Dubai has signed an agreement with General Motors Co's majority-owned Cruise self-driving car subsidiary to operate its autonomous vehicles in Dubai starting in 2023, Reuters reported the emirate's crown prince announcing today. The self-driving fleet will reach 4,000 vehicles by 2030, Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum said on Twitter, adding...

Iran today accused arch-foe Israel of sabotaging its key Natanz nuclear site and vowed revenge for an attack that appeared to be the latest episode in a long-running covert war, Reuters reported. Iran's semi-official Nournews website said the person who caused an electricity outage in one of the production halls at the underground uranium enrichment...

Members of Canada's New Democratic Party (NDP) have voted overwhelmingly to endorse sanctions on Israel during the party's 2021 convention. NDP members voted over the weekend in favour of a motion brought forward by a coalition of Palestinian and Jewish activists calling to amend its policy book to include...

A US official has revealed that Washington offered an unidentified ally to help Syria's first lady Asma Al-Assad get cancer treatment two years ago, as a strategy to advance negotiations for the regime to release US hostages. In October last year, during the administration of former President Donald Trump,...

Hundreds of protesters in southern Iraq yesterday closed three bridges in the city of Nasiriyah, the capital of Dhi Qar Governorate, and the Maysan Oil Company building demanding jobs for local residents, Anadolu reported. Eyewitnesses said hundreds of protesters demanding jobs in government institutions and oil companies closed the three bridges...

The separatists of the Southern Transitional Council (STC) in Yemen have created a separate economy in the south of the country and obstructed the role of the Yemeni government, an economic researcher has claimed. Faisal Abdul-Ghani made his comments in an interview with Al-Araby Al-Jadeed. He claimed that after...

Egyptian authorities have added the names of 103 members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood group to the country's list of terrorists, local media reported. The Money Laundering Combating Unit (MLCU) published the names on its website after court rulings were issued against them on 9 March and 4 April. In...

Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi yesterday laid the foundation stone for the Grand Faw Port in the southern province of Basra, a government statement said. The project includes building five berths to unload ships, a yard for containers, and creating an access navigation channel. "The Grand Faw project is...

The head of the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran (AEOI), Ali Akbar Salehi, said the Islamic Republic is a leading global producer and exporter of radiopharmaceuticals. "Our production of radiopharmaceuticals is increasing every year, for example, we have produced radioactive medicine whose foreign version is worth €15,000 ," Salehi...

Qatar has begun distributing $100 to 100,000 poor Palestinian families in the besieged Gaza Strip, Qatar's Committee for the Reconstruction of Gaza said yesterday. Palestinians went to the government banks to receive the aid. On Thursday, the Qatari Committee for the Reconstruction of Gaza said it would pay $100 each...

Jordanian Prince Hamza Bin Al Hussein was not the victim of conspirators but was involved in a real coup attempt, a Jordanian writer said in a column in Al Ghad newspaper on Saturday. Prince Hamza's signing of the declaration of allegiance was the beginning, not the end, as he now needs to...

The Israeli government's position regarding an impending investigation by the International Criminal Court over alleged war crimes committed in occupied Palestine has finally been declared by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. "It will be made clear that Israel is a country with rule of law that knows how to...

The Funeral Department of Kuwait Municipality has rejected requests by Buddhists and Hindus to cremate the bodies of their dead in Kuwait, Al Rai newspaper reported yesterday. According to the paper, the Funeral Department rejected a request to cremate corpses using modern incineration tools such as electric ovens. Director of Funeral...

The Palestinian community in Chicago, Illinois, succeeded in defeating extremist right-wing and pro-Israel candidate, Sharon Brannigan, in the local election, news agencies reported yesterday. According to news agencies, the Palestinian community mobilised other Arab communities and supporters of the Palestinian cause to take part in a campaign to ensure Brannigan does not...

Israeli defence analysts believe Israel and the US are at odds regarding the Iranian nuclear issue, local media reported yesterday. Following remarks by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Israel will not be bound by a revitalised nuclear deal between world powers and Iran, the analysts said, according to the...

Jordan's King Abdullah II on Sunday appeared with former Crown Prince Hamzah bin Al-Hussein for the first time since a rift shook the kingdom last week, Anadolu Agency reported. A statement by the Royal Court said a number of the royal family members, including Prince Hamzah and Crown Prince Hussein, joined...

