"Okay, um... My name's Shamima. I'm from the UK. I'm 19." Spoken with a nervous laugh, the introduction to a room full of women and restless babies could be the start of any young mothers' support...More
Three NGOs on Monday announced a landmark legal case in Moscow against Russian mercenary group Wagner over the torture of a detainee in Syria, aiming to hold to account a murky fighting force with...More
A decade of civil war in Syria has forced millions from their homes, leaving neighbouring countries struggling to cope with the influx of refugees. Tens years on, many of the displaced are still...More
A ban on girls singing in public imposed by education officials in the Afghan capital last week has been overturned after a social media campaign that included local women uploading videos of...More
Myanmar's ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi is to appear in court on Monday, after one of the country's bloodiest days since the February 1 coup. At least 38 protesters were killed on Sunday as...More
Libya's new interim prime minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah will be sworn in Monday to lead the war-torn country's transition to elections in December, after years of chaos and division. The North African...More
British- Iranian dual national Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe appeared in a Tehran court on Sunday to face new charges of "propaganda against the system", a week after she finished serving a five-year...More
Protests erupted across many of Jordan's cities and provincial towns against the government's coronavirus restrictions, a day after oxygen ran out at a state hospital leading to the deaths of at...More
Western countries on Friday called on Egypt to end the prosecution of activists, journalists and perceived political opponents under counter-terrorism laws, and to release them unconditionally. The...More
The authorities in Buddhist-majority Sri Lanka pledged to close over 1,000 Islamic schools and formally ban burkas. T he government also granted itself powers to detain suspects for "deradicalisation...More
A Saudi court on Tuesday upheld the original sentence of women’s rights activist Loujain al-Hathloul, who had championed women’s right to drive and for an end to Saudi Arabia’s male guardianship...More
Gulay Avsar is a regular at a market in Ankara's old town, where prices are more reasonable than most other places around the Turkish capital. But even here she struggles to fill her basket with...More
The United States on Wednesday blacklisted two Islamist extremist groups in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Mozambique as foreign terrorist organisations over accusations of links to Islamic...More
Algerian President Abelmadjid Tebboune has set June 12 for early legislative elections, the presidency said on Thursday, after announcing the dissolution of the lower house of parliament last month...More
A judge in Mauritania’s capital Nouakchott on Thursday charged ex-president Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz and about ten other figures with corruption, following an investigation into his decade-long rule...More
Britain on Friday advised its citizens to flee Myanmar, as a UN expert warned the junta is likely committing "crimes against humanity" in its attempt to stay in power. The military authorities are...More
France and the United States hit out at Lebanon's warring politicians on Thursday, with Paris saying they were failing to help the country as it slid towards "total collapse". "It's tempting to say...More
The Lebanese army said on Wednesday it had started clearing roadblocks eight days after protesters burnt tyres to block roadways across the country in anger over the country's economic meltdown and...More
U.S. President Joe Biden's administration on Tuesday imposed its first new sanctions on Iran, targeting two interrogators for alleged abuse of prisoners. Unlike the sweeping punishment of Iran's...More
A British-Australian academic who spent two years imprisoned in Iran has claimed Tehran tried to recruit her as a spy in exchange for her freedom. In her first media interview since returning to...More
Political reform, racism, transgender rights – the audio app Clubhouse has unleashed unbridled debates about topics deemed dangerously sensitive in Saudi Arabia, but surveillance fears have spooked...More
Myanmar security forces surrounded the staff compound of striking railway workers opposed to the military junta on Wednesday as ousted lawmakers appointed an acting vice president to take over the...More
Mohammad is five years old, Areej six and Dalaa 10. Syrian refugees in Turkey, these children have inherited a yearning for a country they know little to nothing about. More than 3.6 million Syrians...More
French President Emmanuel Macron announced a decision on Tuesday to speed up the declassification of secret documents related to Algeria’s 1954-62 war of independence from France. The measure comes...More
Voters in Switzerland backed a proposal on Sunday to ban full facial coverings in public places, despite women in Islamic full-face veils being an exceptionally rare sight in Swiss streets. Official...More
Tasked with reviving an Israeli Labor party seen as near death just weeks ago, new leader Merav Michaeli is campaigning for social democracy, feminism and environmental issues. "Labor has lost its...More
Ghulam Khatana's family lived half their lives in a simple log hut in Kashmir's forests, until around 200 men brandishing guns and iron rods chased them out of their home and into the blistering cold...More
