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Turkey lifts veil on unemployment data, revealing bigger army of jobless

A new, broader set of labor statistics has exposed a big gap between Turkey’s official unemployment rate and the actual joblessness in the crisis-hit country.

Jordanian detainees look on through the window of a rehabilitation centre in Zarqa, 30 kilometres east of Amman, on July 11, 2018. (Photo by Khalil MAZRAAWI / AFP) (Photo credit should read KHALIL MAZRAAWI/AFP via Getty Images)

Rights group criticizes Jordan over debt imprisonment

Human Rights Watch has highlighted the plight of poor Jordanians imprisoned for failing to pay back loans taken out to meet basic needs.

Saudi female employees work at the customers service desk at a hypermarket, newly launched by the operator LuLu and run by a team of women, in the Saudi Arabian port city of Jeddah, on February 21, 2021. (Photo by Amer HILABI / AFP) (Photo by AMER HILABI/AFP via Getty Images)

COVID accelerates evolution of Gulf economies

The economic policy response to COVID-19 is an acceleration of specific trends already underway across the Gulf Cooperation Council members, variously affecting tax policy, labor market regulation and immigration policy.

Iran receives COVID-19 vaccine from Cuba

Iran enjoys warm relations with the Latin American state and the two countries are also developing a coronavirus vaccine together.

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Jordan reinstates partial lockdown as coronavirus deaths spike

A policeman holds a stop sign in an almost deserted avenue in the Jordanian capital Amman, during a lockdown due to the coronavirus panemic, on February 26, 2021. (Photo by Khalil MAZRAAWI / AFP) (Photo by KHALIL MAZRAAWI/AFP via Getty Images)

Israel-Egypt relations advance in baby steps

A Israeli police car is park in front of the Egyptian Embassy in the city of Tel Aviv on September 11, 2011, two days after Egyptian demonstrators went on the rampage in Cairo, breaking into the Israeli embassy and forcing the personnel to be evacuated. The trouble followed several weeks of protests outside the Israeli embassy in Cairo after 5 Egyptian border police were shot dead last month by the Israeli military during a search operation for militants who shot at an Israeli bus in Israel, close to their

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First court victory for opponents of Jerusalem cable car project

Former Halkbank executive resigns as head of Istanbul stock exchange

Grapfics and numbers of trade markets are screened on the floor of the Borsa Istanbul on May 22, 2018 in Istanbul. - Turkey's embattled currency, the Lira, on May 22 hit new historic lows against the US dollar after Fitch ratings agency expressed concerns over the central bank's independence in the wake of comments by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. (Photo by OZAN KOSE / AFP) (Photo credit should read OZAN KOSE/AFP via Getty Images)

A money changer counts Turkish lira bills at a currency exchange office in central Istanbul January 29, 2014. Turkish Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek played down the impact on growth of a sharp hike in interest rates on Wednesday, saying the economy would have suffered greater damage from a loss of faith in the central bank. The bank raised all its key interest rates in dramatic fashion at an emergency policy meeting late on Tuesday, ignoring opposition from Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan as it battles to def

How will Turkey explain $4.3 billion in unidentified foreign currency?

Is it a coincidence that an unexpected gush of foreign funds from unidentified sources occurs in election periods?

A member of Jordanian security walks near the main Jaber border crossing in the Jordanian city of Mafraq, April 2, 2015, as smoke rises on the Syrian side after violence broke out near the border. Jordan said it had temporarily closed its border crossing with Syria on Wednesday because of violence on the other side of the frontier, a move it described as a precautionary measure. Mainstream Syrian rebels seized the Nasib border crossing with Jordan from the Syrian government on Wednesday, the leader of one o

Syrian border closure deals blow to Jordan economy

The Free Syrian Army has taken over the strategic border crossing of Nasib, a main trade route between Jordan and Syria, pushing the Jordanian government to seek alternative transport options and export markets.

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani (L) walks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (C) during an official welcoming ceremony following the latter's arrival at the Saadabad Palace in Tehran on April 7, 2015, for an official one-day visit as the two countries criticized each other in recent weeks on their respective policies in the region. AFP PHOTO/ATTA KENARE (Photo credit should read ATTA KENARE/AFP/Getty Images)

How will Turkey benefit from lifting of Iran sanctions?

Turkey faced substantial losses with declining exports to Iran because of the embargo. Now that easing of sanctions is a possibility, however, political ambitions and contradictory positions may impede recovery.

An employee works at the Iran Alloy Steel Company (IASCO)'s plant in the central Iranian city of Yazd on April 6, 2015. AFP PHOTO / ATTA KENARE (Photo credit should read ATTA KENARE/AFP/Getty Images)

How the nuclear deal will help Iran's economy

While a comprehensive nuclear deal is not yet final, the psychological boost of the famework deal and prospects of an end to sanctions are already placing Iran in a better position to materialize its economic potential.

