According to Egypt’s Finance Minister Samir Radwan, the country has dropped plans to seek loans from the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. The decision was made after the planned deficit in the 2011-12 budget had been revised down from 11% to 8.6% of GDP. But an adviser told a news agency the decision had been partly a response to the "pressure of public opinion". In May Mr Radwan appealed to the IMF, telling the bbc.co.uk that the situation was "... Read more »

The UN human rights office is sending a mission to Yemen on Monday to examine the human rights situation and check information coming from the country, amid persistent popular protests calling for the ouster of incumbent president Ali Abdullah Saleh. "We will be deploying a mission to Yemen, an assessment mission to Yemen beginning on Monday. This will be a 10-day mission and a team of three from our office will be going," middle-east-online.com quotes Ravi... Read more »

The US has expressed deep concern over reports that Syrian troops’ moving to the border with Turkey, and warned of a possible escalation of conflict. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called the reported Syrian troops movements "very worrisome". She added it could increase the risk of a border conflict with Turkey and worsen the plight of refugees. Syrian tanks and snipers reportedly reached the village of Khirbet al-Jouz, forcing its residents to flee to ... Read more »

Omar al-Bashir, the Sudanese leader, has threatened to shut down oil flow carrying raw from South Sudan if there is no deal on oil before its independence on July 9. "I give the south three alternatives for the oil. The North is to continue getting its share, or the North gets fees for every barrel that the South sends to Port Sudan," Aljazeera.net quotes Bashir as saying in a televised speech. "If they don't accept either of these, we are going to block th... Read more »

General Security orders organisers Beirut International Film Festival to cancel screening of film which deals with protests against president Ahmadinejad’s 2009 re-election. "We received a call yesterday from General Security informing us they had withdrawn the licence allowing us to screen the film," Middle-east-online.com quotes Colette Naufal, organiser of the Beirut International Film Festival, as saying. "When we asked them why, we were told: 'This is ... Read more »

At least 22 people have been killed and dozens wounded in bombings in Diwaniya in central Iraq. The explosion occurred outside the provincial governor's house and may have been caused by two separate suicide car bombers. Diwaniya is about 130 km south of the capital, Baghdad. Violence in Iraq has fallen sharply from its peak in 2006, but information on bombings and shootings in Iraqi cities comes on a daily basis. Bbc.co.uk.

Turkey for the first time sends food across the border to refugees from Syria as the Syrian army tightens its grips on restive areas in the north of the country. Syrian troops have cut off the village of Bdama and closed its bakery, the only source of bread for thousands of people. According to Turkish authorities more than 10,500 people have crossed over to its territory but more are camping on the Syrian side. "Distribution of humanitarian aid has begun t... Read more »

Bahrain’s authorities will lift a ban on Bahrain’s second largest opposition group Waad ahead of a national dialogue to ease kingdom’s political crisis. The government shut down the party in April amid a crackdown by security forces on pro-democracy demonstrations. Waad rep Radhi al-Mousawi said the government would lift the ban on its headquarters in the capital city of Manama on Saturday and later on its office Muharraq. Mr. Mousawi said the party had sen... Read more »

Morocco's monarch Mohammed VI has announced a series of proposed changes to the kingdom's constitution, including amendments that would cut some his political powers. The changes will be put for a vote on July 1. "We have managed to develop a new democratic constitutional charter," the king said, adding that the constitution "enshrines a citizenship-based monarchy" Aljazeera.net quotes King Mohammed VI as saying. Proposed constitution ensures the prime mini... Read more »

NATO launched airstrikes again on Muammar Qaddafi’s Bab al-Azizia compound in Tripoli on Thursday amid the upcoming visit of the Africa envoy of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who is to mediate in the Libya conflict. Mikhail Margelov will meet the prime minister and foreign minister, but was not scheduled to meet Colonel Qaddafi. A series of thunderous booms hit the city causing a column of smoke could be seen rising from the vicinity of the Libyan lead... Read more »