Israel’s political elite is racing against time to form a new government through high-stakes backchannel negotiations before a midnight deadline. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition has to secure the support of Avigdor Lieberman’s nationalist Yisrael Beiteinu faction on Wednesday or face an unprecedented second election of the year. Netanyahu’s Likud and its right wing and religious allies won a total ...

In light of the recent backlash Egyptian actress and comedian Shaimaa Seif faced after appearing in an episode of the Ramadan prank program ‘Shaklabaz’ wearing blackface to portray Sudanese women, Egyptian actor Maged El-Masry spat racist remarks towards African women when he appeared on the show ‘Sheikh El-Hara’ hosted by Basma Wahba resulting in the show getting suspended by Egypt’s Media ...

Egypt is considering offers by US Blackstone’s Zarou Ltd and Malaysia’s Edra Power Holdings Sdn Bhd to take over three state-owned power plants, the country’s electricity minister, Mohamed Shaker, announced yesterday. “We [Egyptian government] received an expression of interest from the two companies [Zarou and Edra] to take over and operate the power plants and we’re looking into it,” Shaker was quoted by Bloomberg as ...

The Egyptian government has approved amendments to the law that regulates trade unions days before the International Labour Organisation is due to hold its conference. By amending the law, Egypt seeks to avoid being put on the ILO’s blacklist, according to Al-Araby Al-Jadeed news site. The list includes 40 countries which are accused of violating international labour standards. The new amendments allow ...

Hesham Ashmawi, one of Egypt’s most wanted terrorists, was extradited to Egypt from Libya on Tuesday night following a meeting earlier in the day between Libyan National Army (LNA) General Khalifa Haftar and Egypt’s General Intelligence Service (GIS) chief General Abbas Kamel. Ashmawi, who is implicated in a number of deadly terrorist attacks in Egypt, was escorted by members of ...

Reigning Roland Garros champion Simona Halep kicked off her title defense with a tough three set win against Ajla Tomljanovic. PARIS, France – Reigning Roland Garros champion Simona Halep kicked off her title defense with a tough three set win against Ajla Tomljanovic on Court Philippe Chatrier. The last time she stepped onto this court, just about 12 months ago, Halep ...

Bianca Andreescu needed two days to claim her first main draw victory at Roland Garros, edging past lucky loser Marie Bouzkova to advance to the second round. The on-the-rise Canadian started off the year with an appearance in the final of Auckland, before claiming titles at Newport Beach 125K event and the Premier Mandatory Indian Wells – defeating Angelique Kerber ...

Fourth seed Dominic Thiem faced the toughest test of the tournament favourites in the first round at Roland Garros. But the Austrian battled on, and that’s what counts. Thiem defeated wild card and 2015 Roland Garros Boys’ Singles champion Tommy Paul 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-2 to remain undefeated in his openers at the year’s second Grand Slam (6-0). “it was definitely difficult, but I didn’t expect at ...

Anne Worcester, the first female chief executive of the women’s WTA Tour and one of the most experienced leaders in international sports, will join Universal Tennis, which owns the Universal Tennis Rating (UTR), as president. “Worcester will be instrumental in overseeing the growth and development of UTR worldwide,” Universal Tennis said in an emailed press release. “Beyond her leadership at ...

ITV4 commentator Mark Petchey, the former coach of Andy Murray, was commentating on Alexander Zverev’s five-set thriller with John Millman at the French Open on Tuesday. As tensions ran high in the fourth set, Zverev threw his racket into the Roland Garros clay although it wasn’t hard enough to break it. The host broadcaster showed countless replays of the incident ...