An Iranian official said Sunday a power failure in the Natanz nuclear plant, near Tehran, may be the result of a "sabotage and infiltration act", according to the semi-official Fars news agency, Anadolu Agency reported. The official spoke on condition of anonymity, without giving any further details. Spokesperson of Iran's Atomic...

Yemen's Houthis on Sunday claimed two drone attacks on a Saudi airbase in southern Saudi Arabia. Spokesman Yahya Sare'e said the attacks targeted King Khalid Airbase and Jazan Airport in the city of Khamis Mushait. The spokesman said the attacks were in retaliation to the Saudi-led coalition's attacks in...

The Saudi-led military coalition battling Yemen's Houthi movement intercepted and destroyed drones launched by the Iran-aligned group towards Khamis Mushait and Jazan in southern Saudi Arabia, state media said on Sunday, Reuters reported. The coalition said it would take "necessary operational measures" to protect civilians in line with international law. Houthi...

Saudi columnists on Sunday voiced concern that Western nations were not taking a tough enough stance in indirect talks aimed at restoring the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, Reuters reported. Saudi Arabia opposes the deal because it does not address the wider regional behaviour of Iran, its arch enemy. The talks in...

Iraq said on Sunday it has received the first batch of the German-American Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine, Anadolu Agency reported. "Iraq received 50,000 doses out of three million it has ordered from the company," Health Ministry spokesperson Seif el-Badr said in a statement. Baghdad has signed deals to purchase 16 million doses...

Iran reported 258 deaths from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, the health ministry said on Sunday, the highest daily toll since early December, Reuters reported. That brings the total number of fatalities from the coronavirus to 64,490 in Iran, the worst-hit country in the Middle East. Health ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat...

This report is part of the "Hajj (Pilgrimage) to Washington" project published by Sasapost. It covers the Middle East lobbies in the US between 2010 and 2020. Most of the report is based on documents from the US Department of Justice database, operating under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA)....

Libya's new unity government launched a long-delayed COVID-19 vaccination programme on Saturday after receiving some 160,000 vaccine doses over the past week, with the prime minister receiving his jab on live television, Reuters reported. While Libya is richer than its neighbours due to oil exports, the country's healthcare system has been strained by...

The government of Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir will withdraw cases filed against a group of people from Bangladesh, including members of the Rohingya community, so that they can be deported, local media reported on Saturday, Anadolu Agency reported. It is not clear how many of the group are Rohingya refugees, hundreds...

Israel's defence minister pledged on Sunday to cooperate with the United States on Iran, voicing hope that Israeli security would be safeguarded under any renewed Iranian nuclear deal that Washington reaches. "Israel views the United States as a full partner across all operational theatres, not the least Iran," Benny...

Israel will seal off the occupied Palestinian territories for three days as of Tuesday, according to the Israeli military on Sunday, Anadolu Agency reported. A military statement said the measure includes a complete lockdown of the West Bank and the closure of crossing points with the Gaza Strip. The statement said...

US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin arrived in Jerusalem today amid nuclear deal negotiations with Iran, The New Arab reported. The two-day visit comes as President Joe Biden's administration starts talks to rejoin the nuclear deal with Iran that was scrapped by former US President Donald Trump; a move that...

A problem with the electrical distribution grid of Iran's Natanz nuclear facility caused an incident at the site on Sunday, Iranian Press TV reported, a day after Tehran launched new advanced uranium enrichment centrifuges at the site, Reuters reported. The Natanz facility, which is located in the desert in the...

Tunisia will not accept any harm to Egypt's water security, Tunisian President Kais Saied said on Saturday, Anadolu Agency reported. "We look for fair solutions , but Egypt's national security is ours and Egypt's position in any international forum is our position as well," Saied said during a...

The Turkish diplomat heading the UN General Assembly said on Saturday that the greatest human catastrophe the world has ever seen after the World War II is being experienced in Syria, Anadolu Agency reported. Volkan Bozkir, accompanied by the UN officials, inspected the UN Transfer Area in the Reyhanli district of...

The head of the Libyan National Unity Government will visit Turkey on Monday for talks, a government spokesperson told Anadolu Agency late Saturday. Mohammed Hammude said a high-level delegation led by Abdul Hamid Dbeibah will include five deputy prime ministers and 14 ministers, as well as the Prime Minister...

Tunisia will not accept any harm to Egypt's water security, Tunisian President Kais Saied said today, Anadolu Agency reports.. "We look for fair solutions , but Egypt's national security is ours and Egypt's position in any international forum is our position as well," Saied said during a...

