Category: 2. Middle East

Pope Leo, whose role in advocating for peace in Gaza has become notably stark since Israel struck the territory’s only Catholic church last week, told Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday that he opposed any forced displacement of Palestinians, Reuters reported.

The Vatican said Abbas had phoned the Pope on Monday, three days after Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called and expressed regret over the strike on Gaza’s Holy Family…

Belgian authorities are investigating two Israeli soldiers on charges of committing war crimes in the Gaza Strip, the Hind Rajab Foundation said. 

In a statement issued on Monday, the rights- watchdog; named after a 5-year old Palestinian girl who was brutally killed in Gaza last year, said the Belgian police have arrested the two Israeli soldiers during a music festival and questioned them, adding that the Belgian Public Prosecutor’s office is investigating…

Deep in the mountains of Turkey’s southeastern Hakkari province, bordering Iran and Iraq, Kurdish livestock owners and farmers have gradually returned with their animals after decades of armed conflict between Kurdish militants and the Turkish army.

“We’ve been coming here for a long time. Thirty years ago we used to come and go, but then we couldn’t come. Now we just started to come again and to bring our animals as we want,” said 57-year-old Selahattin Irinc, speaking Kurdish, while gently…

Egypt is poised to adopt a new law aimed at overhauling the judicial process, but human rights groups warn it could entrench long-standing abuses including arbitrary detention, travel bans and expedited trials.

The legislation, currently awaiting approval by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, is being promoted by the government as a step toward streamlining legal procedures, from arrest to trial.

Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty has told the UN Human Rights Council it would bring a “legislative…

The ceasefire that ended Iran’s 12-day war with Israel has held for nearly a month without incident, but many Iranians remain uneasy, struggling with uncertainty as fears of another confrontation linger.

“I don’t think this ceasefire will last,” said Peyman, a 57-year-old resident of Shiraz in Iran’s south, one of numerous cities hit last month as Israel unleashed an unprecedented bombing campaign against its staunch rival.

The Israeli offensive targeted key nuclear facilities and military…

By Kanishka Singh

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told Fox News that Tehran cannot not give up on its uranium enrichment program which was severely damaged during the Israel-Iran war last month.

WHY IT’S IMPORTANT

Prior to the war, Tehran and Washington held five rounds of nuclear talks mediated by Oman but could not agree on the extent to which Iran should be allowed to enrich uranium. Israel and the United States say Iran was close to enriching to levels that…

LONDON (Reuters) -Britain on Monday launched a new sanctions regime targeting people-smuggling gangs and their enablers in what the government said was the first move of its kind globally.

The United Kingdom will be able to freeze assets, impose travel bans and block access to the country’s financial system for individuals and entities involved in enabling irregular migration, without relying on criminal or counterterrorism laws.

The regime was previously outlined by foreign minister David…

The AFP journalists’ association on Monday warned that journalists working with the news agency in the Gaza Strip are facing extreme food shortages and risk starving amid the ongoing Israeli blockade of aid delivery and strikes, Anadolu reports.

Issuing a stark warning, the SDJ, the French news agency’s journalists’ association, said that they refuse to let their staff see them die.

“Since AFP was founded in August 1944, we have lost journalists in…

(Reuters) -The next set of peace talks between Ukraine and Russia – the first meeting in seven weeks – is planned for Wednesday in Turkey, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy quoted the head of Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council as saying on Monday.

Zelenskiy’s statement followed his fresh appeal earlier in the day for greater momentum in negotiations.

The Kremlin said it was waiting for an understanding on the date of the talks, but acknowledged that the two sides were…