Prime minister set for comeback despite upcoming criminal corruption trial
Benjamin Netanyahu has claimed victory in Israel’s third election within a year, even as the country looked set for further political deadlock after early counts suggested he was still short of securing a historic fifth term.
By Tuesday morning, with 90% of the votes counted, the prime minister’s Likud party appeared to be ahead with 36 seats, with a total of 59 for his rightwing alliance.
Continue reading...The country was also blamed for indiscriminate attacks in civilian areas without ‘a specific military objective’
A UN investigation into atrocities committed in Syria has for the first time accused Russia of direct involvement in war crimes for indiscriminate bombing of civilian areas.
The latest report from the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria focuses on events of July 2019 to January this year, and in particular attacks by “pro-government forces” on civilian targets like medical facilities, driving 700,000 civilians from their homes.
Continue reading...Move follows Ghassan Salamé’s failure to get nations to use their leverage to end civil war
International efforts to broker a Libyan ceasefire have been plunged further into chaos by the unexpected resignation of Ghassan Salamé, the UN special envoy to the country.
Salamé’s move, amid UN-led talks in Geneva, is an admission that he has been unable to persuade major powers to use their leverage to end the civil war between Khalifa Haftar, the leader of so-called Libyan National Army forces in the country’s east, and the UN-recognised government of Fayez al-Sarraj, based in the capital, Tripoli.
Continue reading...War in Yemen and Saudia human rights repression will keep foreign secretary busy
Dramatic Houthi rebel advances and threats to end humanitarian aid in Yemen will lead Dominic Raab’s agenda when he makes his first visit to Saudi Arabia on Monday.
The British foreign secretary will also travel to Muscat later this week to meet the new Sultan of Oman, Haitham bin Tariq, to discuss his role in any mediation talks in Yemen.
Continue reading...Netanyahu says main rival Gantz ‘not a leader’, while Gantz has focused on PM’s alleged corruption
Israelis are voting in the country’s third election within the space of a year, in a fight Benjamin Netanyahu is desperate to win on the eve of a criminal corruption trial against him.
More than 6.3 million people are eligible to cast their votes in polling stations that will close at 10pm (8pm GMT) on Monday, after which exit polls will be reported.
Continue reading...Neither Benjamin Netanyahu nor opponent Benny Gantz are likely to break political deadlock
Israelis are due to vote on Monday in the country’s third election in 12 months, with many worried the result will be just as inconclusive as previous rounds, extending a painful political stalemate deep into 2020.
After two failed attempts to form a government, the country has been plunged into limbo, run by an interim administration without powers to pass significant legislation or even a budget.
Continue reading...Turkish leader claims 18,000 people have crossed into EU but some are met with teargas
Thousands of migrants may be in no man’s land between Turkey and Greece after Ankara opened its western borders, sparking chaotic scenes as Greek troops attempted to prevent refugees from entering Europe en masse.
Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, claimed 18,000 migrants had crossed the border, without immediately providing supporting evidence, but many appear to have been repelled by Greek border patrols firing teargas and stun grenades.
Continue reading...Dozens of Syrian refugees were seen rushing to board coaches in Turkey's Istanbul on Friday after Ankara decided to open its border to Europe. The move comes after an airstrike on Thursday killed at least 33 Turkish soldiers in Syria's Idlib province. Fearing the window to leave Turkey would soon close, some of the 3.6 million Syrians living in the country have begun to vacate
Appeal court rejects challenge by Sheikh Mohammed, who may now go to supreme court
The ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, has failed in his latest attempt to prevent publication of two family court judgments involving his children with his ex-wife Princess Haya of Jordan.
The court of appeal in London also refused his lawyers permission to take the case to the supreme court but said they had until 4pm on Tuesday to lodge an application directly with the UK’s highest court if they wished to object. The two family court judgments cannot be published until any such potential further appeals have been determined.
Continue reading...Neither side can back down from proxy standoff, but Russia holds whip hand in Idlib
For more than three years, Russia and Turkey have been shadow boxing on the soils of northern Syria. In the past three weeks, the stalking has turned to shooting; the Turks aiming their guns at the Moscow-allied Assad regime, and the Russians increasingly swinging their turrets towards the Turkish military.
In a war fought largely through proxies, any direct conflict between main players was considered highly dangerous and, until Thursday night, unlikely. But after the deaths of at least 30 Turkish troops – most likely the consequence of a Russian airstrike – both sides are in a standoff from which neither can afford to back down.
Continue reading...Move appears designed to put pressure on Europe to support Turkey’s Idlib operation
Hundreds of refugees in Turkey began arriving at the country’s borders with Greece and Bulgaria on Friday after Ankara suddenly indicated it would no longer block their passage to Europe.
