Archives for July, 2020

Mask-clad Israeli restaurant owners and clients protest against new lockdown measures imposed by the authorities due to a surge in coronavirus cases, by banging ice buckets, in the Israeli coastal city of Tel Aviv, on July 17, 2020. - Israel's government said today it was imposing new restrictions to limit the spiralling spread of coronavirus in the hope of avoiding a general lockdown further along the line. (Photo by JACK GUEZ / AFP) (Photo by JACK GUEZ/AFP via Getty Images)

Israeli restaurants vs. PM Netanyahu: 1-0

Celebrity chefs are championing the fight against the government’s decision to close down restaurants over the coronavirus pandemic.

Benny Gantz (C), A former IDF Chief and the head of Israeli Resilience party speaks to supporters during an election campaign event in Tel Aviv. Israelis will vote in a parliamentary election on April 9, choosing among party lists of candidates to serve in the 121-seat Knesset

Netanyahu stands alone

Surrounded by yes-men ministers and lacking any real professionals by his side, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has found himself alone at the top.

A picture taken on January 27, 2019, shows hieroglyphs and statues at the Great Temple of Abu Simbel, south of Aswan in upper Egypt. (Photo by Ludovic MARIN / AFP) (Photo credit should read LUDOVIC MARIN/AFP via Getty Images)

Google presents new tool to decode hieroglyphics

Google has created a new tool to translate hieroglyphics into English and Arabic at the stroke of a key.

Palestinian Muslims perform the morning Eid al-Fitr prayer at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, Islam's third most holy site, in the Old City of Jerusalem on June 5, 2019. - Muslims worldwide celebrate Eid al-Fitr marking the end of the fasting month of Ramadan. (Photo by AHMAD GHARABLI / AFP) (Photo credit should read AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images)

Jerusalem Muslims brace for Israel to shutter Al-Aqsa Mosque prayer house

Jerusalemites are preparing for another battle at Al-Aqsa Mosque compound as Israel moves to close a prayer house worshippers forced open in 2019.

An aerial view shows the River Nile before sunset in the Helwan suburb south of the Egyptian capital Cairo on June 20, 2020. (Photo by Khaled DESOUKI / AFP) (Photo by KHALED DESOUKI/AFP via Getty Images)

Can social media campaigns change course of Nile dam talks?

The impact of Egypt’s social media campaigns promoting Egypt’s Nile water rights on decision-makers remains to be seen as Western countries have yet to openly back Egypt.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhemi (C) speaks to locals in Tarmiyah, 35 kilometres (20 miles) north of Baghdad on July 20, 2020. (Photo by Khalid MOHAMMED / POOL / AFP) (Photo by KHALID MOHAMMED/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Iraqi PM visits Islamic State hotbed after sniper kills general

The Iraqi prime minister stressed unity in Tarmiyah, where the Islamic State claims responsibility for killing the general.

Russia’s combat dolphins may have been used in Syria: report

Satellite imagery shows possible marine mammal pens at Russia's naval base in Syria during late 2018.

Intel: Trump, Sisi address Nile dam dispute and Libya war

President Donald Trump and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi discussed the Nile dam dispute with Ethiopia as well as the Libya war by phone today.

Israeli model Bar Refaeli arrives on August 29, 2019 for the screening of the film "Ad Astra" during the 76th Venice Film Festival at Venice Lido. (Photo by Alberto PIZZOLI / AFP) (Photo credit should read ALBERTO PIZZOLI/AFP via Getty Images)

Israeli top model Bar Refaeli found guilty in tax evasion case

The international supermodel is a controversial person in Israel due to her avoidance of mandatory military service, as well as the trial.

Intel: Trump presses Macron on Libya as France-Turkey row continues

President Donald Trump pressed President Emmanuel Macron on France’s role in Libya during a phone call today.

Egypt’s Sisi gets mandate for sending troops to Libya

The vote in parliament Monday comes a week after allied Libyan lawmakers gave Egypt the greenlight to intervene.

Hagia Sophia's Christian icons to be covered with curtains during prayers

The 1,500-year-old Byzantine structure, which functioned as a museum for nearly 100 years, will reopen as a working mosque this week.

Investigators recover voice recordings from Ukrainian airliner shot down by Iran

Iran's civil aviation authority has sent to France the black boxes from a Ukraine jet it shot down.

The mother of a victim (C) cries for her son on his coffin during a funeral ceremony in Gaziantep on July 21, 2015, following a suicide bomb attack the day before which killed at least 31 in the southern Turkish town of Suruc. A suspected Islamic State suicide bomber killed at least 31 people in an attack on a Turkish cultural centre in the southern town of Suruc, where activists had gathered to prepare for an aid mission in the nearby Syrian town of Kobane. It was one of the deadliest attacks in Turkey in

Five years on, no justice for victims of IS suicide bombing spree in Turkey

Families of the 33 victims of the devastating Suruc attack by an Islamic State suicide bomber commemorated the massacre today, reminding Turkey and the world that justice has yet to be served.

UAE's Mars probe launches following weather delays

Hope lifted off on Monday in the first-ever Mars mission for a country in the Arab world.

A woman walks in between newly planted trees in Iraq's northern city of Mosul, on January 23, 2019, as the war-ravaged city gets a facelift following three years of brutal rule by the Islamic State group. (Photo by Zaid AL-OBEIDI / AFP) (Photo credit should read ZAID AL-OBEIDI/AFP via Getty Images)

Mosul sowing seeds post-Islamic State

The Mosul local government in cooperation with civil society is undertaking a project to plant a million trees in Mosul.