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An internet show created by a few students from Ottawa has picked up steam by cleverly poking fun at extremist group Islamic State (IS) and their message. They have also parodied, among other things, a well known Arabic Tide commercial, by having men play the role of traditional washerwomen. They also used their satire to target social degradation and sexual …

Three Muslim Malaysian transgender people on Friday won a court ruling which challenged a religious law that forbade them from cross-dressing. The ruling has been hailed as a victory for human rights in the conservative nation. A three-judge panel in the Court of Appeals unanimously ruled that Shariah law in the state of Negeri Sembilan was discriminatory since it did …

Thousands of supporters of former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh and Shi’ite rebels on Friday took to the streets to protests the threatened UN sanctions against insurgent chiefs and Saleh. The ex-strongman, who stepped down in 2012 due to Arab Spring-inspired protests, is considered as the chief backer of the Huthi rebels that have seized capital city Sana’a, among other …

By Ramzy Baroud Israel’s decision to shut down al-Aqsa Mosque on Thursday, 30 October, is not just a gross violation of the religious rights of Palestinian Muslims. In fact, the rights of Palestinian Muslims and Christians have been routinely violated under the Israeli occupation for decades, especially in Jerusalem, and more recently in Gaza. During the 51-day war on the …

The Libyan Supreme Court on Thursday discredited the internationally recognized Libyan parliament, laying the groundwork for more political chaos in the violence-wrecked North African country. The ruling, which can’t be appealed, prompted triumphant gunfire in capital city Tripoli, which has been under rebel-militia control since August. The Tripoli court also invalidated a constitutional amendment which led to elections on June …

US-led airstrikes in Syria hit al-Qaeda affiliate al-Nusra Front and rebel brigade Ahrar al-Sham in a rare expansion of weeks of targeted raids at extremist group Islamic State, the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights said on Thursday. Additionally, American media have reported that 24-year-old French bomb-maker David Drugeon, a converted Muslim who had joined al-Qaeda offshoot the Khorasan group, was …

French lawmakers are planning to submit a motion to their parliament, asking their government to recognize the state of Palestine, weeks after British parliamentarians successfully passed a similar vote. The move follows the collapse of the peace process between Palestine and Israel after the conflict in Gaza, in which over 2,000 Palestinians were killed. “The (lower house National) Assembly asks …

Israel promised Jordan that it won’t allow Jewish people to pray at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem, just as several Jewish extremists tried to advance to the compound. With clashes raging currently in many Palestinian neighborhoods in occupied east Jerusalem, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday spoke with Jordan’s King Abdullah II over the phone to personally assure …

The International Criminal Court said that it would not prosecute Israel over its raid of Gaza-bound ships in 2010, during which ten Turkish activists died, despite a “reasonable basis to believe that war crimes were committed”. According to Chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, there won’t be an investigation or a prosecution because the alleged crimes were not of “sufficient gravity”. “The …

European Union Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini on Monday stated that she would like to see a state of Palestine by the time her five year term ends. She added that for it to happen will require the EU to get more involved with the Middle East than it has been in the past. The former 41-year-old Italian foreign minister …