The move prompted both neighbouring nations to shore up their borders as their governments insisted they would not allow anyone to enter. Greek police used smoke grenades at one border crossing, while Bulgaria sent an extra 1,000 troops to its frontier with Turkey.
Continue reading...With a voice adored by Bob Dylan, Robert Plant and millions across the Arab world, Umm Kulthum rejected gender norms with her powerful, political music. But can her 90-minute songs work in a new stage musical?
You hear the Umm Kulthum cafe before you see it. Violins swoon and a monumental voice surges from a doorway in Cairo’s Tawfiqia neighbourhood. Outside, couples smoke shisha on plastic chairs, dwarfed by two immense golden busts depicting the singer known variously as “the star of the east”, “mother of the Arabs” and “Egypt’s fourth pyramid”.
Umm Kulthum recorded about 300 songs over a 60-year career and her words of love, loss and longing drift reliably from taxis, radios and cafes across the Arab world today, 45 years after her death. Despite singing complex Arabic poetry, she influenced some of the west’s greatest singers. Bob Dylan said: “She’s great. She really is.” Shakira and Beyoncé have performed dance routines to her music. Maria Callas called her “the incomparable voice”.
Continue reading...Sara Netanyahu faces fresh allegations of mistreating staff a week before Israeli elections
A former housekeeper at Benjamin Netanyahu’s official residence is suing the Israeli prime minister’s wife, Sara, for $190,000 (£148,000) in damages for pain and suffering allegedly caused during her employment there.
The woman’s lawyer, Opheer Shimson, said his client worked at the residence for five months until last November when she was injured in a fall allegedly resulting from what he described as Sara Netanyahu’s tyrannical demands.
Continue reading...The White Helmets civil defence service has released footage showing a rescue operation after airstrikes by the Syrian regime and Russian forces on Tuesday. Eight school facilities were bombed in Idlib province, Syria, in a single day, killing more than 20 people as the battle for control of the country’s last opposition stronghold intensified
Continue reading...The death of a struggling street vendor whose stock was confiscated by officials has sent shock waves through Jordan and sparked comparisons with the origins of the Arab spring
Anas al-Jamra carried more burdens than he could bear. As the eldest of 16 children, the fruit and vegetable vendor was the main provider for his parents, brothers and sisters, in addition to his own four young children.
But continuously harassed by police and city officials, who confiscated his stock, the 28-year-old began accumulating debt.
Continue reading...The late dictator’s downfall is a cautionary tale for those who seek to obliterate dissent in a country of 100 million people
On 28 January 2011, a reporter colleague and I boarded a ghostly Cairo metro train travelling east below the Nile, from Giza to the city centre. Far above us, the capital was ablaze. Pockets of fighting between anti-government protesters and police shook the streets; bridges across the river were revolutionary battlegrounds; ribbons of smoke and teargas filled the sky. In a final, futile attempt at self-preservation, the country’s authoritarian regime had shut down mobile networks and switched off the internet, so reliable news was hard to come by and we didn’t know who would emerge triumphant from what had already been termed Egypt’s “day of rage”.
Related: Hosni Mubarak obituary
Continue reading...Egypt pays tribute to former president, who died at 91, amid tight security in Cairo
Former Egyptian autocrat Hosni Mubarak has been buried in Cairo with a full military funeral, following his death aged 91.
Mubarak’s body was transported from a mosque on the outskirts of the Egyptian capital to the family cemetery on Wednesday amid tight security. His coffin was pulled by horse-drawn carriages alongside a procession led by his sons Gamal and Alaa Mubarak and the current president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, flanked by military top brass and leading religious figures.
Continue reading...Sheikh Mohammed opposes release of family court rulings involving two of his children
The ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, is attempting to prevent publication of two family court judgments involving his two children with his ex-wife, Princess Haya of Jordan, the court of appeal in London has been told.
At the opening of a hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice on Wednesday, Lord Justice Underhill read out a public statement explaining that the case “raises matters of public interest beyond the particular issue in the wardship proceedings”.
Continue reading...Six schools and two nurseries reported targets of airstrikes by Assad regime and Russia
Eight school facilities have been bombed in Idlib province, in Syria, in a single day as the battle for control of the country’s last opposition stronghold intensifies.
The attacks came despite warnings that the violence has already led to the worst humanitarian crisis in the Syrian war to date.
Continue reading...Lone Kabul laboratory preparing to treat patients in the midst of political turmoil and tentative peace talks, as border with Iran closed
Preparations for an outbreak of coronavirus were underway in Afghanistan as the country confirmed its first case in the western province of Herat, which borders Iran.
Seven more suspected cases have been identified in Herat, and three cases in the nearby provinces of Farah and Ghor.
Continue reading...