Environment and nature

The sun sets behind high voltage transmission towers (electricity pylons) along a highway in El-Shorouk, a satellite city about 47 kilometers outside the city center of Cairo, on July 24, 2023.

Analysis

Climate change, overreliance on Israeli gas add to Egypt's power crisis

For a year now, load-shedding linked to falling gas production, rising demand and a shortage of foreign currency has led to scheduled two-hour daily power cuts in most parts of the country.

Rosaleen Carroll

By Jack Dutton, Rosaleen Carroll

Turkey fire

Quick Take

Wildfires in Turkey: 11 dead, 78 injured as heat soars to 50 degrees Celsius

Turkey has been grappling with wildfires across the country since last week due to hot temperatures soaring up to 50 C (122 F) above the seasonal average.

Muslim pilgrims pray at dawn on Saudi Arabia's Mount Arafat, also known as Jabal al-Rahma or Mount of Mercy, during the climax of the Hajj pilgrimage on June 15, 2024.

Quick Take

14 Jordanian, 5 Iranian pilgrims die at Saudi Hajj from extreme heat

Last month was the hottest May on record, according to scientists, and rising temperatures are particularly concerning for the Gulf.

Motorists drive along a flooded street following heavy rains in Dubai early on April 17, 2024.

Regional View

Record rainfall forces Gulf cities to rethink climate change

A climate change monitor estimates that global warming made the Gulf deluge 10-40% more intense than it would have been in the pre-industrial era.

United Arab Emirates

Latest News

Quick Take

Turkey landslide leaves nine gold mine workers trapped

YASIN AKGUL/AFP via Getty Images

Quick Take

Saudi mining firm Ma’aden announces gold discovery

An employee of the Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Ma’aden) is pictured in this undated image.

Regional View

Business & Tech Briefing: Dubai gears up for COP28

COP28 President-Designate Dr. Sultan Al Jaber speaks onstage as COP28 President-Designate Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber and UN Special Envoy Michael R. Bloomberg Announce COP28 Local Climate Action Summit at COP28 In Dubai In December Alongside Local Leaders at The Plaza Hotel on Sept. 19, 2023 in New York City.

Quick Take

Over 8,000 dead in Morocco earthquake, Libya floods

Overturned cars lay among other debris caused by flash floods in Derna, eastern Libya, on Sept. 11, 2023.

Regional View

Morocco earthquake: death toll passes 2,400, historic Marrakesh buildings damaged

A resident navigates through the rubble following a 6.8-magnitude quake in Marrakesh on September 9, 2023. A powerful earthquake that shook Morocco late September 8 killed more than 600 people, interior ministry figures showed, sending terrified residents fleeing their homes in the middle of the night. (Photo by FADEL SENNA / AFP) (Photo by FADEL SENNA/AFP via Getty Images)

Eilat coral

Regional View

Israeli environmental report warns of threats to Eilat coral reef

Following an alarming report by the Ministry of Environmental Protection, Israeli environmentalists are calling for tighter limits on oil shipping in the Gulf of Eilat.

A Green Without Borders outpost that Israel says Hezbollah is using.

Regional View

US sanctions Lebanese environmental group for Hezbollah ties

The US imposed sanctions on Green Without Borders and its leader, Zuhair Subhi Nahla, for providing cover for Hezbollah's activities in southern Lebanon.

ADEM ALTAN/AFP via Getty Images

Quick Take

Turkey roasts as extreme weather fuels wildfires, disrupts air traffic

In Turkey’s Mediterranean province of Antalya, soaring humidity levels have also disrupted air travel.

Mideast heat

Quick Take

From Egypt to Iran, heatwave compounds Middle East electricity problems, climate change burdens

Countries like Iraq are particularly susceptible to climate change, as recurring blackouts make it harder to stay cool indoors.

A man rinses his face with water from a bottle to cool off during a heat wave in Tehran on July 11, 2023.

Regional View

Iran: Unprecedented heat wave triggers emergency holidays

The high temperatures have widely been linked to the overall impacts of climate change, which is hitting Iran twice harder than global averages, according to official data.

A man snaps a picture of the beleaguered Yemen-flagged FSO Safer oil tanker in the Red Sea off the coast of Yemen's contested western province of Hodeida on July 15, 2023.

After saving Yemen from oil tanker spill, can diplomacy end its war?

Work begins to transfer oil off the decrepit FSO Safer, but US Special Envoy for Yemen Tim Lenderking says further progress toward peace will require Yemenis talking to one another.

Elizabeth Hagedorn

By Elizabeth Hagedorn

In Washington, reporting on diplomacy, regional politics, human rights

This image grab taken from AFPTV video footage shows smoke clouds covering the sky during wildfires in the forests of Bejaia in northern Algeria.

Wildfires kill dozens as extreme heat sweeps across Algeria, Turkey, Europe

Scientists say the wildfires have become more intense in the past years due to climate change.

Beatrice Farhat

By Beatrice Farhat

In Beirut, reporting on regional news, culture, conflict

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu receives Emirati ambassador to Israel Mohamed Al Khaja, Jerusalem, May 22 2023 Credit: Amos Ben-Gershom/GPO

Regional View

At last, Israel’s Netanyahu invited to UAE for COP28

The Israeli leader may have to wait until November, for the COP28 climate summit in Dubai, for his first public visit to the Emirates.

Yemen water shortage

Regional View

Entire UAE, Qatar, Bahrain populations vulnerable to extreme heat, study says

The UAE is particularly vulnerable, with more than 80% of its population exposed to extreme heat even after a 1.5 C (34.7 F) rise in global temperatures over pre-industrial levels.

This handout image provided by the UAE's Presidential Court on April 15, 2023, shows UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed al-Nahyan and Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in Abu Dhabi

In UAE, Brazil’s Lula looks east for climate investments, peace brokering

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva looks to exert Brazil's power in a geopolitical landscape that has significantly shifted since he last held office.

Megan Mineiro

By Megan Mineiro

In Washington, DC, reporting on US Congress

Iraqi children cross a flooded street in the Iraqi capital Baghdad after heavy rains, on Dec. 24, 2022.

Quick Take

Severe floods in Iraq leave several dead, adding to climate strains

Iraq is contending with both heavy rains and increasing desertification.

A general view taken on Dec. 17, 2014, shows pollution hovering over Egypt's Nile River.

Quick Take

New World Bank grant to help Egypt manage Cairo's air pollution

A 2022 report published by the American University of Cairo described Cairo's air quality as a "direct threat to public health.”