Category Archives: Middle East and North Africa

British mother of Egyptian political prisoner to press Lammy to take action

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Laila Soueif is to meet the foreign secretary, who in opposition called for the release of Alaa Abd el-Fattah

The British-born mother of an Egyptian political prisoner who has been on hunger strike for 58 days is preparing to meet the foreign secretary, David Lammy, to urge him to secure her son’s release.

Laila Soueif’s son Alaa Abd el-Fattah, a British and Egyptian dual citizen who wrote eloquently about the Arab spring and its aftermath, was jailed for five years for “spreading false news”. He was due to be released in September, but has not been freed.

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UN chief says Lebanon ceasefire ‘first ray of hope amid darkness’ in conflict – as it happened

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Down to the final half-hour before the ceasefire comes into effect and AFP is reporting strikes on south Beirut after the Israel army’s evacuation warning.

“Urgent warning to residents of the Beirut area,” army spokesperson Avichay Adraee had earlier said in a post on X, telling people in the Bachoura area in the city centre to leave, as well as “all residents in the southern suburb area”, specifically in Ghobeiry.

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Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire comes into force with Biden insistent on ‘permanent cessation of hostilities’

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Reports of cars heading south inside Lebanon despite Israeli army warning displaced residents not to return home immediately

A highly anticipated ceasefire aimed at ending the 14-month-old war between Israel and Hezbollah officially came into effect early on Wednesday morning, hours after Joe Biden hailed the “historic” moment.

The ceasefire officially began at 0200 GMT – 4am in Lebanon – after the heaviest day of raids on Beirut, including a series of strikes in the city’s centre, since Israel stepped up its air campaign in Lebanon in late September before sending in ground troops.

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Israel makes ‘widespread attack’ on Hezbollah targets as ceasefire deal expected

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Airstrikes on Beirut and southern Lebanon some of the war’s heaviest to date, killing at least three people

Israel has launched some of the heaviest airstrikes to date on Beirut, the Lebanese capital, before an expected ceasefire in its war with Hezbollah.

The Israeli military began attacking areas of Beirut dominated by the Lebanese militia early on Tuesday before issuing a flurry of 20 evacuation calls – its widest warning to civilians since hostilities escalated into full-blown war in late September.

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Four bodies recovered from Red Sea day after tourist boat capsizes

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Five more rescued and seven still missing from the Sea Story, which was carrying 30 tourists and 14 crew

Egyptian naval forces recovered four bodies and rescued five more people from the Red Sea a day after a large tourist boat sank in rough waters, officials have said. Seven people are still missing.

The Red Sea governor, Amr Hanafi, said the yacht, called Sea Story, had been struck by high waves on Monday and sank in less than 7 minutes.

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What are the terms of the Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire and will it succeed?

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A truce between Israel and the Lebanese militant group has come into effect after 14 months of fighting

A ceasefire to end 14 months of fighting between Israel and the militant group Hezbollah has come into effect, with Lebanese civilians already returning to the devastated south of the country.

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Migrant workers face ‘cycle of abuse’ in Saudi Arabia before World Cup, UN told

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  • ITUC-Africa raises ‘severe concerns’ over labour practices
  • Organisation calls on Caf to press Fifa on human rights

A trade union organisation that represents 18 million African workers has submitted a complaint to the United Nations against labour practices in Saudi Arabia. It has called for “immediate and decisive action” with the country poised to be granted World Cup hosting rights next month.

In an account that collates claims of malpractice and abuse alongside testimonies from migrant workers, the African Regional Organisation of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC-Africa) argues that “the relentless cycle of abuse and exploitation mark the daily existence of African migrant workers in Saudi Arabia.

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Israeli cabinet to decide on ceasefire deal with Lebanon

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IDF would withdraw entirely from southern Lebanon and Hezbollah pull back its heavy weapons under agreement

Israel’s security cabinet is due to meet on Tuesday to decide on a ceasefire agreement with Lebanon after more than a year of fighting between Israeli forces and the Shia militia Hezbollah.

Under the deal being considered, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) would reportedly withdraw entirely from southern Lebanon, Hezbollah would pull its heavy weapons north of the Litani River, about 16 miles (25km) north of the Israeli border, and the Lebanese army would move in to provide security in the border zone alongside an existing UN peacekeeping force, during an initial 60-day transition phase.

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Two Britons among 16 missing after tourist boat capsizes in Red Sea

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Sea Story was on diving trip with 31 tourists and 14 crew when it sent distress signal

Two Britons are reported to be among 16 people missing after a tourist boat on a diving trip capsized in the Red Sea.

The Sea Story was carrying 30 tourists from several countries and 14 crew when it sent a distress signal at 5.30am local time (0330 GMT), according to Egypt’s Red Sea governorate.

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For many in northern Israel the proposed ceasefire with Hezbollah brings hope

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Some who live close to the border with Lebanon believe a deal would allow them to raise their children in safety, but others say communities are split

There is a crack, a boom and a siren, all more or less simultaneously. Sergio Helman has not quite reached the concrete shelter a dozen metres away from his hummus restaurant, off highway 99, which marks the northernmost limit of the northern Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona.

The 60-year-old shrugs and explains that Hezbollah fires the rockets from so close that Israeli air defence systems can give only 15 seconds warning at best.

