Parliament said in a brief statement on Monday that votes on the resignation of the assembly's speaker, Mohammed al-Halbussi, and the appointment of a first deputy speaker would top the agenda.

Lebanon and the IMF reached a conditional agreement on the loan in April to help the country stem its economic crisis, which the World Bank has branded one of the planet's worst in modern times. But Lebanon has yet to enact the reforms needed to unlock the funds.

After witnessing the sombre scene in parliament's Westminster Hall, Biden, Japan's Emperor Naruhito and other world leaders were due to attend a reception with the late queen's successor, King Charles III. Biden, who flew in late Saturday, has said that Elizabeth, who was queen for a record-breaking 70 years, "defined...

Around 100 people chanted slogans against the rapprochement between Morocco and Israel, criticising its ambassador David Govrin and Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita. Israeli public broadcaster Kan reported Monday that a foreign ministry delegation had been dispatched to Rabat, following sexual abuse allegations against envoy Govrin.

Tunisia's main opposition alliance said Wednesday its members including the once-powerful Ennahdha party would boycott December polls to replace a parliament dissolved by President Kais Saied. The vote is set for nearly a year and a half after Saied suspended the Ennahdha-dominated assembly and sacked the government, later pushing through...

The development came as speaker Mohammed al-Halbusi suggested an agenda for an upcoming national dialogue session following an 11-month political paralysis that sparked deadly clashes in Baghdad last week.

Sadr and his supporters have been calling for parliament to be dissolved and for new elections, but on Saturday he said doing so was not "so important". Instead, it is "more important" that "all parties and figures who have been part of the political process" since the 2003 US-led invasion...

For nearly a year, Iraq has struggled to break a political deadlock that has left the country without a new government, prime minister or president, due to disagreement between factions over forming a coalition. Now with Sadr calling for parliament to be dissolved, it will only deepen the uncertainty.

Supporters of cleric and political kingmaker Moqtada Sadr are pitted against Shiite opponents from a pro-Iran faction called the Coordination Framework.

An emergency session of parliament on Saturday approved several cabinet changes in Egypt's first major reshuffle since 2019, with 13 ministers moved, the National Media Authority reported. A statement said the House of Representatives had approved "all the nominations set forth in a letter from President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi regarding...

A total of 46 judges' sackings have been revoked, administrative court spokesman Imed Ghabri said, adding that the appeals of seven others had been rejected.

A top official from Iraq's Sadrist movement called Tuesday on followers who have occupied parliament for four days to move their protest outside, as calls mount for dialogue between political rivals. Supporters of powerful preacher Moqtada Sadr -- whose political bloc in October won the largest share of seats in...

On Monday afternoon, large numbers of security forces set up roadblocks in a bid to contain the counter-protests.

Powerful Iraqi Shiite preacher Moqtada Sadr Sunday urged other factions to support a protest that has seen his followers occupy parliament in a dispute over who should name the next prime minister. On Sunday, the protesters appeared in no mood to leave, as volunteers distributed soup, hard-boiled eggs, bread and...

Supporters of Iraqi cleric Moqtada Sadr penetrated Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone on Saturday, occupying parliament with no plan to leave. It is the second time in days that Sadr supporters have forced their way in to the legislative chamber, months after elections that failed to lead to formation of...

The storming of Iraq's parliament by hundreds of supporters of populist Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr has piled pressure on his political opponents working to form a government nearly 10 months after an election.

Lebanon's parliament approved on Tuesday a $150 million World Bank loan to import wheat, as shortages of subsidized bread intensify in the cash-strapped country, local media reported. Long lines have formed in front of bakeries and supermarkets where people wait hours for a bag of subsidized Arabic bread -- in...

The referendum comes a year to the day after Saied sacked the government and froze parliament in a power grab that his rivals condemned as a coup. His moves were however welcomed by many Tunisians fed up with a grinding economic crisis.

Tunisians will vote Monday on a constitution that would give President Kais Saied almost unchecked powers, a key moment in his plan to overhaul the political system in the birthplace of the Arab Spring. The referendum takes place a year to the day after Saied sacked the government and suspended...

Some articles of the draft constitution published last Thursday in the official journal could "pave the way for a dictatorial regime", warned Sadeq Belaid, who headed the committee.

Libya's rival leaders were under growing street pressure Saturday after protesters stormed parliament as anger exploded over deteriorating living conditions and political deadlock.

Protesters stormed Libya's parliament building in the eastern city of Tobruk on Friday, demonstrating against deteriorating living conditions and political deadlock, Libyan media reported. Several television channels said that protesters had managed to penetrate the building and committed acts of vandalism, while media outlets showed images of thick columns of...

The coalition government came apart last week after some Arab lawmakers refused to renew a measure that ensures the roughly 475,000 Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank live under Israeli law.

Israel's Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said Wednesday he would not stand in upcoming elections, as parliament postponed a vote to dissolve itself and force the country's fifth vote in less than four years. The premier, who conceded last week that his eight-party alliance which took office a year ago was...