Supporters of the Palestinian Fatah movement talk with a shop keeper at a shop during a visit to convince retailers not to sell Israeli goods on February 24, 2015 in the West Bank city of Ramallah. A Palestinian commission launched a new campaign calling for the boycott of Israeli products in reaction to sanctions imposed by Israel following the recent Palestinian diplomatic offensive at the United Nations, the head of the commission told AFP. AFP PHOTO / ABBAS MOMANI (Photo credit should read ABBAS

West Bank boycotts six Israeli companies

The Palestinian boycott of Israeli products sold in the West Bank might help strengthen the Palestinian economy, and draw the world’s attention to the Israeli occupation.

Women sit and look at a container ship navigate through the Suez canal near Ismailia port city, northeast of Cairo May 2, 2014. Egypt has extended the bidding deadline to July 3 in an international auction of 22 concessions for oil and gas exploration, an official with the state-owned gas company said on Wednesday.The previous deadline for companies to submit bids for concessions in the Suez Canal, Egypt's western desert, the Mediterranean sea and the Nile Delta had been May 19. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh

Egypt to face mandatory maritime inspections

As Egypt has failed to undergo voluntary trial inspections of its maritime works, ports and ships, the International Maritime Organization's upcoming official inspections could negatively affect shipping in the Suez Canal.

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani (R) holds hands with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (C) as they walk during an official welcoming ceremony following the latter's arrival at the Saadabad Palace in Tehran on April 7, 2015, for an official one-day visit as the two countries criticized each other in recent weeks on their respective policies in the region. AFP PHOTO/ATTA KENARE (Photo credit should read ATTA KENARE/AFP/Getty Images)

Erdogan focuses on trade during Iran visit

Despite a red-carpet welcome to Tehran, where meetings between the Turkish president and Iranian officials focused on economic ties, the uproar around Recep Tayyip Erdogan's incendiary remarks about Iran continued unabated.

A Saudi man explores a website on his laptop in Riyadh February 11, 2014. Syria's civil war has led to a new, greater threat of Islamist radicalism in Saudi Arabia that requires a more aggressive "war of ideology" on the Internet, says the man responsible for online monitoring in the kingdom. Remarks by the head of the Saudi Ideological Security Directorate (ISD) suggest that the unit, known for keeping tabs on liberal activists and women drivers as well as Islamist extremists, is turning its focus increasi

Saudi Arabia embraces high-tech lobbying

Saudi Arabia is tapping politically connected digital image-makers amid escalating tensions with Iran.

A delegate looks at a model of a planned new capital for Egypt during the final day of Egypt Economic Development Conference (EEDC) in Sharm el-Sheikh, in the South Sinai governorate, south of Cairo, March 15, 2015. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi was so confident after Egypt signed billions of dollars of deals at an investment summit that he publicly joked on Sunday about haggling with the world's top chief executives. Yet the real challenge has only just begun. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh (EGYPT - Tags: BU

Will Egypt's new administrative capital help its economy?

Thoughtful planning and government management seem indispensable to a return on investments for Egypt.

A Syrian refugee boy pauses as he carries his sister to their house in Hacibayram district of Ankara November 21, 2014. Syrian refugees across the Middle East, some in exile for a fourth winter, face freezing temperatures, hunger and increasing hostility from locals as governments struggle to cope with the humanitarian crisis. Lebanon and Jordan are tightening their borders to stem the flow of those trying to escape whilst in Turkey, widely praised for hosting around half Syria's estimated 3.2 million refug

CHP report exposes Turkey's high poverty levels

Following revelations that the Turkish government has profiled the entire population, the main opposition responds by “profiling” alarming poverty among the masses.

Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir (C) shakes hands with his Egypian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-sisi and Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn after signing an Agreement on the Declaration of Principles on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam Project in Khartoum March 23, 2015. The leaders of Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan signed a cooperation deal on Monday over a giant Ethiopian hydroelectric dam on a tributary of the river Nile, in a bid to ease tensions over regional water supplies. The leaders

Egypt warily signs preliminary Nile agreement

While showing some optimism about the Declaration of Principles it recently signed with Sudan and Ethiopia, Egypt is proceeding with caution concerning its historical water rights.

A Turkish vendor sells dates and dried fruits at the Ottoman-era spice market known as the Egyptian Bazaar during preparations for the upcoming holy month of Ramadan, in Istanbul August 20, 2009. Muslims around the world abstain from eating, drinking and conducting sexual relations from sunrise to sunset during Ramadan, the holiest month in the Islamic calendar. REUTERS/Murad Sezer (TURKEY RELIGION IMAGES OF THE DAY) - RTR26XKO

Turkey's Ottoman-era aphrodisiacs

The all-natural "Turkish Viagra" and other love potions found in Istanbul's markets are now an international commodity.