Archives for April, 2023

ASHRAF SHAZLY/AFP via Getty Images

Syria, Tunisia to reopen embassies as Arab thaw grows with Assad

Syria continues to reconcile with countries across the Arab world.

IVAN PISARENKO/AFP via Getty Images

China’s Sinopec acquires stake in Qatar gas project

Chinese energy firms are increasingly cooperating with their Qatari and Saudi counterparts as the People’s Republic makes further inroads into the region.

Algeria oil field

Sonatrach announces six new oil discoveries in Algeria

The state-owned oil company made several discoveries in the first quarter of this year.

Syria's long-isolated President Bashar al-Assad (L) and Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (R)

Saudi hosts landmark Iran, Syria visits as Middle East ties thaw

Agence France-Presse

This photo shows the M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) firing during the Combined Arms Live Fire Exercise (CALFEX) as part of the annual naval exercises between the Philippine Marine Corps and US Marine Corps at Capas, Tarlac province on October 13, 2022. (Photo by JAM STA ROSA / AFP) (Photo by JAM STA ROSA/AFP via Getty Images)

Breaking | Last Updated: April 13, 2023, 7:28 am

US approves $524 million HIMARS artillery sale to Morocco

The proposed sale, which also includes guided air-to-ground bombs, comes as Morocco draws closer to the United States and rival Algeria pursues stronger ties with Russia.

US Senator Chris Murphy speaks during a news conference on gun violence legislation outside the US Capitol on March 22, 2023

US senator says Europe must be firm on Tunisia IMF deal

Agence France-Presse

Analysis

Experts pour cold water on Tunisia BRICS ‘bid,’ as country rejects IMF

Experts say economic reforms and stronger anti-Western credentials are needed before the North African country could be seriously considered to join the five-member bloc.

In Bristol, reporting on regional business, climate change, AI, tech

Turkish President and Leader of the Justice and Development (AK) Party, Recep Tayyip Erdogan (R) and his wife Emine Erdogan (L) acknowledge the crowd during the unveiling of the AK Party's Election Manifesto in Ankara, Turkey on April 11, 2023.

Turkey’s Erdogan lays out promises to party base, but offers few details

The president pledged a way out of the economic crisis and promised improved living standards ahead of May polls.

Palestinians stand inside the Al-Aqsa mosque as Israeli security forces watch at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, also known as the Temple Mount complex to Jews, in Jerusalem on April 9, 2023, during the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan, also coinciding with the Jewish Passover holiday. (Photo by AHMAD GHARABLI / AFP) (Photo by AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images)

Israel bans visits of Jews to Temple Mount in last 10 days of Ramadan

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision rejected the request of National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.

A painted Turkish national flag is seen on the wall of a collapsed building, two months after a 7.8-magnitude jolt and its aftershocks wiped out swathes of Turkey's mountainous southeast, in Antakya on April 5, 2023. - Many of the survivors blamed the government and its stuttering response to Turkey's worst disaster of its modern era for a death toll that has now surpassed 50,000. But that fury is gradually giving way to a mixture of fatalism and reviving trust in the man this province gave three-fourths of

Turkey's industries see biggest decline since 2020 in quake aftermath

Production output fell by 8.2% annually in February, the same month the earthquakes wreaked havoc on the country, according to new data.

A vendor arranges truffles at his road side stall in Damascus on March 1, 2023.

Islamic State kills three truffle hunters in Syria

Truffle hunting is potentially profitable for Syrians amid the bleak economic situation in the country, but the activity is also dangerous due to targeting by the Islamic State.

Israeli soldiers pass an ambulance with the body of a Palestinian militant killed during what the army called an exchange of fire near Elon Moreh settlement in the occupied West Bank

Israeli forces kill two Palestinians as British-Israeli buried

Agence France-Presse

Iranian Armenian schoolgirls walk home after class in the Julfa neighbourhood in the historic city of Isfahan, some 400 kms south of the capital, Tehran on April 21, 2015. Julfa neighborhood in Isfahan is where the biggest Armenian community in Iran resides and was established as an Armenian quarter by Persian Safavid King Shah Abbas I in 1606. Some 180.000 Armenians were living in Iran before the Islamic revolution in 1979, compared to some 60000 today, according to official figures. Most of the community

Fury in Iran as officials fail to address schoolgirls' poisonings

Iranian authorities either looked the other way or blamed the students, failing to soothe the public rage at the fresh suspected gas attacks on schoolgirls.

Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi (R) listen to explanations during their visit to the Black Sea Fleet's guards missile cruiser Moskva in the sea port of Sochi on August 12, 2014 during the Egyptian leader's first official visit to Russia. AFP PHOTO / RIA NOVOSTI / KREMLIN POOL / ALEXEI DRUZHININ (Photo by ALEXEI DRUZHININ / RIA NOVOSTI / AFP) (Photo by ALEXEI DRUZHININ/RIA NOVOSTI/AFP via Getty Images)

Egypt denies report it planned to produce 40,000 rockets for Russia

Moscow has also denied the claims that President Sisi ordered the military to secretly ship the rockets to Russia.

Members of parliament attend a session, Kuwait City, Kuwait, April 4, 2023.

Analysis

What is behind Kuwait's change of government, economic woes?

The decades-long dance of political reshuffles has prevented the execution of investment and reforms in national infrastructure, health and social services, and also economic projects.

By Salim A. Essaid

The 48-year-old died Monday from wounds sustained three days earlier when her car came under fire in the Jordan Valley

Funeral held of British-Israeli killed in West Bank attack

Agence France-Presse