A decade ago, crowds massed in Cairo’s Tahrir Square to demand the ouster of Egypt’s American-backed strongman, President Hosni Mubarak. In Washington, President Barack Obama made a fateful decision, calling on him to leave power. The backlash from other Arab potentates was swift, Mr. Obama recalled in his recent memoir. Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, the […]

DUBAI (REUTERS) – The United Arab Emirates’ first mission to Mars reached the red planet and entered orbit on Tuesday (Feb 9) after a seven-month, 494-million-km journey, allowing it to start sending data about the Martian atmosphere and climate. The Mars programme is part of the UAE’s efforts to develop its scientific and technological capabilities […]

JERUSALEM (REUTERS) – The Iranian nuclear scientist assassinated near Teheran in November was killed by a one-ton gun smuggled into Iran in pieces by the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad, according to a report by The Jewish Chronicle on Wednesday (Feb 10). Citing intelligence sources, the British weekly said a team of more than 20 agents, […]

JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel pleaded not guilty on Monday in his trial on bribery, fraud and breach of trust charges, a case that has dominated Israel’s political life and sparked a debate about the state of Israeli democracy and the country’s legal system. It has also contributed to a split in […]

RABAT (REUTERS) – A flood killed at least 24 people in an illegal textile factory in a villa basement in the Moroccan city of Tangier, authorities said on Monday (Feb 8), adding that 10 people had been rescued. It was not immediately clear how many people were in the building at the time, but the […]

JERUSALEM — When the coronavirus pandemic swept through Israel, it upended Racheli Ohayon’s life in unexpected ways. The 21-year-old phone center worker had questioned her ultra-Orthodox Jewish upbringing before but always stifled such thoughts by drowning them in even stricter religious observance. Suddenly she was off work and under lockdown, her routines disrupted, holed up […]

TEHERAN (BLOOMBERG) – Iran will start its first coronavirus vaccinations this week using Russia’s Sputnik V shot to inoculate healthcare workers at the epicentre of the Middle East’s worst outbreak, the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency reported. The shots will be given to medical personnel who have been tending to serious cases of the disease […]

JERUSALEM (BLOOMBERG) – Israel, with the highest proportion of citizens vaccinated against Covid-19 in the world, found it took three weeks for the Pfizer Inc-BioNTech SE shot to start curbing new cases and hospitalisations. Researchers in the Middle Eastern country reported preliminary observations Wednesday (Feb 3) from a national immunisation programme that began Dec 20. […]

RIYADH (AFP) – India’s decision to export millions of coronavirus vaccine doses to Saudi Arabia has rankled its vast expat community, locked out by the kingdom’s months-long flight ban that sparked tense diplomatic wrangling. The plight of Indian workers, who make up Saudi Arabia’s biggest expatriate community, underscores the turmoil caused by tightening coronavirus restrictions, […]

DUBAI (REUTERS) – Iran said on Monday (Feb 1) it had successfully tested a satellite launcher to help achieve its “most powerful rocket engine,” in a move likely to trigger protests from the United States and stoke tensions over Teheran’s nuclear and missile programmes. The United States, Iran’s long time foe, fears such long-range ballistic […]