MIDDLE EAST

Photo Credit:AP

A fistfight broke out in the Jordanian parliament Tuesday amid heated arguments about controversial amendments to the country's constitution.

Some lawmakers objected to what they see as a further increase in the autocratic powers of the monarch under proposed changes to the country's constitution.

Jordan is a constitutional monarchy but its hereditary ruler is vested with comprehensive powers to the point where critics say its democratic institutions provide no meaningful checks on his authority, including his ability to choose the prime minister and dismiss parliament at will.

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The financial meltdown began in 2019, and Lebanon defaulted on its debt last year.

Politicians have failed to enact significant reforms to rescue the Mediterranean country, and many blame the ruling class and central bank policies for the crash.

What is delaying progress on talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to strike a deal and unlock crucial donor funds?

How bad is the crisis?

Lebanon's GDP has plummeted from about $55 billion in 2018 to a projected $20.5 billion in 2021, a "brutal contraction" that the World Bank says "is usually associated with conflicts or wars".

Photo Creditt: Reuters

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas paid a rare visit to Israel on Tuesday for talks with Israel's Defense Minister, the latest in a series of meetings by top Israeli officials with the Palestinian leader.

Israel’s new Prime Minister, Naftali Bennett, opposes Palestinian independence and has ruled out formal peace talks. But he has said he wants to reduce frictions with the Palestinian Authority and improve living conditions in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Despite these pledges, the area has experienced an increase in violence in recent weeks, with a series of Palestinian attacks on Israelis in the West Bank and east Jerusalem as well as a surge in violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinian civilians.

Photo Credit: AP

VIENNA (AP) — Negotiators from Iran and five world powers resumed negotiations Monday on restoring Tehran’s tattered 2015 nuclear deal, with Iran insisting that the United States and its allies promise to allow it to export its crude oil.

The latest round of talks in Vienna, the eighth, opened 10 days after negotiations were adjourned for the Iranian negotiator to return home for consultations. The previous round, the first after a more than five-month gap caused by the arrival of a new hard-line government in Iran, was marked by tensions over new Iranian demands.

“If we work hard in the days and weeks ahead, we should have a positive result,” Enrique Mora, the European Union diplomat who chaired the talks, said after the opening session. But “it’s going to be very hard — difficult political decisions have to be taken.”

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The guidance, issued by the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, also called on all vehicle owners to offer rides only to those women wearing Islamic hijabs.

"Women travelling for more than 45 miles (72 kilometres) should not be offered a ride if they are not accompanied by a close family member," ministry spokesman Sadeq Akif Muhajir told AFP on Sunday, specifying that it must be a close male relative.

The guidance, circulated on social media networks, comes weeks after the ministry asked Afghanistan's television channels to stop showing dramas and soap operas featuring women actors.