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Palestinian artists plan Gaza Biennale as ‘act of resistance and survival’

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Project involves showing work in Gaza but also sending works across Israeli siege lines for exhibiting worldwide

Palestinian artists in Gaza plan to stage a “biennale” exhibition as an act of defiance against Israel’s military onslaught and to focus attention on the plight of the territory’s 2.3 million people under more than 13 months of bombardment.

About 50 artists from Gaza will exhibit their work within the besieged coastal strip, and are looking for art galleries to host exhibitions overseas. But in order to hold their work to the eyes of the rest of the world, the artists are facing a unique challenge: how to get their art across Israeli siege lines.

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Turkish woman convicted under anti-terror laws for sharing Guardian article

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Peri Pamir given suspended sentence after posting article about UK woman killed fighting with Kurdish forces in Syria

A Turkish woman who shared a Guardian article on social media about a British woman killed fighting with Kurdish forces in Syria has described how she was twice convicted of “sharing terrorist propaganda” in an Istanbul court.

“I am basically just an ordinary citizen, there is no reason why I should attract any special attention. This is the disturbing part,” said Peri Pamir, a 71-year-old retired researcher.

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Hezbollah fires barrage of rockets into Israel after strikes on Beirut

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Heavy attack launched in wake of deadly strikes on Beirut, and comes as talks for a ceasefire and hostage release deal have stalled

Hezbollah has fired about 250 rockets and other projectiles into Israel, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has said, wounding seven people in one of the militant group’s heaviest barrages in months, in response to deadly Israeli strikes in Beirut while negotiators pressed on with ceasefire efforts to halt the all-out war.

Some of the rockets fired on Sunday reached the Tel Aviv area in the heart of Israel.

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Revealed: Israel used US weapons in strike that killed journalists

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Killing of journalists in Israeli strike could be war crime, legal experts say after Guardian investigation

A Guardian investigation has found that Israel used a US munition to target and kill three journalists and wound three more in a 25 October attack in south Lebanon which legal experts have called a potential war crime.

On 25 October at 3.19am, an Israeli jet shot two bombs at a chalet hosting three journalists – cameraman Ghassan Najjar and technician Mohammad Reda from pro-Hezbollah outlet al-Mayadeen, as well as cameraman Wissam Qassem from the Hezbollah-affiliated outlet al-Manar.

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Israeli government orders officials to boycott left-leaning paper Haaretz

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Ministers also ban government advertising from critical newspaper that is widely respected internationally

Israel’s government is set to punish the country’s leading left-leaning newspaper, Haaretz, by ordering a boycott of the publication by government officials or anyone working for a government-funded body and halting all government advertising in its pages or website.

In a statement on Sunday, the office of Shlomo Karhi, the communications minister, said that his proposal against Haaretz had been unanimously approved by other ministers.

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Hundreds flee north Gaza as IDF orders more evacuations amid intense airstrikes

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Senior Israeli minister says the war is far from over and Israel will stay ‘for years’ in the territory

The Israeli military has ordered the evacuation of new areas of northern Gaza, setting off a fresh wave of civilian displacements on Sunday as intense airstrikes continued across much of the territory.

In Jerusalem, a senior minister said the war in Gaza was far from over and that Israel would stay “for years” in the territory.

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Rabbi in UAE killed in ‘antisemitic terror incident’, says Israel

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UAE says it has arrested three people over the killing of Zvi Kogan, who worked for an Orthodox Jewish group

Israel has said that an Israeli-Moldovan rabbi who went missing in the United Arab Emirates was killed in what it described as a “heinous antisemitic terror incident”.

Benjamin Netanyahu’s office issued a statement about the death of Zvi Kogan, who worked in the UAE for an Orthodox Jewish group called Chabad and had not been seen since Thursday.

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Iranian minister to meet European counterparts after nuclear offer rejected

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Meeting comes amid fears Middle East tensions will lead Iran to redouble its efforts to acquire a nuclear weapon

Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Majid Takht-Ravanchi, will meet his European counterparts in Geneva on Friday after the collapse of a deal last week under which Iran would have limited its uranium enrichment to 60% purity, just below the threshold to make nuclear weapons.

The offer was regarded by Iran as a first step to rebuilding confidence between it and the west over what it insists is its civilian nuclear programme. There are growing fears that wider tensions in the Middle East could result in Tehran redoubling efforts to acquire a nuclear weapon and trying to declare it necessary for its national self-defence.

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Gunman dead, police injured in shooting near Israeli embassy in Jordan

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Police shot a gunman who had fired at a police patrol in the Rabiah neighbourhood of Amman, officials and media report

A gunman was dead and three policemen injured after a shooting near the Israeli embassy in Jordan, a security source and state media said on Sunday.

Police shot a gunman who had fired at a police patrol in the Rabiah neighbourhood of Amman, state news agency Petra reported, citing public security, adding investigations were ongoing.

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Hamas says Israeli female hostage killed in north Gaza combat zone

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Group’s armed wing says unnamed woman’s death established after long break in contact with her captors

Hamas’s armed wing said on Saturday that an Israeli woman taken hostage during the October 2023 attack had been killed in a combat zone in northern Gaza, as the Israeli military said it was investigating.

The spokesperson for Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Abu Obeida, said contact had been restored with the woman’s captors after a break of several weeks and it was established that the hostage had been killed in an area of north Gaza where the Israeli army has been operating.

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