The Israeli parliament unanimously approved early Tuesday a draft bill to dissolve parliament, a key legislative step that pushes the country closer toward its fifth election in less than four years.

Once parliament dissolves, Israel's caretaker government will be headed by Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, in accordance with a power-sharing deal the pair reached.

A legal expert charged with writing a new constitution presented a draft to Tunisian President Kais Saied Monday, less than a month before a referendum on the document. The planned referendum is set for July 25, the one year anniversary of a power grab by Saied that saw him sack...

Israel's Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said Monday his governing coalition will dissolve parliament next week, a shock announcement that will give power to Foreign Minister Yair Lapid in days and force new elections. Bennett and Lapid forged an ideologically disparate alliance one year ago, counting eight-parties broadly united on the...

Representatives of the Tripoli-based High Council of State and of the parliament, based in eastern Libya, began meetings in Cairo more than a week ago, but without success.

Iraqi lawmakers from firebrand Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr's bloc resigned Sunday, the parliamentary speaker said, in a move ostensibly designed to up pressure to end an eight-month political paralysis. Sadr on Thursday had urged the MPs from his bloc - the biggest in parliament - to ready resignation papers, in...

Iraq passed Wednesday an emergency finance bill to pay debts to Iran to ensure gas supplies and forestall worsening power cuts, as well as to buy grain for "food security".

Berri's candidacy went largely unchallenged but the 84-year-old clinched only the bare minimum number of votes needed for a win -- one of his lowest counts since he first rose to the helm of parliament 30 years ago.

A Tunisian court has imposed a travel ban on the speaker of the country's now-dissolved parliament, a court spokeswoman said.

The cabinet of bankrupt Lebanon, at its final session on Friday, passed a financial recovery plan needed to secure international aid, but its implementation will depend on the fractious incoming parliament. The session came five days after Lebanon held its first election since an economic crisis, widely blamed on corruption...

The MP Zoabi said: "Again and again the heads of the coalition have taken hawkish, rigid and right-wing stances regarding basic issues of utmost importance for Arab society".

When Firas Hamdan was injured at a protest near Lebanon's parliament two years ago, the then activist never imagined he would one day return as a lawmaker. Hamdan, one of 13 independent politicians who emerged from a mass anti-government protest movement in 2019, made it to parliament on a reformist...

The UN envoy to Iraq on Tuesday urged Iraqi politicians to end a deadlock which has kept parliament from forming a new government for more than seven months, warning that the crisis could spark civil unrest. "The streets are about to boil over in Iraq," Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert told reporters.

The reformists, who campaigned on the legacy of a 2019 anti-establishment protest movement, could yet obtain the support of several other independent and non-aligned lawmakers in the 128-member assembly.

Finnish President Sauli Niinisto spoke with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Saturday regarding the Nordic country's application for NATO membership, which is expected to be officially announced this weekend, his office said.

At least six people died, including a little girl, and almost 50 others were rescued after a migrant boat capsized off Lebanon, state media said, in the latest tragedy at sea off the crisis-hit country. The boat capsized on Saturday night near the northern port city of Tripoli, the departure...

Libya's rival government selected by parliament in the east met for the first time Thursday, challenging a cabinet brokered by the UN and based in the capital Tripoli in the west. The troubled North African nation has had two opposing executives since February, when parliament named ex-interior minister Fathi Bashagha...

Tunisia has summoned Turkey's ambassador in protest against "interference" after President Erdogan criticized his counterpart in Tunis for dissolving the country's parliament. Tunisia's fragmented parliament has long been dominated by Ennahdha, an Islamist-inspired party close to Erdogan's ruling AKP.

Kuwait's government resigned on Tuesday, three months after it was sworn in, state media reported, amid escalating disputes with parliament. The move comes a day ahead of a parliamentary vote on a letter of non-cooperation, which 10 lawmakers submitted against the premier.

Tunisia has summoned for questioning the speaker of the dissolved parliament for "conspiracy against state security" after lawmakers met online in the North African nation, a spokesman said Friday.

"We consider that the parliament remains operational," Rached Ghannouchi told AFP in an interview.

Iraqi lawmakers failed again on Saturday to elect a new president for the country due to a lack of quorum in parliament, keeping the country mired in political paralysis.

More than 2,000 Tunisians rallied on Sunday, the country's Independence Day, against President Kais Saied and a project he launched to gauge public opinion on proposed constitutional reforms.

On Thursday, the US ambassador in Libya, Richard Norland, also expressed fears over an escalation.

Tunisian President Kais Saied declared war Wednesday on food speculators amid a shortage of products such as wheat and semolina -- key staples in a country already mired in a political-economic crisis.

Jordan Senate President Faisal Fayez Monday held talks with Moroccan officials in Rabat on bolstering Jordan-Morocco cooperation and the regional developments. Fayez held discussions with his Moroccan counterpart Naam Miyara on bilateral cooperation and relations and means to further them on all levels, not the least of which are political,...