in a shooting in Utrecht on Monday that killed three people and wounded five, city authorities said. The suspect was identified by police as 37-year-old Gokmen Tanis. “The chief suspect has been arrested,” the city of Utrecht said...

READ: National day of traditional dress in Libya...

The Gaza Strip has just witnessed a series of demonstrations against poor living conditions. They prompted widespread reactions critical of Hamas’s way of dealing with protesters, with some within the movement talking about stepping down from the de facto government of Gaza and calling for a new leadership. Who...

Former Tunisian President Mohamed Moncef Marzouki has stressed that the UAE cannot stop the “second wave of the Arab Spring” which is taking place in Algeria and Sudan. Marzouki said in a statement to Al-Khaleej Online that the UAE is using money to restrain the revolutions but it has...