Nakba Day Remembered

Photo: Álvaro Herraiz San Martín

Thousands around the world commemorate Nakba Day when more than seven hundred and sixty thousand Palestinians were driven out of their homes in 1948 as Israel declared statehood.

Photo: Latvian Foreign Ministry

New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) accuses the western NATO alliance of failing to take responsibility for the collateral damage it caused during their bombing campaign, which resulted in the ouster and death of long-time Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. According to reports, more than seventy-two civilians were killed in NATO air strikes.

Hundreds of the users' profiles on Facebook have been changed, based on the urgent requirement of the Palestinian youth, to the profile of the Palestinian prisoners in the food strike since more than two months, in solidarity with them, and calling the Israeli authorities to release them. This campaign is launched as a result of the deterioration of their health.

Photo: :Dar.

At least seventeen foreign nationals are on an indefinite hunger strike in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to protest imprisonment for bouncing cheques. According to reports, the UAE's laws condemn writing bad cheques but many of the accused claim that they have been wrongly sentenced to a crime that they didn't commit.

Photo: frecklebaum

Mediation talks between Egypt and Israel are expected to continue in hopes of ending an indefinite hunger strike by thousands of Palestinian prisoners. According to reports, Palestinian hunger strikers are demanding an end to solitary confinement, detention without charge or trial, restrictions on family visits and poor conditions.

Photo: Tammam Azzam

In the deadliest attack since Syria’s fourteen month uprising, two suicide bombers detonated over 1000 kg of explosives in Damascus today, killing at least 55 people, and injuring 372. As the international community condemned and called for a stop to the violence, the regime and the opposition traded blame for the attacks.

Photo: google.gr

As France’s presidential elections saw Francois Hollande defeat Nicolas Sarkozy with 51.62% of the votes and putting France under socialist rule for the first time in 17 years, Greece also went to parliamentary elections Sunday.

PASOK (the Pan Hellenic Socialist Party, middle left), who had won the 2009 elections came third, while Nea Dimokratia (the Neo Democrats, middle...

Photo: Abdallah Bakri Photography

An estimated 3000 joined the third annual Laique Pride and marched in the streets of Beirut today denouncing the Lebanese confessional system and demanding the establishment of a secular state.

Photo: Hamid Mir

The US Combating Terrorism Centre has declassified and released 17 letters (175 pages out of about 6000), written between 2006 and 2011, discovered in Osama Bin Laden’s home in Abbottabad when they raided it and killed the former Al Qaeda head. The letters show Bin Laden’s increasing frustration with the mistakes the jihadi groups were making that have resulted in the deaths of...

Photo: oxfamnovib

Hundreds of Egyptian protestors have been reportedly injured after security forces opened fire on a march heading for the ministry of defense. Activists continue their calls for the Supreme Council of the Armed forces (SCAF) to relinquish power before presidential elections scheduled for later this month.

Photo: FreedomHouse

Scores of students at Syria's Aleppo University have reportedly been detained after an overnight raid by government security forces. According to reports, at least four students have been killed and dozens others wounded. Aleppo University, which is located in Syria's second largest city, has witnessed the scene of daily protests calling for President Bashar al-Assad's ouster. The recent...

Photo: Al Jazeera English

A Bahraini appeals court has ordered the re-examination of the case of Abdulhadi al-Khawaja and twenty other human rights activists sentenced for taking part in last years protests against the US-backed Bahraini government. According to reports, al-Khawaja has vowed to continue his eighty-four day hunger strike until he is released.

Photo: Bassem Chit

Around 1200 people took part in a pre-Labour Day march, organised by the Anti Racism Movement in collaboration with other rights groups, demanding the rights of migrant domestic workers in Lebanon. The march was followed by a parade in which the different cultures were celebrated by singing and dancing.
On the previous day, Saturday, a “die-in” was organised in Beirut,...

Photo: Downing Street

Paris-based investigative website Mediapart has published a controversial document revealing that former Libyan president Muammar Gaddafi contributed an estimated fifty million euros to French president Nicolas Sarkozy's 2007 election campaign. According to reports, the funds violated France's campaign financing laws banning contributions from foreign countries.

Photo: D@LY3D

Al Agouza criminal court has overturned a lawsuit against Egyptian actor Adel Imam, director Sherif Arafah, screenwriter Lenin al-Ramley, and directors Nader Galal and Mohamed Fadel in the case of insulting Islam in films they had made over a decade ago, citing “absence of a crime.” Days earlier, another court had sentenced Imam to three months in prison and a 1000 EGP ($170) fine....

