Iran sticking to nuclear deal, rules out renegotiation with U.S.
November 22nd, 20180 Iran has no intention of renegotiating the 2015 nuclear deal, as demanded by the U.S., Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said. Speaking at an international conference in Rome, Zarif said the Iranian people will endure U.S. sanctions. Iran sticking to nuclear deal, IAEA says, amid new U.S. sanctions Iran is implementing...U.S. deals another blow to Palestinians, merges consulate in east Jerusalem with embassy
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is merging the U.S. Consulate General in Jerusalem into the new U.S. Embassy there, a move critics say is the latest U.S. slap at the Palestinians and one that could further undermine hopes for a two-state solution. The U.S. Consulate General effectively functioned as a direct point of contact...
Nissan to fire Ghosn after arrest for alleged financial misconduct
November 19th, 20180 Nissan Motor Company Chairman Carlos Ghosn was arrested on Monday for alleged financial misconduct and will be fired from the board this week, a dramatic fall for a leader hailed for rescuing the Japanese carmaker from close to bankruptcy. Nissan said an internal investigation, triggered by a tip-off from a whistleblower, had revealed...
Fewer Arab students head for U.S. to study, report shows
November 19th, 20180 WASHINGTON — Fewer Arab students are choosing to study at universities in the U.S. than in the previous year, according to a report published on Tuesday, while the number of American students going to the Middle East has surged modestly. The Institute of International Education’s 2018 Open Doors report shows that in the last...
Former Bahraini minister warns of joint Arab-Israel conspiracy against Palestine
November 18th, 20180 Former Bahraini Minister Mohammad Ali Fakhro, a board member of the Arab Anti-Corruption Organization, criticized the Arab world’s normalization with Israel, blaming these ties for Tel Aviv’s continuous targeting of Palestinians, Arabi21 reported on Wednesday. “The Israeli occupation continues its efforts to get rid of the...
U.S. senators seek clampdown on Saudis over Yemen, journalist’s murder
November 16th, 20180 WASHINGTON — Republican and Democratic U.S. senators introduced legislation on Thursday seeking to strike back at Saudi Arabia over the death of a Saudi journalist at a consulate in Turkey and for its role in Yemen’s devastating civil war. If it were to become law, the bill would suspend weapon sales to Saudi Arabia and prohibit...
Yemeni father mourns baby girl who died of starvation
November 16th, 20180 SANAA, Yemen — Saleh al-Faqeh held the wasted arm of his baby daughter as she took her last breath on Thursday at the malnutrition ward of the main hospital in Yemen’s capital Sanaa. Four-month-old Hajar al-Faqeh reached the al-Sabeen hospital last week from Saada province, one of thousands of Yemeni children suffering from...
Trump nominates retired general John Abizaid as U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia
November 16th, 20180 WASHINGTON — President Trump announced his intention to nominate retired general John Abizaid as U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia, after two years of the position being vacant. The nomination of Abizaid, a decorated military commander who fought in six wars and served as the head of Central Command before retiring in 2007, was...
U.S. imposes sanctions on Saudi officials for Khashoggi killing
November 16th, 20180 WASHINGTON — The United States imposed economic sanctions on 17 Saudi officials on Thursday for their role in the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, as Saudi Arabia’s public prosecutor sought the death penalty for five suspects in the murder. The U.S. Treasury Department sanctions were the first concrete response by the...
‘Everything is a target’: Gaza residents decry indiscriminate Israeli strikes
November 16th, 20180 GAZA — Ahmed Abu Saif struggles to maintain a straight face as he looks at the amorphous pile of rubble of what used to be a five-story building he owned. The structure is one of the several civilian sites that have been flattened over the past 24 hours in Gaza as Israeli jets pounded the besieged and densely-populated coastal...
Five reasons why Trump’s Iran sanctions will fail
November 4th, 20180 The next round of economic sanctions on Iran, which will start going into effect on Nov.4, will mainly target the country’s oil and gas industries. These sanctions were eased after the 2015 signing of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), commonly known as the Iran nuclear deal, but are being phased back in following...Yemeni teacher turns his home into school for 700 students
TAIZ, Yemen — Outside the home of Yemeni teacher Adel al-Shorbagy the queue of children lining up for education keeps getting longer. Almost 700 come daily to his house that he converted into a school in the government-held city of Taiz, which has been at the center of a three-and-a-half-year civil war that has left millions on the...
