An Egyptian man who locked his sister in a house for 22 years in Upper Egypt was detained pending investigation following the discovery, reports Egypt Independent. Fadia Ismail’s imprisonment was discovered after neighbours reported her brother to the public prosecution. After she was rescued, 56-year-old Fadia was examined by a doctor […]
Middle East Monitor
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US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has urged Egypt to stop harassing US citizens. The warning comes shortly after the release of dual US-Egypt citizen Mohamed Amashah, 24, who spent almost 500 days in an Egyptian prison. Amashah had been held in pretrial detention for allegedly misusing social media and aiding […]
The UN Security Council yesterday voted down a Russian resolution that sought to halve the amount of humanitarian aid delivered to internally displaced persons in Syria’s north-west province of Idlib. The bid was only supported by China, Vietnam and South Africa. It was intended to extend the cross-border aid mechanism […]
Iran Quds Force chief, Qassem Soleimani, Soleimani was “planning for terrorist attacks against American interests and other countries before he was targeted” in US forces in Iraq, the Pentagon said yesterday. The comments came in response to a report issued by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or […]
Turkey yesterday criticised the US for including Greek Cyprus in its International Military Education and Training Program, Anadolu reported. According to a statement published by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Turkey reminded its ally, the US, that equal treatment of both sides on the Cyprus Island is a basic UN principle. “Initiatives that […]
Bahrain’s High Criminal Court has convicted five officials in one Bahraini bank and three Iranian banks in a major money laundering case. The court sentenced officials at Bahrain’s Future Bank to five years in prison and fined them a million Bahraini dinars ($2.65 million) each. The same fine was imposed […]
The Yemeni Abductees Mothers Association has called on the United Nations Security Council, the UN Secretary-General, and the UN envoy to Yemen, Martin Griffiths to intervene and help secure the release of persons kidnapped and forcibly disappeared by the Houthis and the UAE- backed Southern Transitional Council (STC). “Our suffering […]
The World Bank will finance a project worth $26.9 million to confront the repercussions of COVID-19 in Yemen, the country’s Minister of Planning and International Cooperation, Dr. Najib Al-Ouj, revealed yesterday. The programme will be implemented by the Yemeni Ministry of Health in cooperation with the World Health Organisation, Asharq Al-Awsat reported. […]
Reports have revealed that many Kuwaitis refuse to accept jobs which have previously been completed by expatriate workers because the salaries are too low. Kuwait’s Al-Anbaa newspaper said it had obtained data indicating that nine government agencies affiliated with the Ministry of Finance currently have 563 job vacancies while they employed only […]
Kuwaiti prosecutors on Thursday issued an arrest warrant for the son of a former prime minister and his partner amid a corruption probe of the so-called “Malaysian Sovereign Fund” case, Anadolu Agency reports. Informed sources told Anadolu Agency that the investigation began on Thursday morning following the arrest of Sheikh Sabah Jaber al-Mubarak al-Sabah […]
Israel yesterday arrested Khalil Tafakji, head of the maps department at the Arab Studies Society in Jerusalem, Anadolu reported. A source in the Tafakji family told the news agency that large numbers of occupation police and intelligence services stormed the department and tampered with its possessions. The source said after extensive searches, […]
The executive branch of the world’s chemical weapons watchdog on Thursday condemned the use of banned sarin and chlorine bombs by Syria’s air force, but stopped short of taking direct action to penalise Damascus, Reuters reports. It followed a report in April by Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons investigators, which […]
Qatar’s Embassy in Ankara announced the establishment of a travel corridor from Turkey to Doha. According to the announcement, four coronavirus testing centres have been approved in Turkey to allow Qatari nationals to avoid the two-week quarantine upon arrival in qatar. سفارة قطر في تركيا @QatarEmb_Ankara تعلن استثناء المواطنين القطريين […]
A proposed 25-year cooperation deal between Iran and China has raised controversy within and outside Iran, even before the potential pact is finalized, Anadolu Agency reports. While critics of the Hassan Rouhani-led government describing the move as a “secretive” agreement, Rouhani and his cabinet colleagues have strongly come out in its defense. According […]
Iran’s total number of coronavirus cases has reached 250,458 and a record 221 people died of the disease over the past 24 hours, raising the overall death toll to 12,305, the Health Ministry said on Thursday, Reuters reports. Iran, the Middle East country hardest hit by the pandemic, has suffered a new spike in the […]
Saudi Arabia has stoked controversy after it was revealed that it gave permission for Vogue Arabia to conduct a raunchy photoshoot of international supermodels within the historical site of Al-Ula in the province of Madina. Vogue Arabia, the Arab edition of the renowned US-based fashion magazine, released its 24-hour campaign photoshoot for […]
Iran and Syria have signed a new military cooperation agreement aimed at boosting existing ties between the two allies. Part of the deal signed yesterday by the Chief of Staff of Iran’s Armed Forces, Major General Mohammad Bagheri, and Syrian Defence Minister, Ali Abdullah Ayyoub, will improve Syria’s air defence […]
Jordan’s Princess Raiyah Bint Al-Hussein married to Ned Donovan, the grandson of British author Roald Dahl in an intimate, socially-distanced ceremony in England this week. The bride, 34, posted pictures from the ceremony on her Twitter account on Tuesday, and thanked well-wishers for their thoughtful messages. She also noted the […]
Israel is “in a dangerous place”, warned the country’s top public health official in a resignation letter protesting the government’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Professor Siegal Sadetzki accused the current heads of the Ministry of Health of losing direction and ignoring professional advice, in a lengthy Facebook post explaining […]
UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab was accused of turning a blind eye to Israeli human rights abuse during a House of Commons discussion over the new Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime announced earlier this week. Since leaving the European Union, Britain has been free to develop its own sanctions regime, details […]
Instagram has apologised to supermodel Bella Hadid following her public criticism of the social media platform for deleting a post she shared showing her father’s place of birth as Palestine. After the Palestinian-American supermodel posted an image of real estate mogul Mohammed Hadid’s long-expired passport, with the passport number blurred out, Instagram sent her […]
A Lebanese businessman who was serving a five-year prison sentence in the US after being accused of financing Hezbollah returned to Beirut yesterday after an early release. Kassim Tajideen was sentenced last year in a federal court in Washington in connection with a money laundering conspiracy aimed at evading US […]
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said yesterday that Moscow has offered to provide technical assistance to Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia regarding the Grand Renaissance Dam. “The United States also offered its services to them. Several meetings took place in the United States, and we welcomed the progress that has been […]
Libya Febrayer TV yesterday aired a video showing detention facilities, which it described as “human ovens”, where oppositionists were tortured by renegade General Khalifa Haftar’s forces. The video showed very narrow cells located in the city of Tarhuna, south-east of the capital, Tripoli, with steel doors. The channel commented on the footage, saying: […]