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A preponderance of evidence proves the virus that caused the COVID-19 pandemic leaked from a Chinese research facility, said a report by U.S. Republicans released on Monday, a conclusion that U.S. intelligence agencies have not reached. The report also cited “ample evidence” that Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) scientists – …

The death toll from wildfires on Turkey’s southern coast rose to eight on Sunday as firefighters battled for a fifth day to contain blazes still raging in coastal resort towns. Two more people died on Sunday due to wildfires in the southern town of Manavgat, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said, …

Kuwait Ports Authority (KPA) has approved a proposal to build the Middle East’s first city to serve electric vehicle manufacturers, the authority said in a statement on Sunday. The statement does not make clear where the project, called EV City, will be located. The design and construction tendering process will …

Syrian President Bashar al Assad has tasked Prime Minister Hussein Arnous with forming a new government following an election in May that extended Assad’s two-decade-old presidency. Assad originally named Arnous as prime minister last August to replace Imad Khamis, who was fired as Syria grappled with a major economic crisis …

Journal Entry July 29, 2021“Great Rest in Great Hope.” Silvio Gesell It is a beautiful summer day.There is a light breeze in the air.The Air Magic *is stirring up some movementand giving more lifeto this important Missionto declare demurrage on the US dollar.* Conversation Today I hand-delivered,(it is the surest …

Ismail Haniyeh has been elected to a second term as head of Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist group that controls the Gaza Strip, two Palestinian officials told Reuters on Sunday. “Brother Ismail Haniyeh was re-elected as the head of the movement’s political office for a second time,” one official told Reuters. …

US national security adviser Jake Sullivan urged Tunisia’s president on Saturday to outline a swift return to the “democratic path” following his seizure of governing powers last Sunday, the White House said. Tunisian President Kais Saied invoked a national emergency over the coronavirus pandemic and poor governance to dismiss the …

The U.S. Navy is assisting an Israeli-managed petroleum products tanker attacked off Oman with two crew members killed, the U.S. military said on Saturday, adding the ship was most likely hit by a drone strike. Mercer Street, a Liberian-flagged, Japanese-owned vessel that was attacked on Thursday, is being escorted by …

Yehia Zaki, head of the General Authority for the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone), announced on Thursday the success of talks with Russia to expand Moscow’s industrial zone within the SCZone. An agreement was signed by Zaki and Russian Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of Vasiliy Osmakov in Moscow …

A Lebanese child, Zahra Tleis, died on Friday, after being stung by a scorpion, and her family being unable to find an antidote to treat her, due to medicine shortages in the country. Some vital medicines can only now be found on the black market, but are sold at exorbitant …

 Lebanese crypto miners are in trouble. Lebanon has plunged into near total darkness because of its recent electricity shortage crisis, leaving mining machines suspended mid-way in their operations and their owners writhing over their financial losses. In the last two years, a growing number of Lebanese youths have turned to …

The UAE plans to build a series of waste incinerators that will eventually burn up to two thirds of the country’s trash to deal with a growing refuse problem. Dubai is constructing a $1.1 billion waste-to-energy facility, one of the largest in the world, while a smaller plant in being …

A Tunisian judge who has been accused by human rights groups of hiding terrorism-related files has been placed under house arrest for 40 days, local radio and a security source said on Saturday. The move against Judge Bechir Akremi came after President Kais Saied pledged to lead a campaign against …

Saudi Arabia is aiming to use Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) technology to fundamentally transform the energy sector, enhance the security of its water and food resources, and fight climate change, senior ministers announced. “Our vision is to transform the energy sector through the application of data and technology,” Saudi Energy …

 Israel on Friday accused Iran of having carried out an attack off Oman on a tanker managed by an Israeli-owned company and said a harsh response was needed. In a statement, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said he had told Britain’s foreign secretary of the need for a tough response to …

The amount of ammonium nitrate that blew up at Beirut port last year was one fifth of the shipment unloaded there in 2013, the FBI concluded after the blast, adding to suspicions that much of the cargo had gone missing. As the first anniversary approaches on Aug. 4, major questions …

The U.S. State Department said on Friday it has approved the potential sale of 18 CH-53K heavy lift helicopters to Israel in a deal valued at up to $3.4 billion. The package would include engines, navigation systems, weaponry, support equipment, spares and technical support. Lockheed Martin Corp and General Electric …

For years, Palestinian farmers have exported herbs to Europe where they have been turned into high-end cosmetics and beauty products. Now a team of Gaza women have brought the process home, extracting the essential oils themselves and creating products such as shampoo and moisturiser which are sold in 50 stores, …

