Link: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-56817706 Four of the world’s five top executioners in 2020 were Middle East states, Amnesty International says. Iran, Egypt, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia accounted for 88% of the 483 reported executions worldwide, according to a report by the human rights group. While the rest of the world was focused on saving people’s lives from a lethal virus, it accuses… Read more »
Link: https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/.premium-the-next-middle-east-crisis-will-be-rising-food-prices-1.9737325 The UN food and agriculture organizations’ food index rose to 118.5 in March, its highest level since 2014 and a 24% increase over the past year. Increases like these can’t be readily absorbed by average citizens trying to make ends meet in developing countries. While there is little consensus about what sparked the wave of demonstrations that shook the… Read more »
Link: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/4/14/un-experts-highlight-rise-in-israeli-settler-against-palestinians The UN rights experts have warned that violence, including assaults and property destruction, by Israeli settlers against Palestinian civilians in the occupied west bank has been on the rise in recent months. In a statement told on Wednesday, UN experts from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) documented 771 incidents on settler violence… Read more »
Article: https://www.reuters.com/article/greece-libya/update-1-greek-pm-agrees-to-talks-with-libya-on-maritime-zones-idUSL1N2M70MZ Analysis: Following a joint meeting, Greece and Libya have agreed to hold discussions to designate maritime zones in the Mediterranean. The Prime Minister of Greece, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, made a statement after their meeting saying the discussions had been reinstated to try to eliminate the current maritime zones. Mitsotakis also said he aims to reset their relationship with Libya… Read more »
Article: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/4/14/vessel-owned-by-israeli-company-attacked-off-uae-coast-reports An Israeli commercial ship was reported to have been attacked off the United Arab Emirates (UAE) coast in the Persian Gulf. According to an Israeli television channel, there were no casualties or injuries and the ship was able to continue its course; the damage was described as being limited. There has also been blame being placed on Iran… Read more »
Article: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/4/14/turkey-hails-new-era-with-egypt-after-tensions Analysis: Mevlut Cavusoglu, the Turkish Foreign Minister, has indicated that a new period diplomatically is beginning between Turkey and Egypt. The relationship between the two has been strained following Egypt’s 2013 overthrow of their first democratically elected President Mohamed Morsi. The Turkish President, Recept Tayyip Erdoğan, had been supporting Morsi at that time; however, that year both completely… Read more »
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ethiopia-dam-egypt-sudan/egypt-sudan-reject-ethiopian-proposal-for-data-sharing-on-renaissance-dam-idUSKBN2BX0KV Recently Ethiopia has reached out to Egypt and Sudan, offering them data on their new Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam located on the Blue Nile. Ethiopia hopes the energy from this hydropower dam will create economic development for their country. Egypt and Sudan both fear this dam will result in loss of water flows and income from the Nile. The… Read more »
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-ethiopia-migrants/ethiopians-head-home-after-yemen-migrant-life-becomes-untenable-idUSKBN2C11EE The UN has begun offering flights to Ethiopian and North African migrants who are currently stuck in Yemen. Many people from North Africa have been attempting to migrate to the Gulf states to escape poverty and famine and find work. However, due to COVID-19 and war in Yemen, many of them are trapped in the country, being held in… Read more »
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-tunisia-media/tunisian-journalists-protest-over-new-head-of-state-news-agency-idUSKBN2C01FT On Tuesday, there was a clash between Tunisian police and the staff of the Tunis Afrique Presse (TAP). The state news agency had been assigned a new chief executive, who the staff believes is being appointed as an attempt to re-restrict the news company. Before the revolution, TAP was a media outlet controlled by the state, full of state… Read more »
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-israel-pfizer/pfizer-says-working-on-new-covid-19-vaccine-supply-deal-to-israel-idUSKBN2BS1EM Pfizer, one of the covid vaccine suppliers, is working on a new deal with Israel to supply the vaccine, since the one made in 2020 has ended. The 2020 deal had Israel pay around 2.6 billion Shekels ($785 million) for an undisclosed number of vaccine doses So far, 5.27 million Israelis over 16 years old have received dose 1,… Read more »