After his arrest in 2013 for documenting the deadliest crackdown on protesters in Egypt's modern history, Mohamed Soltan landed in a notorious prison where he says he was brutally tortured for 21...More
A tweet claiming to show the start of a coup in Qatar, with shaky footage of an illuminated window and crackling gunfire, spread quickly after being posted early last month. It came from an account...More
A man was killed in Ankara after a fight over loud music played during the call to prayer, but the governor denied claims that it was because he was listening to Kurdish music. The murder in the...More
Mask-clad worshippers flocked to Saudi mosques that re-opened nationwide – except in the holy city of Mecca – on Sunday for the first time in more than two months as the kingdom eased restrictions...More
Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque re-opened to worshippers on Sunday after a two-and-a-half month coronavirus closure, but Muslim authorities imposed some precautions as health officials warn of an uptick...More
The United Nations and Saudi Arabia are hosting a pledging conference for war-ravaged Yemen on Tuesday to help raise some $2.4 billion as funding shortages imperil the world's biggest aid operation...More
Adolf Hitler removed rabbis and Jewish soldiers from the army in 1933. Almost 90 years later, the German parliament has voted in favour of legislation which allows rabbis to act as military chaplains...More
A troop of monkeys in India attacked a medical official and snatched away blood samples of patients who had tested positive for the novel coronavirus, authorities said on Friday. The attack occurred...More
The Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem will re-open on Sunday after a two-month closure due to the novel coronavirus, a senior official said this week. "All the doors of the Al-Aqsa mosque (...More
A Moroccan movie star has been prosecuted over "blasphemous" remarks against Islam, a court official said, while Amnesty International called on Wednesday for similar charges to be dropped against a...More
In Iraq, a national lockdown to halt the coronavirus pandemic has found some unexpected fans: local businesses who no longer have to compete with Turkish, Iranian or Chinese imports. Those countries...More
At dusk on 10 April, police entered an apartment in Qalyubia province, north of Cairo, and arrested ophthalmologist Hany Bakr. The reason, his lawyer Aisha Nabil said, was an April 4 Facebook post in...More
Greece will reinforce its police patrols on its border with Turkey, an official said this week amid expectations of renewed migration pressure. An additional 400 police will be sent to the...More
The United States' decision to end sanctions waivers for companies from Europe, China and Russia working at Iranian nuclear facilities is not going to affect the country's nuclear programme, a...More
Seven members of the Afghan security forces were killed on Thursday in an attack officials blamed on the Taliban, the first deadly assault since the end of a three-day ceasefire. The temporary truce...More
It was supposed to be Basma's big year: a degree, language certification and maybe a master's abroad. But local protests and a global pandemic threw the Iraqi student's plans off-course. "I've been...More
State surveillance is on the rise globally as governments such as Egypt's take advantage of the coronavirus pandemic, warns exiled historian and intellectual Khaled Fahmy. Amid the COVID-19 crisis,...More
More than 100 people who have returned to Germany after going abroad to join the Islamic State militia have battleground experience or have prepared for combat, according to the Interior Ministry in...More
An eerie silence has fallen over Istanbul's Grand Bazaar, one of the world's oldest, largest and most visited markets, where a raucous mixture of languages, cultures and commerce has buzzed for...More
Russia recently sent fighter jets to Libya to support Russian mercenaries fighting for strongman Khalifa Haftar, the U.S. military command for Africa (Africom) said on Tuesday, in a major escalation...More
The World Health Organization has urged Indonesia, one of the world's biggest advocates of two malaria drugs to treat the coronavirus, to suspend such treatment over safety concerns, a source...More
The head of the Lebanese Shia movement Hezbollah on Tuesday rejected a U.S. request to empower a UN peacekeeping force patrolling the border with Israel. Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah spoke ahead...More
Afghan authorities freed hundreds more Taliban prisoners on Tuesday, as calls grew for the militants to extend a ceasefire on its third and final day. The historic pause in fighting – only the second...More
An aircraft belonging to Israeli airline El Al landed on Turkish soil on Sunday for the first time in 10 years following a severe diplomatic spat between the two countries. An El Al Dreamliner...More
India on Monday posted its biggest single-day jump in cases of COVID-19, overtaking Iran to become one of the 10 worst-hit nations, even as the government allowed domestic air travel to restart...More
Iran on Monday re-opened major Shia shrines across the Islamic republic, more than two months after they were closed because of the Middle East's deadliest novel coronavirus outbreak. At Tehran's...More
A surprise Taliban ceasefire appeared on Monday to be holding for a second day, as authorities planned to release up to 2,000 insurgents held by security forces. The Taliban made the three-day truce...More
