Middle East

Stores running out of cooking oil. Gas prices soaring. Farmers scrambling for fertilizer. Nations rethinking alliances. We zoom in on the war's seismic, far-reaching repercussions.

NPR's Adrian Florido talks with Mirette Mabrouk, founding director of the Egypt program at the Middle East Institute, about the recent string of political prisoner releases in Egypt.

Israeli authorities said a pair of Palestinian attackers went on a stabbing rampage in a town near Tel Aviv, killing at least three people and wounding four others before fleeing in a vehicle.

That's how Paul Spiegel characterizes the reception — and medical services — offered by European nations. He spent 7 weeks on the scene for the World Health Organization to assess the situation.

President Biden met with the parents of American journalist Austin Tice, who was abducted in Syria nearly 10 years ago. He has not been heard from since. Syria has never acknowledged holding him.

The war in Ukraine has exacerbated inflation in the Middle East, where countries rely on Russia and Ukraine for imported wheat.

NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks with chef Reem Assil about her debut cookbook Arabiyya: Recipes from the Life of an Arab in Diaspora.

In 2016, Shabana Basij-Rasikh created Afghanistan's School of Leadership for girls. When the Taliban took control in 2021, she helped her students flee and continued their education abroad.

The recent violence at the most sensitive site in Jerusalem puts Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in difficult positions.

The U.S. has pulled back funding for global vaccinations. Some countries — like Brazil — don't need the help. Vaccination rates remain low in other countries such as Iraq due to issues of mistrust.

For 19 days, activists have camped outside a police station in Sulaibiya, Kuwait, on hunger strike. They're asking the Kuwaiti government for citizenship.

Countries in Africa, the Middle East and parts of Asia are counting more cases of vaccine-derived polio. One reason for this, say experts, is that vaccination efforts have lapsed during the pandemic.