Middle East

World News

Anti-government protests grow in Iran after a woman died in police custody

4:51pm September 23, 2022

NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks with journalist Golnaz Esfandiari about the recent protests in Iran after the death of Mahsa Amini, who was arrested for allegedly breaking hijab rules.

Queue Listen Now

Lebanese Red Cross ambulances, carrying the bodies of people who died in a boat sinking, cross between Lebanon and Syria on Friday.

World News

At least 77 people died when a boat carrying migrants sank off Syria, an official says

3:06pm September 23, 2022

by The Associated Press

The incident was deadliest so far as a surging number of Lebanese, Syrian, and Palestinians have been trying to flee crisis-hit Lebanon by sea for a better future in Europe.

Why authorities can't quell the protests in Iran

4:59am September 23, 2022

NPR's Steve Inskeep speaks with Professor Nahid Siamdoust of the University of Texas at Austin's Department of Middle Eastern Studies about large popular protests in Iran.

Women protest in Iran over death of woman arrested by morality police

5:04am September 22, 2022

by Peter Kenyon

Mahsa Amini was arrested for allegedly breaking hijab rules. She died after suffering multiple blows to the head. Now, Iranian women are burning their hijabs and cutting their hair short.

A picture obtained by AFP outside Iran shows shows a demonstrator raising his arms and makes the victory sign in Tehran on Monday during a protest for Mahsa Amini, a woman who died after being arrested by the Islamic republic's morality police.

World News

Why Iranian women are burning their hijabs after the death of Mahsa Amini

1:48pm September 21, 2022

Amini, 22, died Friday, several days after she was arrested in Tehran by the country's "morality police" for violating hijab laws. Her death has sparked outrage and protests across the country.

World News

Protests erupt after the death of a young woman arrested by Iran's 'morality police'

5:26pm September 20, 2022

by Peter Kenyon

Protests have broken out in several cities in Iran after the death of a young woman who'd been arrested by the so-called "morality police."

Queue Listen Now

In a photo taken by an individual not employed by the Associated Press and obtained by the AP outside Iran, a police motorcycle is burning during a protest over the death of a young woman who had been detained for violating the country's conservative dress code, in downtown Tehran, Iran.

World News

Iranians protested in Tehran over a woman's death in police custody

9:30pm September 19, 2022

by The Associated Press

The morality police detained 22-year-old Mahsa Amini for not covering her hair with the Islamic headscarf, which is mandatory for Iranian women. Police were holding her when she died.

World News

A new surge in violence in the West Bank is worrying the Biden administration

5:38pm September 18, 2022

by Daniel Estrin

Israel has escalated military arrests and raids in the West Bank as a new cohort of Palestinian militants seems to be gaining strength. Scores of Palestinians have been killed.

Queue Listen Now

Sali Hafez (center), accompanied by activists, looks at her phone on Wednesday after breaking into a BLOM Bank branch in Beirut, Lebanon, brandishing what she later said was a toy pistol and taking $13,000 from her trapped savings account.

World News

A woman with a toy gun grabs her savings from a Beirut bank

4:31pm September 14, 2022

by The Associated Press

She broke into a bank branch, taking $13,000 from her trapped savings amid strict limits on withdrawals set by Lebanese banks. She said she needed the money to fund her sister's cancer treatment.

A demolished section of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on July 19.

World News

Saudi Arabia is razing whole neighborhoods to make way for tourism and wealth

9:58am September 13, 2022

by Fatma Tanis

The kingdom's sweeping redevelopment in the city of Jeddah is displacing hundreds of thousands of residents, many of them from working-class immigrant communities.

Queue Listen Now