The United Nations voiced deep concern Friday after the Taliban disrupted a press conference in Afghanistan, submitting female participants to body searches and detaining the event organiser. “We have received deeply worrying reports that yesterday (Th…
Iran forces ‘fire on mourners’ amid anti-government protests
Mourners in Iran have been shot at by security forces, according to activists, during a commemoration for an activist killed during anti-government protests. A video shared by BBC allegedly shows Iranian militias firing on a procession marking the 40th…
Erdogan says he’ll speak to Musk over $8 Twitter charge
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said he may speak to new Twitter owner Elon Musk about the billionaire’s plans to charge for its Blue check verification service. Musk said after acquiring the company for $44 billion that he will begin chargi…
UN envoy ‘fails’ to restart Syria constitutional talks
Syria’s constitutional talks have reached a dead end as the regime of President Bashar Al-Assad fails to respond to efforts by the UN’s envoy to Syria, Geir Pedersen to restart them. The UN-sponsored talks, which take place between representatives of t…
Elon Musk ‘makes offer’ to buy African telecoms operator
Elon Musk has offered a multi-million dollar deal to purchase pan-African telecoms giant Mattel, just days after his controversial buy-out of Twitter. Musk, the world’s richest man, made a $270 million offer to purchase shares in the company from its c…
Exiled Egypt Muslim Brotherhood leader dies in London
The acting leader of Egypt’s outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, Ibrahim Munir, died in London on Friday, the organisation said on its website. Munir, 85, was twice jailed in Egypt in the 1950s and 1960s and has lived in exile for most of the last 40 years. T…
Polluted rivers fuel rampant cholera in northeast Syria
On a sunny afternoon, a dozen agricultural workers harvest eggplants on the outskirts of the city of Qamishli, in northeastern Syria. The women’s gloved hands dip between the bright leaves, avoiding blooming flowers to pick only the ripe, light-purple …
No, Qatar has not spent $220 billion on World Cup stadiums
Contrary to persistent claims made in the international press, Qatar has not spent $220 billion on new stadiums for the World Cup, and claims that this is the most expensive world cup in history are inaccurate, according to fact checking service Misbar…
Qatar FM slams ‘hypocrisy’ of World Cup criticism
Qatar’s foreign minister on Friday slammed the “double standards” in criticism of his country’s hosting of the upcoming 2022 FIFA World Cup and questioned accusations levelled against Doha. Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani told Le Monde that th…
Iran detains journalist who interviewed Mahsa Amini’s father
Iranian security forces have arrested a journalist after she published an interview with the father of Mahsa Amini, whose death has sparked seven weeks of anti-regime protests, a rights group said Friday. Nazila Maroufian, a Tehran-based journalist fro…