Sunday 12 May 2019 | | AW

Top Stories

Turkey on collision course with Egypt over drilling off Cyprus

Recurring political shakedowns in Jordan as crown prince comes to the fore

US ratchets up ‘maximum pressure’ on Iran with military deployment

Sarraj's failed European tour could herald wider shift on Libya war

Abir Moussi emerges in Tunisia’s opinion polls as she breaks with political order

Interview

Challenging the system. Abir Moussi, leader of the Free Destourian Party. (Courtesy of PDL)

Abir Moussi emerges in Tunisia’s opinion polls as she breaks with political order

Challenging the swords. A 2013 file picture shows a man holding a plaque of the Muslim Brotherhood emblem that was removed from the party’s burned-out headquarters in the Moqattam district of Cairo. (AFP)

Untangling the ‘conundrum’ of US blacklisting of Muslim Brotherhood

Economy

Food products nearing expiry on display at a market in Amman. (Roufan Nahhas)

Nearly expired food is an inexpensive alternative for Jordanians in Ramadan

People tour the dry fruit market in Derb Omar. (Saad Guerraoui)

Food consumption soars but economic activity slows in Morocco during Ramadan

A Moroccan woman harvests Damask roses in Kalaat M’Gouna at the foot of the High Atlas Mountains. (AFP)

Investing in aromatic roses in Morocco

Solar panels are seen in a field in Kafr al-Dawar village in northern Egypt’s Nile Delta. (AFP)

Aswan solar power park highlights Egypt’s renewable energy strategy

Culture

A young performer in a black robe chants as Iraqi Shia youth take part in a mourning ceremony at their local mosque in the town of Midhatiya, south of Baghdad. (AFP)

Iraq’s ‘latmiyat’ rap has youth appeal but conservatives not amused

“Wedding” by Tayseer Barakat. (El-Nimer Collection)

How Palestinian art evolved under siege

Lebanese-French writer and academician Amin Maalouf speaks during a ceremony at the French Institute in Paris. (Reuters)

Arab writers’ use of foreign languages opens new horizons

Speakers attend a discussion of “Min al-Mahjar ila al-Watan” (“From the Diaspora to the Homeland”) in Abu Dhabi. (Arab-Brazilian Chamber of Commerce)

Translating books from Portuguese into Arabic builds bridges with Brazil

Mohamed Hemamsi

Travel

A local arranges rocks at Jebel Abul Hassan. (www.redseamountaintrail.org)

Egypt’s new Red Sea Mountain Trail offers glimpse into nomadic heritage

Marc Espanol-34622

Society

Moroccan women activists replace the name of a street in Rabat with that of a famous Moroccan woman, March 10. (AFP)

Morocco uses legal and executive arsenal to combat violence against women

(L-R) Broadcast Journalist May Bin Khadra, Vice-President of EMEA, PSB Rob Vance, Director of the Middle East and Central Asia Department at the International Monetary Fund Jihad Azour and President of ASDA’A BCW Sunil John. (Courtesy of Arab Youth Survey)

Arab youth survey reflects ‘need for new social contract’

N.P. Krishna Kumar

A student takes part in a workshop at The Little Engineer centre in Beirut. (The Little Engineer)

Beirut-based technology initiative propping future generations

Visitors attend a panel at the Travel Tech Show at the Arabian Travel Market. (ATM)

Technology redefining MENA’s travel industry

N.P. Krishna Kumar

News & Analysis

Erdogan gambles big with rerun of Istanbul election

Hamas and Israel clash in worst violence in years

Manuel Langendorf

Leaked files expose Hezbollah’s secret dealings in Venezuela

Simon Speakman Cordall

Saudi Arabia welcomes growing number of pilgrims for umrah

Worries mount over Iraq preserving its interests amid US-Iran standoff

Mamoon Alabbasi

Russian-Syrian forces pound Idlib, Turkey shifts attention to Kurdish positions

Defending the ‘Deal of the Century’ while keeping the details secret

Trump’s Brotherhood move likely to embolden Cairo

Hassan Abdel Zaher

Persecution of Christians seen on the rise in Middle East

Opinion

Erdogan’s Istanbul grab is no surprise

Gaza’s Palestinian tragedy

Masked slavery lingers in Lebanon

Iran’s three-pronged approach in Iraq

Iraqi militias’ presence in Syria spurs fierce criticism from all sides

Turkey’s gas exploration moves off the coast of Cyprus unlikely to yield results

Iran’s economy

Secular versus sacred: Uighurs are in a hard place

Rashmee Roshan Lall

Iran under the shadow of war as risks mount

With carrier deployment, US pressure on Iran takes on new contours

Iran economy faces deeper damage as US ups pressure

Can Algeria’s army lead the quest for a modern state?

Sudan can avoid Syria’s catastrophic path

Abdul Basit Sida

Iran ‘calibrates’ its moves but does not know what to expect

Iran’s Machiavellian calculations may not work in Libya

Mohamed Aboelfadl

US-Iran showdown

Election rerun in Istanbul

Gender quotas a solution to feminising senior roles in Saudi government

Najah al-Otaibi