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On Wednesday, Egypt hailed a “new era” in Arab solidarity after the Gulf nations agreed to welcome Qatar back into the fold following a dispute over it support of Islamists. Egypt said that it had offered its full support to the move, which it called as “huge step towards Arab solidarity”. “We look forward to a new era that would …

Human rights group Amnesty International on Tuesday published a report titled “There Is No Freedom Here: Silencing dissent in the UAE”, criticizing the nation for its treatment of activists and use of repressive tactics to silence the government’s critics. In the report, the NGO reveals how dissidents are harassed, arrested, and even tortured, maintaining a climate of fear since 2011, …

Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Tuesday warned that 2-3 million more Syrian refugees could enter the country if the Syrian city of Aleppo is overrun by either regime or extremist forces. Turkey already hosts 1.5 million Syrian refugees and has repeatedly stated that it can barely support the overwhelming number of refugees. Cavusoglu also said that supporting the rebel …

Tunisia will hold its first multi-candidate presidential election this coming Sunday, with twenty-seven candidates in the running for President. Former premier 87-year-old Beji Caid Essebsi, whose Nidaa Tounes party won the October 26 parliamentary election, is the favorite to win the poll. His challengers include outgoing President Moncef Marzouki, left-wing politician Hamma Hammami, businessman Slim Riahi, magistrate Kalthoum Kannou, the …

Syrian Kurds battling extremist group Islamic State (IS) in border town Kobane made new gains on Friday, expelling the extremists from many central buildings and capturing their weapons, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. According to the monitor, the advance came only hours after the international coalition launched four strikes against extremist positions in Kobane. The Kurdish People’s Protection …

Decree Broadens Jurisdiction Over Civilians (Beirut) – An October 27 decree by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi of Egypt vastly extended the reach of the country’s military courts and risks militarizing the prosecution of protesters and other government opponents. The new law, decreed by al-Sisi in the absence of a parliament, places all “public and vital facilities” under military jurisdiction for …

Israel has blocked prominent Norwegian doctor Mads Gilbert from entering the state and thereby accessing Gaza, but denied on Monday that it has imposed a lifelong ban on the medic. Gilbert works at the University Hospital of North Norway’s Clinic of Emergency Medicine, and had volunteered Gaza City’s Shifa hospital during 2009’s 22-day war in which over 1,440 Palestinians were …

Authorities investigating the brutal Islamic State (IS) video claiming the execution of US aid worker Peter Kassig on Monday speculated on the identities of the killers involved in the video. The simultaneous beheading of Kassig and at least 18 Syrian security force personnel had sparked global outrage, with US President Barack Obama labeling it “an act of pure evil”. The …

The EU on Monday said that it deplored Israel’s plans to build new settlement blocs on occupied Palestinian territory but denied that it planned to impose sanctions on Israel. There was “no plan of this type”, EU foreign affairs head Federica Mogherini said when asked about the issue. “I saw an article in Haaretz which apparently referred to an internal …

UN Assistant-Secretary General Jens Toyberg-Frandzen on Monday warned the UN Security Council that violence in the Palestinian territories and in Israel will likely worsen if the peace process does not get back on track soon. “Returning to negotiations has never been more important. Without a genuine commitment from the parties and an overall improvement in the lives of Palestinians, we …