The head of Tunisia's dissolved parliament is facing a new police inquiry, his Islamist-inspired Ennahdha party said Monday, days after a string of arrests mainly targeting opposition political figures.
Rached Ghannouchi, President Kais Saied's 81-year-old arch-rival, was ordered to appear at a police station in the capital on Tuesday, Ennahdha spokesman Imed Khemiri told journalists, calling it "a new attack on political leaders".
Soudal-Quickstep's Belgian rider Tim Merlier won the first stage of the UAE Tour on Monday pipping Lotto Dstny's Caleb Ewan in a sprint finish.
The two riders finished shoulder to shoulder prompting a 10-minute delay as the race organisers pored over the photo finish in a bid to split them.
They opted against calling it a dead heat and gave Merlier, 30, the win by the slimmest of margins.
“I was not sure,” Merlier said afterwards.
“I know I did a good jump in the end, and I knew when I started my sprint that it was a good sprint.
Two weeks after a deadly earthquake struck Syria, only a trickle of UN aid has entered the rebel-held northwest of the war-ravaged country, with the slow pace sparking outrage and anger.
The 7.8-magnitude quake killed more than 44,000 people in Turkey and Syria, including 3,600 in Syria, piling more misery on a population who activists say has been abandoned by the world in the midst of tragedy.
- How does UN aid reach the northwest? -
The European Union imposed asset freezes and visa bans on Iran's education and culture ministers on Monday, in a fifth round of sanctions against Tehran over its crackdown on demonstrators.
The new measures targeted 32 individuals and two entities, and were largely aimed at lawmakers, judiciary officials and prison authorities accused of involvement in the repression, according to the EU's official journal.
The United Arab Emirates and Israel on Monday revealed their first jointly created unmanned vessel, illustrating their growing military ties as maritime threats rise in the Gulf region.
The craft, which has advanced sensors and imaging systems and can be used for surveillance, reconnaissance and detecting mines, was unveiled off the coast of Abu Dhabi during the Naval Defence and Maritime Security Exhibition (NAVDEX).
The unmanned surface vessel or USV was created by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and Emirati defence consortium EDGE.
Tens of thousands of Israelis protested Monday against the government's judicial reform bill which they say threatens democracy, as lawmakers prepared to vote on key parts of the controversial overhaul.
Demonstrators from across Israel descended on Jerusalem to rally near parliament ahead of the first reading of legislation to change the way judges are picked.
"I'm really worried," said paediatrician Adi Aran, part of a crowd of protesters waving the blue and white national flags.
Moroccan trade union activists protested Sunday in the capital Rabat and other cities to denounce surging costs of food and fuel, defying a government ban against marches.
Protesters from the Democratic Labour Confederation (CDT) staged rallies outside their offices in Rabat and Casablanca as well as other cities "following the decision of the authorities to ban marches", senior CDT member Rajae Kassab said.
Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune said Sunday the North African nation will allocate a billion dollars to finance development projects across the continent through the Algerian Agency of International Cooperation for Solidarity and Development.
The official APS news agency said his decision was announced in a speech read by Prime Minister Aimene Benabderrahmane at the annual African Union summit of leaders in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.
The group Doctors Without Borders called Sunday for the "urgent scaling up" of earthquake aid to northwest Syria as it delivered a convoy laden with emergency assistance.
Aid has been slow to reach Syria's rebel-held areas since the February 6 quake killed a combined total of more than 44,000 people across Turkey and Syria.
"An urgent increase in the volume of supplies is needed to match the scale of the humanitarian crisis," said the French aid group Doctors Without Borders (MSF).
It charged that supplies "currently fail to even match pre-earthquake volumes".
The Berlin film festival, long a champion of Iran's embattled independent directors, is spotlighting its citizens' fight for basic rights with a series of screenings, events and a red-carpet protest.
French-Iranian actor Golshifteh Farahani, who is serving on the jury for the top prizes with president Kristen Stewart, said as the festival kicked off Thursday that cinema was a crucial fuel for the freedom movement.
"In a country like Iran that is a dictatorship, art is not only an intellectual or philosophical thing, it's essential, it's like oxygen," she said.
