News from the Middle East and North Africa | The Arab Weekly

News & Analysis

Acting UN Envoy to Libya Stephanie Williams attends a press conference on the Libya conflict on October 21. (AFP)

Libya’s settlement talks moving ahead despite Islamist resistance

News & Analysis

Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi speak in Nicosia. October 21. (REUTERS)

Turkey, a taboo word in Sisi’s coy lexicon

Mohamed Abulfadl

Kuwait

Emir of Kuwait Sheikh Nawaf al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah (C) attends parliament session with Crown Prince Sheikh Mishaal al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah (R) and Parliament Speaker Marzouq al-Ghanim (L), October 20. (AFP)

Doubts surround Kuwaiti leadership’s insistence on Gulf mediation

News & Analysis

Libya’s Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj meets in Istanbul with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erogan, October 4. (AFP)

Sarraj’s military talks in Istanbul raise concerns about Turkey’s role

Jordan

A picture taken in unknown location and provided by the Jordanian News Agency shows Jordanian army troops deployed to enforce COVID-related confinement measures. (DPA/ PETRA)

Zarqa crime reflects Jordan’s mounting problem with extortion mafias

Palestine

Senior Fatah official Jibril Rajoub speaks as deputy Hamas chief Saleh Arouri appears on a television screen during a video conference, in Ramallah, last July. (REUTERS)

For Hamas, reconciliation takes second seat to Israel talks

Latest Issue

Issue: 254 | Sun, April 26, 2020

Top Stories

Washington green-lights Israeli government’s move to annexation

Gulf countries seen as well-positioned to weather storm

For Muslims in Arab world, Ramadan is unlike any before

Opinion

With dim economic prospects, Tunisia ‘dancing on volcano’

Naqoura talks a step towards normalcy, not normalisation

Formal democracy cannot save Tunisia or its failed political class

Mokhtar Dabbabi

Gulf countries need comprehensive solution to meet pressures

Haitham El-Zobaidi

News & Analysis

A French police officer stands next to a portrait of French teacher Samuel Paty in Montpellier, France. (AFP)

France teacher’s killer linked to jihadist in Idlib

Media

Tunisian journalists protest against the amendment of Legislative Decree 116 in front of parliament in Tunis, on October 20, 2020, during a rally organised by the National Union of Tunisian Journalists (SNJT) and the General Media Federation. Sign reads: “Hands off Decree 116”. (AFP)

Bill to end TV licensing sparks protests in Tunisia

News & Analysis

A file picture of John Ratcliffe, Director of US National Intelligence, testifying before Congress in Washington. (REUTERS)

US officials accuse Iran of cyberops to ‘intimidate voters’

Saudi Arabia

A 2017 file picture shows Muhammad al-Issa, Secretary General of the Muslim World League, at the Vatican with Pope Francis. (AP)

Leadership appointments widen Saudi reform support base

News & Analysis

US President Donald Trump shakes hands with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi during their meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, in September 2019. (AFP)

Cairo staging choreographed dissent, just in case Biden wins

Mohamed Abulfadl

Saudi Arabia

Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (R) meets with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Riyadh in February 2017. (AFP)

Unofficial but effective Saudi boycott strikes blow at Turkey

Economy

An Iraqi Kurd collects figs from a tree in a field in the Kurdish town of Akre, 500 kms north of Baghdad. (AFP)

Iraqi Kurds go back to farming to make ends meet

Lebanon

Lebanese President Michel Aoun (L) speaks with the now-resigned head of the caretaker government Hassan Diab during a meeting last month. (DPA)

Diab issues remainder to France for satellite images

Iran

An Iranian cruise missile is fired during war games in the northern Indian Ocean and near the entrance to the Gulf, Iran June 17, 2020. (Reuters)

Iran in the crosshairs as UN discusses Arabian Gulf security

Tunisia

Nurses clad in PPE (personal protective equipment) tend to a COVID-19 patient in an intensive care unit (ICU) at a hospital in the town of Gabes in Tunisia’s south-west.(AFP)

Tunisia running short of ICU beds with pandemic spike

Saudi Arabia

People attend the Global Al Summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia October 21, 2020. (REUTERS)

Saudi Arabia sets sights on AI development

Egypt

A file picture of Egyptian Environment Minister Yasmine Fouad speaking at a campaign event. (Egypt’s Ministry of Environment)

Egypt introduces new ecotourism campaign

Opinion

With dim economic prospects, Tunisia ‘dancing on volcano’

Naqoura talks a step towards normalcy, not normalisation

Formal democracy cannot save Tunisia or its failed political class

Mokhtar Dabbabi

Gulf countries need comprehensive solution to meet pressures

Haitham El-Zobaidi

Tunisia

A file picture of Tunisian singer, best remembered by her song “Ellila eid” (Tonight we celebrate). (Facebook)

Naama, queen of Tunisian pop music, dies at 86

Tunisia

Tunisia Harissa paste and red peppers. (TAW)

Tunisia wants harissa UNESCO’s world heritage list

Minorities in the Arab World

Saad Hussein, an Iraqi Yazidi, pours Arak into a large pot to produce Arak liquor out of dates, on the outskirts of Mosul, Iraq. (REUTERS)

Iraqi Yazidis struggle to keep alive arak-making tradition

Tunisia

Sofiene Chaari (left) and Kaouthar Belhaj in the Tunisian series “Choufli Hall”. (Tunisian TV youtube channel)

TV’s ‘good old days’ allow Tunisians escape from stressful reality

Culture

Jazz pianist, singer and composer Vahagn Hayrapetyan performs at the Amman Jazz Festival, 2014. (Couresy of the Amman Jazz Festival)

Amman Jazz Festival to present local artists to the world

UAE

The festival events include camel, falcon and goat beauty contests. (credit)

Abu Dhabi’s popular heritage festival to kick off next month