Some are coping, others struggling, but Syrian refugees in Turkey say they dare not follow their dreams and return home while President Bashar al-Assad remains in power. Of the 5.6 million people who...More
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British-Iranian woman held in an Iranian prison for five years on widely refuted spying charges, ended her sentence on Sunday, her lawyer said. However, she faces a new...More
From videos of deadly air strikes to jihadist takeovers, Al-Mutez Billah's YouTube page served as a digital archive of the Syrian war until automated takedown software in 2017 erased it permanently...More
Pope Francis held the largest mass of his historic Iraq trip Sunday after visiting war-scarred cities to comfort Christian survivors of the Islamic State group's reign of terror. The pontiff was...More
To feed her family, Lebanese mother Sandra al-Tawil sold her fridge and washing machine. Now she fears the cash-strapped state will scrap food subsidies, plunging them deeper into poverty. Lebanon is...More
In an electric-blue robe, foot-high turban and wielding an antiquated sword and a walkie-talkie, Amar Singh patrols a maze of tents and tractors on a blocked highway leading into New Delhi . Singh is...More
At 19 years old, Asha Mohamed is divorced and drives a taxi in Somalia, defying conventions to support her family in one of the world's most conservative and dangerous countries. For the past year,...More
For activists preparing to mark International Women's Day (8 March) in Kyrgyzstan, recalling the ambush that broke up last year's march is still traumatic. That day, a group of masked men charged the...More
Pope Francis starts a historic trip to war-battered Iraq on Friday, defying security fears and the pandemic to comfort one of the world's oldest and most persecuted Christian communities. The 84-year...More
Myanmar's junta lost a tug of war over leadership of its U.N. mission in New York and the United States unveiled new sanctions targeting military conglomerates after the deaths of dozens of civilians...More
The fiancee of slain Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi said on Thursday that world leaders should not maintain relations with a “murderer”, after a U.S. intelligence report implicated Saudi Arabia’s...More
Israel estimates that hundreds of its citizens might be subject to war crimes probes by the International Criminal Court, whose jurisdiction it rejects, and is working on how to protect them, the...More
More than 400 European parliamentarians have urged leaders to use Joe Biden's new presidency as an opportunity to stop what they term Israel's "de-facto annexation" of the occupied West Bank. A...More
The German branch of Reporters Without Borders is pushing for Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to be charged with a crime against humanity for the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, under Germany's...More
China's policy of transferring hundreds of thousands of Uighurs and other ethnic minorities in Xinjiang to new jobs often far from home is leading to a thinning out of their populations, according to...More
In gridlocked and heavily polluted Cairo, start-ups are searching for technological solutions to solve the transport headaches for an expanding megacity already struggling with over 20 million people...More
Outrage rippled through Afghanistan on Wednesday as funerals were held for three female media workers gunned down in the eastern city of Jalalabad, the latest assassinations to rack the war-weary...More
Pope Francis, on a historic trip to Iraq, will on Saturday hold a hugely symbolic meeting with Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, seeking to deepen his cautious dialogue with Muslim leaders. The 84-year-...More
Protesters blocked roads with burning tyres and dumpsters across Lebanon on Tuesday after the currency tumbled to a new low in a financial meltdown that has fuelled poverty. "We can't bear it anymore...More
India's top judge was facing calls to resign on Wednesday after telling an accused rapist to marry his schoolgirl victim to avoid jail. More than 5,000 people have signed a petition demanding Chief...More
French forces "tortured and murdered" Algerian freedom fighter Ali Boumendjel during his country's war for independence, President Emmanuel Macron admitted on Tuesday, officially reappraising a death...More
The United States should boycott the 2022 Winter Olympics in China, former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley said on Sunday, becoming the latest Republican to join a growing furore over the Games...More
Infectious disease experts are expressing concern about Pope Francis' upcoming trip to Iraq, given a sharp rise in coronavirus infections there, a fragile health care system and the unavoidable...More
China, under growing global pressure over its treatment of the Uighur Muslim minority in its far west, is mounting an unprecedented and aggressive campaign to push back, including explicit attacks on...More
Saudi Arabia's sovereignty is a red line, Saudi columnists said on Sunday, ramping up rhetoric in defence of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman after a U.S. intelligence report implicated him in the...More
Ramadan, the Islamic holy month marked by fasting, has come to an end. Now Muslims are celebrating Eid al-Fitr despite the pandemic and violent conflicts. Here's a look at how some people are marking the festival. By Uta Steinwehr
