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Turkey Shuts Down Muslim Brotherhood TV Channel

A Turkish flag with the Bosphorus Bridge in the background, flies on a passenger ferry in Istanbul, Turkey September 30, 2020. (Reuters)
A Turkish flag with the Bosphorus Bridge in the background, flies on a passenger ferry in Istanbul, Turkey September 30, 2020. (Reuters)
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Turkey Shuts Down Muslim Brotherhood TV Channel

A Turkish flag with the Bosphorus Bridge in the background, flies on a passenger ferry in Istanbul, Turkey September 30, 2020. (Reuters)
A Turkish flag with the Bosphorus Bridge in the background, flies on a passenger ferry in Istanbul, Turkey September 30, 2020. (Reuters)

Muslim Brotherhood media platforms that broadcast from Turkey are facing obstacles after the website of the el-Sharq channel was shut down.

Observers said the site was closed while no explanations were provided. However, experts in fundamentalist movements in Egypt suggested that the reason for the closure is criticisms directed at Cairo, despite Ankara's warnings, amid efforts to normalize relations between the two countries.

Ayman Nour, the channel owner, announced that the channel's website had been suddenly closed, accusing "unidentified people and piracy companies" of closing the site and hacking his phone.

According to an expert on fundamentalist affairs in Egypt, Khaled al-Zafarani, Turkey is taking accelerated steps towards rapprochement with Egypt, suggesting that the Turkish authorities closed the site.

Several measures have been taken regarding channels and journalists loyal to the Brotherhood who were previously warned not to attack Egypt, said Zafarani.

Last June, media professionals in pro-Brotherhood channels operating from Ankara announced that Turkish officials asked the media to "completely stop" their broadcast via satellite or social media platforms.

Zafarani told Asharq Al-Awsat that Turkey has taken previous steps against channels supporting the organization and will take other steps in the future.

He noted that elements loyal to the organization are worried about their presence in Turkey, especially with the rapprochement with Egypt.

Expert on fundamentalist affairs in Egypt, Ahmad Ban told Asharq Al-Awsat that disagreements between London and Istanbul leaders would increase division.

Some elements in Turkey are still insulting Cairo through their channels, websites, and social media pages, despite warnings from Ankara.

Last April, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry avoided questions about Egypt's request to shut down pro-Brotherhood channels.

Shoukry said that Turkey's suspension of those channels is a "positive development."

He said this shows Ankara's interest in moving to a phase of political openness, which he hopes will lead to further positive action.

Egypt and Turkey held their first rounds of exploratory talks in Cairo last May, which representatives of the two countries described as "frank and in-depth." The second was in Ankara last September.

The two parties agreed to continue consultations and affirmed their desire to progress.

Last October, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that the dialogue between Ankara and Cairo has been ongoing since efforts kicked off to mend ties.

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World

Kremlin Says Putin Remains Open to Ukraine Talks but is Carving out a Bigger Buffer Zone

People walk on the Red Square outside the Kremlin on a summer day in downtown Moscow, Russia, 26 June 2026. EPA/MAXIM SHIPENKOV
People walk on the Red Square outside the Kremlin on a summer day in downtown Moscow, Russia, 26 June 2026. EPA/MAXIM SHIPENKOV
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Kremlin Says Putin Remains Open to Ukraine Talks but is Carving out a Bigger Buffer Zone

People walk on the Red Square outside the Kremlin on a summer day in downtown Moscow, Russia, 26 June 2026. EPA/MAXIM SHIPENKOV
People walk on the Red Square outside the Kremlin on a summer day in downtown Moscow, Russia, 26 June 2026. EPA/MAXIM SHIPENKOV

The Kremlin said on Friday that President Vladimir Putin remained open to achieving Russia's objectives through diplomacy, but that Moscow was carving out a wider buffer ‌zone in ‌Ukraine in ‌response ⁠to Kyiv's escalatory actions.

Kremlin ⁠spokesman Dmitry Peskov was responding to a question about a Reuters article a day ⁠earlier in which ‌three ‌sources close to the Kremlin ‌told Reuters that ‌Ukraine's recent drone strikes on Russia's oil refineries and ports were strengthening Putin's ‌resolve to keep fighting for now.

Peskov ⁠said ⁠Russia believed that Kyiv had no desire for talks at the moments and that Moscow was therefore continuing its military campaign in Ukraine.

