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West Asia
Protests ahead of Sisi’s visit to the UK
As Egypt’s president Abdel Fatah al-Sisi arrives in London for planned discussions with Prime minister David Cameron on 4th November, a broad coalition of Egyptian and British groups calls for demonstrations against him on Wednesday night and Thursday morning. Hundreds of people are expected to join protests outside Downing Street against the visit…
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Politics
Turkish elections results reinforce Erdogan’s reign
Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, secured a surprise win at the polls Sunday. The conservative party of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan won nearly half the votes to regain its parliamentary majority. With nearly all the votes counted, the AKP, led by Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, won 49.41%…
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West Asia
Russian plane crash in Sinai kills 224 passengers
Russian and Egyptian investigators are investigating the crash of a Russian airliner in Sinai that killed all 224 people on board. The plane crashed 23 minutes into its flight from Sharm el-Sheikh to St Petersburg on Saturday 31st of October. The Kogalymavia Airbus A321 came down early on Saturday, shortly after leaving…
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South Asia
Saudi Raif Badawi wins EU Sakharov rights prize
Saudi blogger Raif Badawi, who was sentenced to 1,000 lashes and 10 years in prison for insulting Islam, was awarded the European Parliament’s prestigious Sakharov human rights prize on Thursday 29th October. The 31-year-old blogger, who was arrested in 2012, is an advocate of free speech whose public flogging in…
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West Asia
Iran could join Syria talks with US and Russia
Iran is likely to be invited for the first time to international talks with the US and Russia over the Syrian conflict after a longstanding opposition, the US says. US state department spokesman John Kirby said it was unclear if Iran’s leaders would attend the talks, starting in Vienna on…
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West Asia
Turkey clocks defy time-change delay
For those in Europe and the US, Saturday night marked the end of the daylight saving time, but the Turkish government delayed the time change by two weeks this year, in light of the upcoming parliamentary elections on 1 November. Along with countries in the Eastern European Time (EET) zone…
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Asaad meets Putin in a surprise Kremlin visit
In his first foreign trip since the conflict in Syria erupted in 2011, Asaad visits Moscow to meet up with Putin in surprising news. After the meeting, AFP reported that Putin pledged to continue to support Damascus militarily, while calling for a political solution involving all groups to try to…
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West Asia
Christie’s Dubai auction runs for its 19th season
Christie’s auctions of Modern and Contemporary Art and Important Watches held this week in Dubai totaled $10,590,875/ AED 38,900,284, with impressive sell-through rates of 89% and 96% respectively. A pioneer in the sale of both categories, having held its first art sale in Dubai in 2006 and the first stand-…
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West Asia
Netanyahu under fire for blaming holocaust on Palestinians
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stirred controversy by suggesting the then head of the Muslim community in Jerusalem gave Hitler the idea to exterminate Jews. In a speech on Tuesday 20th October, Netanyahu said the then grand mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husseini, a Palestinian nationalist, convinced Hitler to…
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Culture
Cho Seong Jin wins International Chopin piano competition
Piano player Cho Seong Jin became the first South Korean contestant to win International Chopin piano competition. Fryderyk Chopin Institute announced Cho Seong Jin as the winner for the competition in its 17th round held on October 2015 in Warsaw. This competition originally started on 1927 to honor Polish composer Fryderyk…
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