Mysterious deaths of Saudi sisters found bound with duct tape in Hudson River
November 2nd, 20180 NEW YORK — New York City investigators believe that the two sisters from Saudi Arabia whose bodies were found bound together with duct tape floating along the Hudson River last week were alive when they entered the water, two police sources told ABC News. Detectives are checking to see if any surveillance cameras captured the moment...
ISIS claims responsibility for attack on Shi’a pilgrims in Iraq
October 30th, 20180 BAGHDAD - ISIS has claimed responsibility for a bomb attack on Shi’a Muslim pilgrims in Iraq on Tuesday, the Islamist militant group’s news agency Amaq reported. The roadside bomb killed three pilgrims as they walked to a holy site near the northeastern Iraqi city of Khanaqin.
Woman blows herself up in central Tunis; nine wounded
October 29th, 20180 A 30-year old woman blew herself up in the center of the Tunisian capital Tunis on Monday, wounding nine people including eight police in what the Interior Ministry called a “terrorist explosion”. Witnesses described a blast on the central Habib Bourguiba avenue where hundreds of police later cordoned off an area near the......
Iraq’s new prime minister struggles to form a government amid divisions and corruption
October 29th, 20181 Iraq’s new prime minister, Adel Abdul Mahdi, has had an early taste of the partisan politics he hopes to rein in, failing so far to win parliament’s approval of a full government to begin to tackle the destruction of years of war and rampant corruption. At a heated session on Wednesday night, parliament members rejected key...
Flash flood in Jordan kills several people, mostly children
October 26th, 20180 Thirty-four people were rescued in a major operation involving police helicopters and hundreds of Jordanian army troops following a flash flood, police chief Brigadier General Farid al Sharaa told state run television. Some of the people rescued were in a serious condition. Many of those killed were children under 14. A number of......
Saudi Arabia reverses previous stories, now says Khashoggi killing ‘premeditated’
October 26th, 20180 Saudi Arabia’s public prosecutor said on Thursday the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the kingdom’s Istanbul consulate this month was premeditated, reversing previous official statements that the killing was unintended. The death of Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and critic of de facto Saudi ruler Crown Prince...
Bill Ford cancels plan for Saudi investor event following Khashouggi’s disappearance
October 19th, 20180 NEW YORK — JP Morgan & Chase Company Chief Executive Jamie Dimon and Ford Motor Company Chairman Bill Ford canceled plans to attend a Saudi investor conference, the companies said on Sunday, the latest such high-profile announcements after the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The cancellations could add...
How Khashoggi’s disappearance could affect Middle East politics
October 16th, 20180 The disappearance and possible murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi has cast a long shadow over Saudi Arabia’s global image. If the Saudi government did in fact kill or kidnap him, the crime would have significant implications for Middle East politics. Turkish authorities believe he has been killed and his body, possibly...
That single line of blood: Nassir al-Mosabeh and Mohammed al-Durrah
October 16th, 20180 As the frail body of 12-year-old Nassir Al-Mosabeh fell to the ground on Friday, September 28, history was repeating itself in a most tragic way. Little Nassir was not just another number, a “martyr” to be exalted by equally poor refugees in Gaza, or vilified by Israel and its tireless hasbara machine. He was much more than......
Looking for Oum Kulthum: An Iranian take on the Arab experience
October 16th, 20180 Shirin Neshat’s “Looking for Oum Kulthum” tells of an Iranian artist’s effort at making a film on the life and career of the late Egyptian legendary singer. Though the project was made with pure intentions, it has been met with distaste and skepticism from the Arab world. A main criticism of the film is Neshat’s role as...
Trump won’t halt Saudi arms sales over journalist disappearance
October 16th, 20180 President Trump said on Thursday that he saw no reason to cut off arms sales to Saudi Arabia because of the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, possibly setting up a clash with the U.S. Congress. Trump also said the U.S. may be closer to finding out what happened to Khashoggi, a prominent critic of Saudi policies who......
Turkish daily: Turkey obtains recordings of Saudi journalist’s purported killing
October 13th, 20180 ISTANBUL - Turkey’s investigation into the disappearance of prominent Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi has revealed recordings made on his Apple Watch purportedly indicating he was tortured and killed, a Turkish newspaper reported on Saturday. The report in the pro-government Sabah daily, which could not immediately be verified,...
Israeli court upholds entry ban on U.S. student over her BDS activities
October 13th, 20180 An Israeli court on Friday upheld the barring of an American student from the country over her activities in support of an international boycott campaign by pro-Palestinian groups. Lara Alqasem, 22, flew to Israel last week on a student visa but was refused entry. While in airport detention, she filed an appeal with Tel Aviv District......
