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Culture

Neymar

After Ronaldo, Neymar scores $54 million penthouse in Dubai

The Brazilian soccer player is the latest athlete to acquire property in the UAE’s largest city.

United Arab Emirates

Head coach Robert Saleh of the New York Jets looks on against the Denver Broncos during the first half at MetLife Stadium on Sept. 29, 2024, in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

What’s behind firing of Robert Saleh, NFL’s first Muslim, Lebanese head coach?

The New York Jets were performing poorly under the Lebanese American Saleh amid rumors of tensions with outspoken quarterback Aaron Rodgers.

Mike Hewitt/Getty Images

Tunisian tennis star Ons Jabeur drops out of 2024 tennis circuit

Tunisia's Ons Jabeur, currently ranked 22nd in the Women's Tennis Association, will step away from tennis until 2025 as she recovers from a shoulder injury.

Bassem Youssef attends the 2020 Sundance Film Festival Cinema Cafe on January 31, 2020, in Park City, Utah.

Egyptian comedian Bassem Youssef no longer on X: What we know

The exiled comic has been a vocal critic of Israel, highlighting the plight of the Palestinians during the Gaza war but has recently been accused of antisemitism.

Latest News

CT scans reveal mysteries of ancient Egypt's 'Screaming Woman' mummy

Visitors tour the site in the Saqqara necropolis south of Cairo, where archaeologists unearthed two human and animal embalming workshops, as well as two tombs, on May 27, 2023. The head of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, told reporters the embalming workshops, where humans and animals were mummified, "date back to the 30th dynasty" which reigned around 2,400 years ago. (Photo by Khaled DESOUKI / AFP) (Photo by KHALED DESOUKI/AFP via Getty Images)

Middle East athletes rack up 44 medals at Paris Olympics

Imane Khelif

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From Egypt to Saudi: Meet Middle East's athletes at Paris Olympics

This photograph shows Paris 2024 Olympics Games banner in front of the National Assembly, in Paris, on July 18, 2024.

Adam Lucente

By Adam Lucente

In New York City, reporting on regional news, militancy, climate change

Analysis

Saudi Arabia's soccer dreams tested as Vision 2030 goal posts move

RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA - MAY 4: Cristiano Ronaldo of Al Nassr celebrates after scoring the 2nd goal during the Saudi Pro League match between Al-Nassr and Al Wehda at Al Awwal Park on May 4, 2024 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.(Photo by Yasser Bakhsh/Getty Images)

Samuel Wendel

By Samuel Wendel

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

Adam Lucente

News and Business Correspondent

In New York City, reporting on regional news, militancy, climate change

Beatrice Farhat

Associate Editor (Lebanon)

In Beirut, reporting on regional news, culture, conflict

Nazlan Ertan

In Izmir, reporting on culture

Danny Makki

In London, reporting on Syrian politics and culture

Naima Morelli

In Rome, reporting on Middle East culture

Rebecca Anne Proctor

In Dubai, reporting on culture

Palestinian female soccer players are seen before a qualifying match against Thailand for the Asian Women Football Cup, al-Ram, West Bank, April 3, 2017.

Palestinian female referee prepares for FIFA Women’s World Cup

Heba Saadia has been selected as the Palestine's first referee to officiate the FIFA Women's World Cup 2023 matches.

LIV golf

Explainer: Saudi-funded LIV Golf’s legal battle with PGA

LIV Golf is accused of tracking 9/11 victims who have been protesting the breakaway league. The leader of 9/11 Justice called the accusation “bone-chilling,” and LIV has yet to comment.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas holds a wooden relic reputed to be part of Jesus's manger, as he speaks with the acting Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Pierbattista Pizzaballa during a Christmas midnight mass in the Church of the Nativity, in Bethlehem in the Israeli-occupied West Bank December 25, 2019. (Photo by MUSSA QAWASMA/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

US repatriates 2,700-year-old artifact to Palestine

The United States repatriates a stolen artifact to Palestine — a historic move between the two countries.

An Egyptian woman collects clothes in front of a giant picture of Egyptian diva Umm Kulthum painted on her shack in the Kom al-Ghurab suburb of Cairo. (MARWAN NAAMANI/AFP via Getty Images)

Arabs celebrate Umm Kulthum pick on Rolling Stone’s 200 greatest singers

The Egyptian legend was ranked ahead of many all-time greats, including Michael Jackson.

Caretakers of the Protestant cemetery inspect vandalised graves on Mount Zion outside Jerusalem's Old City on January 4, 2023. - (Photo by AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images)

Outrage at desecration of historic Protestant Cemetery in Jerusalem

Police investigates the desecration of at least 30 tombstones by two Jewish-looking individuals at the 19th century Protestant Cemetery in Jerusalem.

Mostafa Waziri, the head of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, uses a magnifying glass to inspect an ancient Egyptian wooden sarcophagus being handed over and which was formerly displayed at Houston Museum of Natural Sciences after having been looted and smuggled years prior, at the foreign ministry headquarters in the capital Cairo on January 2, 2023. Photo by -/AFP via Getty Images)

Egypt repatriates ancient 'Green Sarcophagus' from US

Following an investigation and international efforts, Egypt has successfully repatriated the sarcophagus. Ongoing efforts aim to retrieve further items from around the world to Egyptian museums.

OLI SCARFF/AFP via Getty Images

Saudi soccer team reported to sign Ronaldo

Cristiano Ronaldo will reportedly sign with Riyadh's Al Nassr Football Club, for which landing the Portuguese superstar is a major win.

A visitor views artefacts in one of the galleries of the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology at University College London, United Kingdom, July 28, 2022.

Egyptian monuments repatriated after a century

Egyptian antiquities will be returned by Ireland to the Egyptian Museum in 2023, after ongoing negotiations between both sides failed in 2011.

Kfar Kama

Israeli Circassian village lands among UN's top tourism picks

Israel's Circassian village of Kfar Kama is featured in this year's "Best Tourism Villages," a project of the UN World Tourism Organizaiton.

Magda Shehata Haroun talks during an interview with AFP at the Shaar Hashamayim Synagogue.

Egypt's few remaining Jews celebrate Hanukkah

Hanukkah was celebrated amid tight security in Cairo's Meyr Biton Synagogue. Yet Magda Haroun, head of Egypt's tiny Jewish community, looks forward to the day when all of Egypt's synagogues will be open for prayer and celebrations.

People walk along an alley at a Christmas market in the Christian Quarter of the Old City, Jerusalem, Dec. 15, 2022.

Israel's Jews flock to Arab towns for Christmas

Many Arab towns and villages, not necessarily Christian, are now featuring Christmas markets, targeting also Israeli Jewish tourists.

UAE Jewish

UAE opens first kosher market for growing Jewish community

The Jewish community in the UAE has substantially grown over the last two years, and with it, the demand for a kosher food source.