Tag Archives: Egypt

Turkey will send a second drill ship to operate in the Black Sea, Energy Minister Fatih Donmez said on Sunday, weeks after Ankara announced its largest ever natural gas discovery in the area. “Our drill ship Kanuni, whose preparation work is continuing, will start drilling in the Black Sea,” he …

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan issued new threats to Greece on Saturday as Turkish forces prepared to conduct military exercises in the Eastern Mediterranean amid tension over oil and gas rights. The temperature has soared in the dispute between the two countries since Turkey deployed a research vessel and an …

From Yemen to India, and parts of Central America to the African Sahel, about a quarter of the world’s people face extreme water shortages that are fueling conflict, social unrest and migration, water experts said on Wednesday. With the world’s population rising and climate change bringing more erratic rainfall, including …

The United States had decided to cut $100 million in aid to Ethiopia amid a dispute with Egypt and Sudan over a megadam that Ethiopia is building on the Nile, a congressional source told Reuters on Wednesday. Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt have been locked in a bitter dispute over the …

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and U.S. President Donald Trump talked on the phone on Wednesday to discuss bilateral and regional issues, including the Mediterranean, Erdogan’s office said. Tensions between Turkey and Greece have escalated since Ankara sent its Oruc Reis survey vessel to disputed eastern Mediterranean waters this month, a …

Greece plans to extend the western limit of its territorial waters in the Ionian Sea to 12 miles, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Wednesday. The conservative premier said a bill on the matter would be submitted to parliament very soon. “Greece will extend its western territorial waters to 12 …

President Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday Turkey’s navy will not back down as Greece “sows chaos” in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, where the countries have deployed frigates in an escalating rhetorical confrontation over overlapping resource claims. “The ones who throw Greece in front of the Turkish navy will not stand …

Saudi Arabia’s price for normalising relations with Israel is the creation of a sovereign Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital, a senior member of the Saudi royal family reaffirmed on Friday. Prince Turki al-Faisal was apparently responding to U.S. President Donald Trump who said on Wednesday he expected Saudi …

President Tayyip Erdogan warned Greece on Friday that Turkey will retaliate against any attack on its survey vessel Oruc Reis in the eastern Mediterranean in an escalating row between the NATO allies over gas and oil exploration in the region. Turkey and Greece are vehemently at odds over overlapping claims …

Hedy Habra, The Taste of the Earth  (Winston-Salem, NC: Press 53, 2019). By Layla Azmi Goushey   In June 2020, I had the good fortune to attend a virtual poetry reading where Hedy Habra, author of the recently-published poetry collection, The Taste of the Earth, read selections from her work. …

On Sept. 25, 2005, a football match that few people will remember or even have heard of, took place in Amman, with hosts Jordan comfortably thrashing an overwhelmed Bahrain 9-0. But the result mattered little. This was a football match with a difference for the beaten team; it was the …

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi has approved legal amendments that restrict retired army officers from running in elections without permission from the military, according to an announcement in the official gazette on Wednesday. Critics of Sisi, a former army chief who was re-elected for a second term in 2018, say the …

The Egyptian regime has reacted in an unexpected way to the global pandemic—with civilian, technocratic, and expert bodies leading the way and even some (admittedly officially patrolled) political debate being allowed to emerge. Does this portend a real change in Egyptian governance, and if so, why, what kind, and will …

Greece accused Turkey on Tuesday of attempting to encroach on its continental shelf in a serious escalation of tensions between the two NATO allies at odds over a range of issues. Turkey and Greece are at loggerheads over overlapping claims for hydrocarbon resources, brought into sharper focus by attempts of …

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and U.S. President Donald Trump agreed in a phone call to work more closely in Libya to ensure lasting stability in the country, the Turkish presidency said on Tuesday. Turkey supports the internationally recognised Government of National Accord in Libya, which is fighting against the eastern-based …

A member of staff at the German government press office suspected of working for Egyptian intelligence did not have access to sensitive information, a German government spokeswoman said on Friday. The case was mentioned in the BfV domestic intelligence agency’s 385-page annual report, published on Thursday. The report said unspecified …

Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan will agree a deal to fill the giant Blue Nile dam in two to three weeks, following mediation by the African Union to broker a deal to end a decade-long dispute over water supplies. Tortuous negotiations over the years have left the two nations and their …

Forces loyal to Libya’s internationally recognised government said on Friday they had entered Tarhouna, the last major stronghold of eastern commander Khalifa Haftar near Tripoli, capping the sudden collapse of his 14-month offensive. There was no immediate comment from Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA) on whether its forces remained in …

Russia flew a batch of advanced MiG-29 fighter jets to Syria, Moscow’s embassy in Damascus said, with Syrian pilots already using the planes to conduct missions within the country’s airspace. President Vladimir Putin last week ordered Russia’s foreign and defence ministries to hold talks with its close ally, Syria, to …

Turkey may begin oil exploration in the eastern Mediterranean within three or four months under a deal it signed with Libya that was condemned by others in the region including Greece, Energy Minister Fatih Donmez said on Friday. Libya’s internationally-recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) signed the maritime delimitation deal …

History has always been a passion of mine. Ever since I can remember, I was interested in ancient civilizations and their achievements. For a while, I was lucky enough to work at a job that would send me on business trips to the most diverse range of places. Ultimately, I …

Lebanon is at risk of a major food crisis and many Lebanese may soon find it hard to afford bread because of an acute financial crunch and the fall-out of COVID-19, the prime minister warned. Writing in the Washington Post, Hassan Diab also warned of a global food security emergency …