World

WHO Official: Congo Ebola Outbreak Still Spreading Largely Undetected

FILE PHOTO: Congolese health workers receive a patient at the Rwampara General Hospital as authorities intensify efforts to contain a new Ebola outbreak involving the Bundibugyo strain outbreak in Rwampara outside Bunia, Ituri province, Democratic Republic of Congo, May 21, 2026. REUTERS/Stringer//File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Congolese health workers receive a patient at the Rwampara General Hospital as authorities intensify efforts to contain a new Ebola outbreak involving the Bundibugyo strain outbreak in Rwampara outside Bunia, Ituri province, Democratic Republic of Congo, May 21, 2026. REUTERS/Stringer//File Photo
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WHO Official: Congo Ebola Outbreak Still Spreading Largely Undetected

FILE PHOTO: Congolese health workers receive a patient at the Rwampara General Hospital as authorities intensify efforts to contain a new Ebola outbreak involving the Bundibugyo strain outbreak in Rwampara outside Bunia, Ituri province, Democratic Republic of Congo, May 21, 2026. REUTERS/Stringer//File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Congolese health workers receive a patient at the Rwampara General Hospital as authorities intensify efforts to contain a new Ebola outbreak involving the Bundibugyo strain outbreak in Rwampara outside Bunia, Ituri province, Democratic Republic of Congo, May 21, 2026. REUTERS/Stringer//File Photo

Four out of every five new Ebola cases in parts of Democratic Republic of Congo have no known link to existing patients, a senior World Health Organization official said, warning that the true scale of the outbreak could be two to four times larger than official data suggest.

The figures underscore the challenges facing health workers as they battle to contain the outbreak in the country's northeast, which has so far infected 1,792 people and killed 625, according to government data released on Thursday.

"Eighty percent of the... new patients confirmed are coming outside of known contact lists” in ⁠the heart of ⁠the outbreak in Bunia, Ituri province, WHO Emergencies Director Chikwe Ihekweazu told Reuters in an interview late on Thursday.

In areas with fewer cases, like North Kivu province, almost all new cases are coming from the contact lists, he added, a sign of some progress.

WHO estimates based on modelling and test positivity rates suggest the outbreak, which was declared in mid-May, may be between ⁠two and four times larger than the number of confirmed cases, he said.

About 90% of all reported cases remain concentrated in Ituri province, particularly in the health zones of Bunia, Rwampara, Mongbwalu and Nyakunde, where transmission remains intense. But the virus has also spread beyond the epicenter to North Kivu province, South Kivu province and, more recently, Tshopo province.

In Bunia, Ituri's capital and a city of one million, roughly one in two patients tested for Ebola turns out to be positive, a sign of intense, ongoing community transmission, Ihekweazu said.

Preliminary evidence suggests the Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus may cause milder symptoms than other types, reducing ⁠risk perceptions among affected ⁠communities and leading some families to care for sick relatives at home before seeking treatment.

While that appears to improve survival rates among patients who reach treatment centers, it also means infected people may remain in the community longer and continue transmitting the virus.

"Patients are out there much longer than we would like," Ihekweazu said. "The longer patients are outside of care, the more likely they are to transmit this illness."

Community deaths also remain a major concern. An analysis of the first 400 Ebola deaths in the outbreak found that roughly 70% occurred outside treatment centers, he said.

Strengthening surveillance remains the biggest challenge for the response, he said.

Authorities this week began training 21,000 community health workers to conduct house-to-house visits, identify suspected cases and encourage people with symptoms to seek care.

World

At Least 1 Million Women Have Lost Access to Aid after Funding Cuts, UN Says

FILE -Women and children fetch water at dusk in the Korsi Refugee Camp in Birao, the Central African Republic, March 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Caitlin Kelly, File)
FILE -Women and children fetch water at dusk in the Korsi Refugee Camp in Birao, the Central African Republic, March 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Caitlin Kelly, File)
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At Least 1 Million Women Have Lost Access to Aid after Funding Cuts, UN Says

FILE -Women and children fetch water at dusk in the Korsi Refugee Camp in Birao, the Central African Republic, March 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Caitlin Kelly, File)
FILE -Women and children fetch water at dusk in the Korsi Refugee Camp in Birao, the Central African Republic, March 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Caitlin Kelly, File)

At least 1 million women have lost access to humanitarian and other critical support as a result of budget cuts over the last 18 months, the UN agency focusing on women said Friday.

UN Women says 84% of women's organizations surveyed had reported increased needs since January 2025, when the Trump administration in the United States — the biggest UN donor — took office and began cutbacks in foreign aid.

"Every dollar withdrawn from women’s organizations is a dollar withdrawn from survivors of conflict-related sexual violence, displaced mothers, girls forced from school and communities struggling to survive,” said Sofia Calltorp, UN Women’s chief of humanitarian action.

Nearly 90% of the women's groups surveyed said they can't meet current levels of need anymore, and one in five said they expect to shut down temporarily or permanently within the next year.

“UN Women has spoken to 855 women’s organizations working in 52 countries, who have told us that these women and girls have been turned away due to funding cuts that are dismantling their organizations," Calltorp told reporters in Geneva.

"We know that this number, at least 1 million women and girls, is just the tip of the iceberg,” she added.

Conflict-related sexual violence had doubled last year, UN Women said. It noted a recent report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a group of 38 mostly developed countries, that found that development assistance fell by nearly a quarter last year to $174 billion — the largest yearly contraction on record.

“Without immediate action, the organizations that have kept women and girls alive through the world’s worst crises risk becoming another casualty of war,” Calltorp said.

Many UN organizations have cut thousands of jobs and reduced aid programs around the world over the last 18 months in the wake of funding cuts by the United States and other top donors.

The world body, as part of a reform process known as UN80, has been considering the prospect of merging UN Women with UNFPA, the sexual and reproductive health agency.