A United Nations Security Council committee considering an application by the Palestinian Authority to become a full UN member "was unable to make a unanimous recommendation" on whether it met the criteria, according to the committee report seen by Reuters on Tuesday. The Palestinian Authority is still expected to push the 15-member Security Council to vote - as early as this week - on a draft resolution recommending it become a full member of the world body, diplomats said. Such membership would effectively recognise a Palestinian state. The Palestinians are currently a non-member observer st ..read more

Dubai's major international airport diverted scores of incoming flights on Tuesday as heavy rains lashed the United Arab Emirates, causing widespread flooding around the desert country. The world's busiest air hub for international passengers confirmed a halt to arrivals at 7:26 pm (1526 GMT) before announcing a "gradual resumption" more than two hours later. Earlier the airport, which had been expecting more than 100 flight arrivals on Tuesday evening, took the equally unusual step of briefly halting its operations in the chaos caused by the storm. Dubai, the Middle East's financial centre ..read more

This year, Musa Maliki, a 28-year-old Malawian living in South Africa, found himself immersed in a Ramadan and Eid unlike any other. As the sacred month unfolded, justice and solidarity with the civilians of Gaza dominated the sentiments of Muslims in the country like in much of the world. For Maliki and many others, it was not merely a time of personal devotion but a collective awakening to the plight of the Palestinian people.  "Muslims were urged to pray and fast for the end of the suffering of the people of Palestine. Some employers provided television sets at our workplaces to enable ..read more

A rising number of Syrian migrants leaving Lebanon for Cyprus in recent months has prompted Nicosia to demand that the European Union (EU) intervene to halt the influx. Senior EU officials have suggested that Brussels could strike a deal with Beirut similar to recent anti-migration pacts signed with Egypt and Tunisia, which have been criticised by human rights groups. The Cypriot government has recorded more than 2,000 Syrian refugees arriving from Lebanon by sea in the first three months of 2024, compared to just 78 in the same period last year.  Despite a bilateral agreement signed in 2 ..read more

A UK court determined that a ban on Muslim prayer at a school in London was lawful on Tuesday. A Muslim pupil lost a UK court challenge against a top London school's ban on prayer rituals, in a case about freedom of religion in schools that captured national attention. The student, who cannot be named, took legal action against Michaela Community School in northwest London, claiming the policy was discriminatory and "uniquely" affected her faith. She argued the school's prohibition of on-site prayer unlawfully breached her right to religious freedom and was "the kind of discrimination which m ..read more

Kuwait's emir on Monday tasked a former oil minister with forming a new government, state media reported, after the latest parliamentary polls in the Gulf state riven by political instability. "Today an Emiri order was issued appointing Sheikh Ahmad Abdullah al-Ahmad al-Sabah as prime minister and assigning him to nominate members of the new cabinet," the Kuwait News Agency said. • أمر أميري بتعيين الشيخ أحمد عبدالله الأحمد الصباح رئيسا لمجلس الوزراء . pic.twitter.com/D726jWJUAe — تفتيش الكويت ?? (@TfTeeeSH) April 15, 2024 The move comes just a few months into the reign of Sheikh Meshal al-Ah ..read more

Pan-Arab broadcaster Al Jazeera aired on Monday footage of a mass grave found on the grounds of Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, two weeks after an Israeli army raid on the site. A correspondent for the channel said that medical teams had found a "mass grave of Palestinians who were buried by the [Israeli] occupation troops in the yard of the Al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza". He said nine bodies had been recovered and that medical and civil defence personnel were still looking for corpses. Al Jazeera reported that doctors and witnesses had said the bodies belonged to people Israeli forces had ..read more

Israel is preventing UN investigators from speaking to witnesses and victims of the 7 October Hamas-led attack, the former UN rights chief Navi Pillay, who is chairing a three-person probe, said on Tuesday. The unprecedented Commission of Inquiry was established by the UN Human Rights Council in May 2021 to investigate alleged violations of international humanitarian and human rights law in Israel and the Palestinian territories. "I deplore the fact that people inside Israel who wish to speak to us are being denied that opportunity because we cannot get access into Israel," Pillay said. The in ..read more

A 23-year-old Palestinian Christian woman has been ordered to serve four months of administrative detention by Israel after she was detained from her home last week. Layan Nasir was taken away at gunpoint from her family home in the occupied West Bank town of Birzeit with no arrest warrant or charges against her. Reverend Munther Isaac, who has been outspoken about Israeli assaults and the bombardment of Gaza since the start of the war, announced that Nasir was being held in administrative detention on Monday. He said that her detention was renewable and that she was just one of thousands of P ..read more

Saudi Arabia's foreign minister said on Tuesday that Riyadh will be "moving ahead significantly" to invest in projects in Pakistan, days after Islamabad announced that the Kingdom had pledged to expedite $5 billion in investment. Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah arrived in Islamabad on Monday to lead a delegation on a two-day visit as part of efforts to boost economic cooperation. His Pakistani counterpart Ishaq Dar told a joint news conference that Pakistan gave extensive briefings to the delegation on potential investment projects. Dar outlined areas of interest for Saudi investors such ..read more