Middle East Experience

Thousands of protesters took to the streets on Sunday in Iran’s southwestern city of Abadan where anger with the regime over a deadly building collapse is high.For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.A 10-storey residential and commercial building collapsed on May 23 in Abadan, killing dozens. The death toll rose to 31 on Monday, according to official figures.Protests have been taking place in the city on a daily basis over the incident which protesters and activists blame on regime corruption.Protesters interrupted a state-sponsored mourning ceremony where a senior cleric was speaking on Sunday, forcing state TV to cut out sound. “Dishonourable! Dishonourable!” protesters chanted just as Mohsen Heydari, a member of the Assembly of Experts – a clerical body in charge of selecting Iran’s supreme leader – began speaking.Videos shared on Twitter showed large crowds gathered in Abadan, located in the oil-rich southwestern province of Khuzestan – an ethnically diverse region.One video showed protesters chanting, in Arabic, “We sacrifice our soul and blood for you, Abadan.” Khuzestan is home to a large Arab population.“I will kill whoever killed my brother,” protesters could be heard chanting, in Persian, in another video.Other videos showed security forces attacking protesters with batons and firing teargas to disperse them. Sound of gunfire could be heard in other videos.Al Arabiya English could not independently verify the videos’ authenticity.Read more: Iran police tear-gas protesters after building collapse: ReportIran mourns building collapse victims as toll tops 30
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Protests over deadly building collapse in Iran’s southwest intensify

An Iraqi court on Monday sentenced to death an ISIS group member convicted of plotting a 2021 bomb attack that killed 32 people in a crowded Baghdad market.It was the city’s first major suicide bombing in three years that ended a period of relative calm after Iraq declared the defeat of the extremist group in late 2017.For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.The man, who was not named, was found guilty of planning the January 2021 twin suicide bombing that hit the market at Baghdad’s Tayaran Square and also wounded 110 people.A Baghdad court has sentenced the attack’s “primary perpetrator,” the Supreme Judicial Council said in a statement.He had confessed to being part of ISIS since 2012 and to having equipped the two suicide attackers.In the attack, one man drew a crowd by claiming to feel sick before he detonated his explosives belt, the interior ministry said at the time.As more people flocked to the scene to help the victims, the second suicide bomber set off his explosives.Iraq frequently hands down death sentences, usually for terrorism or murder convictions.Amnesty International’s 2021 death penalty report ranks Iraq near the top worldwide in terms of death sentences and executions.The London-based rights group recorded at least 17 executions in Iraq in 2021, down from 50 the previous year, but said death sentences “rose more than threefold from 2020.”In April, eight people were sentenced to death in two trials, four over a car bombing and four for murder.The last major ISIS attack in the capital came in July 2021, when a bomb ripped through the crowded al-Woheilat Market in the Sadr City suburb, killing more than 30 people.The ISIS group has “maintained the ability to launch attacks at a steady rate in Iraq, including hit-and-run operations, ambushes and roadside bombs,” a UN report said in January.Three teenagers and three policemen were shot dead in northern Iraq as they put out a crop fire last week, an attack that officials blamed on ISIS extremists.Read more:Irish court finds former soldier guilty of ISIS membershipTurkey detains ISIS’s new leader, officials sayTurkey’s Syria operation could happen ‘suddenly’: President Erdogan
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Iraq court sentences ISIS plotter of 2021 Baghdad market bombing to death

The latest Chinese mission included 22 fighters, as well as electronic warfare, early warning and antisubmarine aircraft.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Taiwan jets scramble as 30 Chinese aircraft enter air defense zone

Tunisian authorities named a street after Cardinale in the La Goulette suburb of the capital Tunis..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: Cinema legend, Claudia Cardinale, honoured in Tunisian birthplace

Western powers fear Iran is getting closer to being able to sprint towards producing a nuclear bomb.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Iran fails to answer questions on nuclear program, IAEA reports

Stoltenberg spoke about next month's NATO summit in Madrid but did not address Turkey’s reluctance to opening the doors to Sweden and Finland..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: Turkey talks with Nordic countries over NATO bids make little progress

Opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu tells Post he prefers a new coalition in the current Knesset.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Emergency regulations renewal vote delayed by week due to opposition boycott

The dead consisted of 17 Puerto Rican Christian pilgrims, a Canadian and eight Israelis, including Prof. Aharon Katzir.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: On This Day: 50 years since JRA terrorists commit Lod Airport Massacre

Joseph Wu calls to increase cooperation with Israel and advises Jerusalem: When China is upset at you, that means you are doing something right.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Taiwan FM to ‘Post’: China preps to invade us, Israel can't trust Beijing

Two Syrian National Army senior commanders said orders were given to take an offensive stance as Turkey steps up shelling and strikes in YPG-controlled territory..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: Pro-Turkish Syrian rebels to back Turkey’s operation in northeast