Israel has gradually been emerging from a strict two-month lockdown, cautiously opening sector after business sector as it continues to monitor the number of COVID-19 cases among the citizens of its...More
Benjamin Netanyahu professed his innocence at the start of his corruption trial on Sunday, saying he was being framed in the first criminal prosecution of a serving Israeli prime minister. Flanked by...More
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani began a process on Sunday to release up to 2,000 Taliban prisoners as a goodwill gesture after the insurgents proposed a surprise ceasefire during the Eid holiday. Ghani...More
Turkish police on Thursday detained a woman after the public address systems of some mosques were allegedly hijacked and blared out a World War II-era Italian anti-fascist anthem. The government and...More
In normal times, almost 200 people would have attended the funeral for Ahmet Ucukcu's 95-year-old father at an Istanbul cemetery. The coronavirus which took his life has changed all that. "Many of my...More
Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said it was an "Islamic duty" to fight for the "liberation of Palestine " in a speech on Friday amid rising tensions with regional arch-enemy Israel. "The...More
Families rushed to buy sweets and biscuits in Cairo on Friday as they prepared to celebrate the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan under a tightened coronavirus curfew and lockdown. The Eid...More
France is working with other European nations to dissuade Israel from a partial annexation of the occupied West Bank, its foreign minister said Wednesday, as the UN’s Middle East envoy warned Israel...More
India registered some 6,000 new cases of the novel coronavirus on Friday, the country's biggest jump in 24 hours, as New Delhi eases a nationwide lockdown and airlines prepare to resume some domestic...More
A coronavirus “catastrophe” is unfolding in Yemen, medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said on Thursday, warning that many of those infected with COVID-19 in the war-torn country never even...More
The family of slain Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi said on Friday that they have forgiven those who murdered their father, his son Salah wrote in a tweet. "In this blessed night of the blessed...More
The Vatican is concerned about plans by the new Israeli government to annex parts of the West Bank, Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher said on Wednesday. "The Holy See is following the situation...More
For three days without Internet or phone service this month, Rouf Ahmad found himself cut off from his family in Indian-administered Kashmir while his mother was receiving treatment for the deadly...More
Turkey launched the first of the six power turbines on the Ilisu Dam in the south-east on Tuesday, with the dam expected to be fully operational by the end of the year. The Ilisu dam project has...More
Egypt on Tuesday registered 720 new coronavirus cases, the health ministry said in a statement, its highest daily toll since detecting the first confirmed case in February. The new cases brought the...More
Hiding snacks under their beds or behind piles of clothes, young Tunisians are finding ways to subvert the Ramadan fast despite being locked down with their Muslim conservative parents. The...More
The Syrian government ordered the seizure of assets belonging to President Bashar al-Assad's cousin Rami Makhlouf, one of Syria's richest men, as well as to his wife and children, according to a...More
The editor-in-chief of a prominent investigative media outlet in Egypt, Mada Masr, has been released hours after being arrested by security forces in Cairo. Lina Attalah was arrested outside the...More
Deaths in Aden have surged to at least five times higher than normal, an NGO and medics say, igniting fears that the coronavirus is spreading unhindered in the Yemeni port city. Six years of war...More
Top Syria tycoon Rami Makhlouf on Sunday said the regime was piling pressure on him and threatening to arrest him and close his telecommunications empire unless he hands over profits. Makhlouf, a...More
Iraq on Sunday condemned the raising of the rainbow flag by the European Union mission in Baghdad and said it "provokes" religious feelings in the Muslim-majority country. "This infringes lofty...More
Iran sentenced French-Iranian academic Fariba Adelkhah to five years in prison on national security charges on Saturday, her lawyer said, adding that she plans to appeal. French Foreign Minister Jean...More
India on Sunday extended a nationwide coronavirus lockdown to 31 May, as cases exceeded 90,000 and further clashes erupted between police and stranded migrants. Schools, malls and other public places...More
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and his rival Abdullah Abdullah signed a power-sharing deal to end a months-long political stalemate, Ghani's spokesman said on Sunday, in a step that could smooth...More
Madagascar on Sunday announced the first death of a patient suffering from the novel coronavirus, nearly two months after it was first detected in the country. The 57-year-old hospital worker died on...More
The Moria refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos has burned to the ground. The situation is dire, but it was already grave before fire swept through Europe's largest and most overcrowded refugee camp.
