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. Turkey
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. Jordan
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. Saudi Arabia
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. Iran
Why is Turkey censoring lingerie, antique books? Turkey's Web watchdog is turning into a "wicked" censorship monster that can arbitrarily target any website, from global prosperity indexes to LGBT forums. Turkey
Egyptian pound's drop part of Central Bank's plan The Central Bank's efforts to reduce the price of the local currency against the dollar are working to undermine the black market, but these measures risk increasing prices. Egypt
Erdogan's Africa tour Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose aspirations for regional leadership have failed, has begun trying to acquire leadership of the Islamic world on his Africa tour. Turkey
Living among the dead in Gaza The Palestinian Ministry of Public Works and Housing has failed to provide housing for Gaza’s families, forcing some to live in cemeteries and beg for money. Palestine
Turkey foreign investment slowdown Dutch entrepreneurs topped the list of foreign investors in Turkey in 2014, as the number of foreign companies exceeded 41,000, despite the insecure climate that has emerged in Turkey in terms of democracy and the rule of law. Turkey
Turkey’s arms procurement raises questions There are questions being raised about the wisdom of Turkey's expensive defense expenditures — but not by the public. Turkey
Austerity for Egypt's Internet? As social media activists in Egypt rally to demand faster and cheaper Internet services, the government of Ibrahim Mehleb asks citizens to limit their Internet consumption, a move many see as one austerity step too far. Egypt
War on Gulenists undermines Turkish diplomacy Ankara has canceled the authorization of 51 honorary consuls as part of its war on the Gulen movement while President Recep Tayyip Erdogan presses African governments to shut down Gulenist-founded schools. Turkey
Iraq, Turkey strengthen energy relationship The bilateral relationship between Iraq and Turkey is strengthening following recent meetings in which an increased collaboration on oil, natural gas and electric energy production and export was discussed. Iraq
Cairo metro fare hike results in public backlash Egyptian news recently reported that the Transport Ministry will increase the price of a metro ticket by 2,500%, which activists consider extremely unfair. Egypt
Egypt forgives Iraqi debt in exchange for oil During Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi’s visit to Cairo, the Egyptian government agreed to drop the Iraqi debt owed to Egypt, in exchange for oil shares that would come in handy in light of the energy crisis plaguing Egypt. Egypt
Gaza water desalination plants cause severe health risks The lack of supervision over water desalination plants and the Israeli siege contribute to the contamination of drinking water available to Gaza’s residents. Palestine
