TEHERAN (BLOOMBERG) – While the world looks to next month’s US election for clues on the future of the standoff with Iran, candidates are preparing for another vote that may prove just as pivotal. Next June, Iranians will also elect a new president, as the era of Hassan Rouhani, who staked his career on clinching […]

JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israelis kept up weekly protests against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday (Oct 10), defying lockdown restrictions imposed by authorities aimed at stemming a surge in coronavirus cases. The parliament in Israel, which currently has one of the world’s highest Covid-19 infection rates per capita, last week approved a law restricting demonstrations […]

JERUSALEM (NYTIMES) – In a surprising televised monologue, a senior member of the Saudi royal family and former ambassador to Washington accused Palestinian leaders of betraying their people, signalling an erosion of Saudi support for an issue long considered sacrosanct. “The Palestinian cause is a just cause but its advocates are failures, and the Israeli […]

JERUSALEM — For Israel’s Arab citizens, the normalization deals that Israel struck with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain will mean newfound freedom to stroll through Dubai’s cavernous malls, take lucrative jobs in Abu Dhabi or solicit investments from wealthy Emiratis or Bahrainis. The prospects are dazzling. But some Arab citizens of Israel acknowledge misgivings […]

SAQQARA (AFP) – Archaeologists in Egypt said they had found 59 well-preserved and sealed wooden coffins over recent weeks that were buried more than 2,500 years ago. Opening one of the ornately decorated sarcophagi before assembled media on Saturday (Oct 3), the team revealed mummified remains wrapped in burial cloth that bore hieroglyphic inscriptions in […]

TEHERAN (REUTERS) – Concealing one’s Covid-19 infection should carry the severest penalty, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Saturday (Oct 3) in announcing new measures to stem a rapid rise in cases. “Anyone who feels ill and it’s clear to them that they are ill, must not hide their illness,” Mr Rouhani said in televised […]

ANKARA — When a long-simmering conflict in the south Caucasus burst into open warfare this week, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was the first world leader to jump into the fray. His mission was not to calm tensions between the warring parties, Azerbaijan and Armenia. Instead, he declared all-out support for the Azerbaijanis, close Turkic […]

BEIRUT (AFP) – Lebanon and Israel said on Thursday (Oct 1) they will hold US-brokered negotiations on their disputed land and maritime borders, the first talks in decades between two countries technically still at war. The United States will act as a facilitator during the talks to be held in the southern Lebanon border town […]

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel predicted on Tuesday that more Arab and Muslim nations would “soon, very soon” establish diplomatic relations with his country, following the agreements signed this month with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. Speaking to the United Nations General Assembly, Mr. Netanyahu also accused the Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah […]

BEIRUT (REUTERS) – Carlos Ghosn, the former Nissan and Renault head who fled Japan where he was facing trial, is launching a university management and business programme in Lebanon, a nation mired in a deep crisis blamed on years of misrule, mismanagement and corruption. Nine months after his dramatic escape to Beirut from Tokyo, the […]