Photo: Takver

Egyptian human rights activist Ahmed Mohammed al-Gizawi's arrest by Saudi authorities at the Jeddah airport last week has sparked outrage amongst Egyptians who are demanding his release. According to reports, Gizawi was accused of possessing banned drugs and criticising the Saudi government.

Photo: campsmum

Israel has announced it is set to build a two kilometre long and 10 metre high wall along its border with Lebanon in order to protect its northern town of Metulla, as well as to prevent any possible clashes between Israeli and Lebanese border forces, whose posts are generally merely metres apart. Despite the state of war between Lebanon and Israel, military officials from both countries hold...

Photo: United Nations Photo

Despite reaching a deal on renewing the mandate of the peacekeeping force or MINURSO in the disputed territory of Western Sahara, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) failed to respond to calls for peacekeepers to investigate alleged human rights abuses.

Photo: Ayman Gharbieh Nahle

Lebanese activists Khodor Salameh (author of the acclaimed Jou3an blog) and Ali Fakhry have been released from police custody after around 20 hours of being detained for spray painting political graffiti in an area of Beirut. The two were taken to military court prior to being held at two consecutive police stations, where fellow activists renounced the infringement upon free speech and...

Photo: syriana2011

Dozens of Syrians have reportedly been killed after ceasefire plan drafted by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Anna was violated. According to reports, despite a tight security presence protestors took to the streets on Friday calling for the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad.

Photo: Lucia Luna

Egyptian Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa has visited Jerusalem for the opening of the Imam Ghazali Chair of Islamic Studies, despite decades of many Egyptian bodies’ opposition to normalisation of relations with Israel or travelling to Israeli areas. The mufti travelled with Jordanian King Abdullah II’s advisor, Prince Ghazi Bin Mohammad, and said his visit was arranged by Jordanian...

Photo: AJE

The Presidential Elections Commission has announced the disqualification of ten Egyptian candidates who do not fill the necessary requirement to be presidential contenders. The commission will be releasing the full list at a later date, but state-run paper Al Ahram reported that the most prominent disqualifications were conservative candidate Hazem Abou Ismail, former VP and intelligence chief...

Photo: Yang and Yun's Album

A two-day ceasefire has reportedly been broken after government forces opened fire in the Syrian city of Homs killing at least six people. This comes as the United Nations Security Council ((UNSC) overwhelmingly approved a resolution allowing thirty unarmed observers into the country. The peacekeeping mission is part of UN-Arab League mediator Kofi Annan, which aims to deploy up to two hundred...

Photo: Fastfission

After 15 months of no talks, Iran and six world powers, the US, UK, France, China, Russia and Germany, are meeting in Istanbul to discuss Iran’s nuclear programme and attempt to ease fears over a new Middle East war. Despite the fact that the talks are unlikely to result in any major breakthroughs, the atmosphere has been deemed “positive,” and based on the conclusion, another...

Photo: syriana2011

In a bid to implement former United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Kofi Annan's peace plan and maintain a ceasefire, the UN Security Council is considering a draft resolution authorising the deployment of thirty unarmed military observers in Syria.

Photo: SOS Sahel UK

Violence continues to escalate along the disputed border region of South Kordofan state after the Sudanese People's Liberation Army (SPLA) claimed seizure of the key oil area of Heglig. Tensions between Sudan and South Sudan have heated up in the last month while negotiations have stalled. Caught in the crossfire are thousands of innocent civilians.

Photo: Ahmad Hamaki

General Omar Suleiman, former Mubarak aide and current presidential contender, has strongly criticised the Muslim Brotherhood, suggesting the Islamist group has lost popularity for wanting to monopolise power.

He also insisted that as president he would not recreate the Mubarak regime but would return stability to Egypt.

The Muslim Brotherhood referred to...

Photo: United Nations

Requests by the Danish government to have Abdulhadi al-Khawaja transferred to a hospital in Denmark for treatment has been denied by Bahraini officials. Al-Khawaja, a prominent human rights activist in Bahrain whose health is rapidly deteriorating, began an open ended hunger strike fifty-eight days ago to protest a life sentence on charges of terrorism and attempting to overthrow the regime.

Photo: Blaues Sofa

German author Guenter Grass has been banned from Israel as a “persona non grata” after publishing a poem condemning the sale of German arms to Israel, and opining that the Jewish state should not be allowed to launch military strikes against Iran. The poem was met with a lot of controversy in both Israel and Germany, the latter due to sensitivity about attacking Israeli policy in...

Photo: MMH1

The Hamas government has executed three Palestinians by hanging, one Israeli collaborator, and two convicted murderers, one of whom was also charged with the kidnapping and sodomy of a boy under 16. The families of the murder victims all refused to offer the killers amnesty.