Shells landed near the Turkish and Italian embassies in central Tripoli late on Thursday, they said, in an apparent expansion of bombardment by eastern-based forces to a central district of the Libyan capital. The eastern-based Libyan National Army (LNA) of Khalifa Haftar has been bombarding Tripoli for months as part …

Kuwaiti security forces broke up a riot by Egyptian workers seeking repatriation who were being held in shelters dedicated for those in violation of the Gulf Arab state’s residency laws, the Ministry of Interior said on Monday. Security forces intervened after “riots and chaos” broke out and seized several people …

Egypt’s military said on Sunday that 15 of its men had died or been wounded in operations in the Sinai Peninsula recently, and that 126 suspected militants had been killed. The military publishes updates on its operations in Sinai every few months, without giving a specific time frame. The statement …

The new coronavirus may be deepening dictatorship in parts of the Middle East already tightly controlled by authoritarian regimes. However, there is a subtle change at work as well—not in the degree of authoritarianism but in its nature. By Nathan J. Brown and Yasmine Farouk Close attention to the ways …

Egypt’s parliament approved on Wednesday amendments to the country’s emergency laws that give expanded powers to the presidency and the military prosecution as authorities try to counter the new coronavirus outbreak. The amendments allow the state to take and enforce a series of measures, some of which have already been …

As the new coronavirus and its economic and political consequences ripple cross the Arab world, Arab regimes are facing an extraordinary and possibly existential test. Their public health capacities may be strained but so too will their economic resources and coercive institutions. Moral suasion will grow increasingly important, even in …

Israel called on Tuesday for the immediate resumption of indirect talks on the return of two Israeli civilians and the remains of two soldiers held for years in Gaza, but the territory’s Islamist rulers Hamas dismissed the overture. The Israeli appeal came in a statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s …

Emad El-Din Aysha: Tell me something about yourself, your CV? Asmaa Kadry: Forget CV’s, they’re highly overrated. I think you could say that I’m an eclectic soul: Internationally accredited Psychotherapist, Hypnotherapist & NLP life coach Public speaker & certified trainer Author whose written and published 10 books until now mostly …

Twitter took down thousands of accounts linked to Egypt, Honduras, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and Serbia on Thursday for either taking directions from the governments or promoting pro-government content. Twitter and other social media companies are under pressure to clean up misinformation and hateful content on their platforms, while abuse related …

A dozen countries in the Middle East and Central Asia have asked the International Monetary Fund for financial support in dealing with the coronavirus, and the Kyrgyz Republic is likely to receive the first emergency disbursement, the fund said. Governments should spare no expense to help their health systems and …

Facebook Inc (FB.O) said on Monday it had removed two networks of fake accounts linked to digital marketing firms in Egypt and India which were pushing dueling narratives about countries in the Gulf on the Facebook and Instagram platforms. Facebook, in its first monthly report on information operations, said both …

Economic shocks stemming from rising sea levels pose a long-term risk to the sovereign credit ratings of dozens of countries which have large areas at risk of submersion, including Vietnam, Egypt, Suriname and the Bahamas, Moody’s said on Thursday. Climate science suggests that sea levels will continue to rise for …

The Levant News Exclusive – By Emad El-Din Aysha | Mark Sedgwick is Professor of Arab and Islamic Studies at Aarhus University, and Chair of the Nordic Society for Middle Eastern Studies. He studied history at Oxford University, did his PhD at the University of Bergen, and taught for many …

When it comes to Hamas, the issue revolves around its historical roots and its past and present affiliation with the Muslim Brotherhood worldwide. Its recent stance on the Turkish invasion of parts of Syria reopens for researchers and writers the doors to study the Hamas affiliation with the Muslim Brotherhood. …

Facebook Inc has announced it removed hundreds of pages, groups and accounts on its platforms for “coordinated inauthentic behavior” linked to three operations in Indonesia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, and Nigeria. The operation in Indonesia involved a network of over 100 fake accounts on Facebook and Instagram posting content …

The Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) revealed the winning logo from the design competition held for the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) 2020. IAC, which will be hosted in Dubai for the first time in the Arab world, is a global event that brings together leading space specialists and decision-makers …

Air France (AIRF.PA) is maintaining its flights to Cairo, a spokesman for the airline said on Sunday, following the decision by rivals British Airways and Lufthansa to suspend flights to Egypt’s capital over security concerns. British Airways, a unit of IAG (ICAG.L) said on Saturday it was suspending flights to …

By Emad El-Din Aysha, PhD     It’s being taken as a given that the Ethiopian Renaissance Dam is going to be built on the Blue Nile and that the downstream countries, Sudan and Egypt, are going to have to face the consequences. If the so-called Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam …

The First Climate and Health Ministers’ Meeting, hosted today in partnership with the World Health Organization,WHO, and the UN as part of the Abu Dhabi Climate Meeting, highlighted the serious impact of climate change on people as well as the environment. Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, UAE Minister of …

Juma Mubarak Al Junaibi, UAE Ambassador to Egypt and Permanent Representative to the Arab League, headed the UAE delegation participating in the 11th Arab Ministerial Water Council. The meeting of the council was also attended by other Arab ministers of water resources and irrigation, along with Mazen Ghoneim, Head of …

The Expo Centre Sharjah recently concluded its visit to Egypt and Jordan where it explored prospects of future cooperation and joint coordination in the sector of international exhibitions and conferences, to promote the interests of the Arab economy. The Expo delegation was headed by Saif Mohamed Al Midfa, Expo Centre …

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday vowed to try to ensure the Egyptian government is tried in international courts for the death of former president Mohamed Mursi, who suffered a fatal heart attack in a Cairo court earlier this week. “Muhammed Mursi flailed on the courtroom floor for 20 minutes …