A spokeswoman for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) announced Friday that the UAE has not provided evidence that Sheikha Latifa, the daughter of Dubai's ruler, is alive as the office had previously requested the Gulf State. OHCHR spokeswoman Marta Hurtado added in...

The United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) on welcomed an agreement by the Libyan Legal Committee (LC) on the constitutional basis for the upcoming elections, Anadolu Agency reports. "LC members worked for long hours and were able to overcome divisions and managed to reach consensus on constitutional basis for...

The exacerbation of a fuel security crisis in areas controlled by the Syrian regime has caused long lines of vehicles in front of gas stations on Friday, Anadolu Agency reports. The transportation sector is paralyzed completely, especially in the capital of Damascus where public transport has stopped operating, local sources...

Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein called Saturday for finding a mechanism for dialogue between influential states involved in Syria to achieve stability in the war-torn country, Anadolu Agency reports. This came during a press conference Hussein held in Baghdad with Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Abul Gheit, who arrived in...

"No conciliation, no coexistence and no negotiations with Israel" – those were the famous "Three Nos" of the August 1967 Khartoum summit of the Arab League. This was a defiant declaration of the refusal to accept Israeli violence, expansion and apartheid, in the wake of the June 1967 war...

Senior leader of the Houthis in Yemen Mohammed Ali Al-Houthi on Friday proposed a five-term initiative to mend the rift between Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt regarding the Renaissance Dam crisis, Rai Al- Youm reported. Al-Houthi posted on Twitter: "We are ready to bring views closer to each other among...

The Central Elections Commission is examining tens of appeals against candidates for the parliamentary elections, including the head of the list registered by dismissed Fatah leader Mohammed Dahlan. According to sources from the Central Elections Commission, some appeals relate to administration issues such as submitting the lists to the...

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his Israeli counterpart Gabi Ashkenazi have shared concerns in a phone call about Hamas's potential victory in the upcoming Palestinian parliamentary election, RT reported on Friday. In a report issued by the Israeli Walla news website, RT disclosed that Ashkenazi voiced Israel's...

The minority government of Norway has stated that the $1.3 trillion wealth fund should not have Saudi stocks in the reference index, Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail reported on Friday. According to The Globe and Mail, the fund's reference index would now be cut to around 6,600 companies...

EU institutions have been toning down Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's description as a "dictator" by Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, AKIpress News Agency reported on Friday. During a meeting held in the Turkish capital Ankara on Tuesday, European Union (EU) Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, one of...

The United Nations (UN) Human Rights Office on Friday voiced its concerns about the arrests made following the alleged attempted coup in Jordan, news agencies reported. Spokesperson for the office Marta Hurtado said it was unclear whether Jordan's Prince Hamzah, the key suspect, remains under house arrest. Hurtado also...

Tunisian President Kais Saied has asserted: "Tunisia needs a respectable national parliament and a fully responsible ministry (referring to the government)." This came in a speech delivered by Saied during his participation in the commemoration of the 83rd anniversary of Martyrs' Day in Tunis on Friday morning. Saied expressed:...

Iranian authorities released on Friday the South Korean oil tanker seized in January amid a dispute over Iran's $7 billion frozen in Korean banks. The funds were frozen due to sanctions imposed on the Middle Eastern country concerning its nuclear programme, international news agencies reported. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard...

Iraq's Independent High Electoral Commission announced on Friday that the date for holding early general elections next October is "certain and will not be reversed." Over the past days, Iraqi politicians from different parliamentary blocs have expressed their concerns about the electoral commission's inability to hold early elections on...

The Saudi Ministry of Interior has decided to fine anyone attempting to perform Umrah without obtaining a permit with 10,000 Saudi riyals. The ministry stated that the implementation of these measures comes within the framework of confronting and preventing the spread of COVID-19 and ensuring commitment to applying the...

Tunisian President Kais Saied showed Parliament Speaker Rached Ghannouchi and Head of the government Hichem Mechichi a caricature dating back to 1936, intended to describe the state of the country. Mosaique FM disclosed that President Saied wanted to deliver an indirect message to Mechichi and Ghannouchi following the interruption...

The legal committee of the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum (LPDF) concluded its meetings on the third day in Tunisia without reaching a final agreement on the constitutional basis for the upcoming elections. In a statement to Al-Quds Al-Arabi, member of the legal committee Abdul Qadir Hawili confirmed that the...