Uzbekistan receives 3 million doses of Moderna vaccine Uzbekistan has received 3 million 60 doses of the Moderna vaccine. The vaccine was delivered to Tashkent on the morning of July 30 from the US state of Alabama as part of the COVAX program. Moderna is one of the three vaccines …

The U.S. Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention (CDC) has described the Delta variant of the coronavirus as being as transmissible as chickenpox and cautioned it may trigger extreme illness, the Washington Publish stated, citing an inside CDC doc. The variant was additionally extra prone to break by protections afforded by the vaccines, however the well …

Lebanon’s influential parliament speaker Nabih Berri said on Thursday the legislature was ready to lift the immunity of its members in order allow for questioning over last year’s port blast in the capital Beirut. The massive explosion last August killed over 200 people, injured thousands and destroyed large parts of …

Twenty-one members of a Yemen-based team of Saudi and foreign mine clearance experts have lost their lives over three years operating in what has become known as the world’s largest minefield. The tragic death toll was revealed in figures showing the scale of the project being carried out in the …

Qatar’s emir approved laws on Thursday for the Gulf Arab state’s first legislative election in October, when Qataris will elect two-thirds of the advisory Shura Council, his office said. The election, plans for which were first approved in a 2003 constitutional referendum, is being held before the capital Doha hosting …

Ibrahim Hoteit lost his younger brother, Tharwat, in the huge explosion that ripped through the port of Beirut last August. He went around hospitals collecting body parts, starting with Tharwat’s scalp, and buried his remains in a small coffin. Nearly a year later, Hoteit, a spokesperson for families of more …

Syrian rebels waged a spate of mortar attacks on Syrian army checkpoints in the southern province of Deraa in the biggest flare-up of violence since government forces retook the restive region three years ago, rebels, residents and the army said on Thursday. The widespread attacks at army outposts near the …

The Venice International Film Festival unveiled a starry lineup of world premieres for September, including three films from the Arab world. “Amira” by Mohamed Diab is set to play in the Horizons section and is a coming-of-age drama shot in Jordan, but set in Palestine. “Costa Brava” is Lebanese director …

Greece, Cyprus and regional ally Jordan on Wednesday called for a “comprehensive and viable settlement of the Cyprus problem” after Turkey said it would reopen a former resort in the disputed north of the island. Leaders of the three countries, speaking at a summit in Athens, were responding to Turkish …

Austria has rejected a formal request by Turkey to join a powerful EU security and defense cooperation program. Ankara’s May bid to be included in the bloc’s Permanent Structured Cooperation Framework (PESCO) was given the cold shoulder by Vienna over its concerns about Turkish backsliding on democratic values and ties …

The Security Council faced criticism from both the Israeli and Palestinian envoys to the UN on Wednesday.Israel’s ambassador to the US and the UN, Gilad Erdan, slammed council members for spending time discussing the situation in East Jerusalem. Instead, he said, Iran and the crises it is provoking in the …

Two rockets were fired early Thursday against Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone which houses the US embassy, without causing any casualties or damage, an Iraqi security source told AFP. The dawn attack came as Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhemi was flying home from Washington after White House talks in which President Joe …

Iran’s supreme leader on Wednesday declared Tehran would not accept Washington’s “stubborn” demands in talks to revive a 2015 nuclear deal and said the United States had failed to guarantee that it would never abandon the pact again. “The Americans acted completely cowardly and maliciously,” state TV quoted Ayatollah Ali …

The US Treasury Department on Wednesday announced a new list of sanctions targeting individuals and organizations linked to human rights abuses and the killing of civilians during the civil war in Syria. They include Syrian nationals, parts of the country’s military intelligence services, and two armed rebel groups. US government …

Raging wildfires have burned large swathes of Lebanon’s pine forests in the mountainous north of the country, killing at least one firefighter and forcing some residents to flee, the National News Agency said on Wednesday. The country’s fire brigade and army are trying to control the fires fueled by strong …

Qatar Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani appealed to all parties in the current political crisis in Tunisia to adopt a path of dialogue in a phone call with Tunisian President Kais Saied on Wednesday, the emir’s office said. The emir also stressed “the importance of fixing foundations of the …

Facebook has restored the account of a Palestinian user the social networking company had temporarily blocked over the posting of a letter written by a jailed activist. Omar Nazzal had shared online a poignant letter penned by Palestinian politician Khalida Jarrar after she was barred by Israel from attending her …

Several powerful pro-Iran groups in Iraq on Tuesday welcomed an announcement by Washington that US combat operations in the country will end this year, an outcome they have long demanded. US President Joe Biden declared on Monday that “we’re not going to be, at the end of the year, in …

Turkish authorities are seeking up to 15 years in prison for the licence holder of ByLock, an encrypted messaging app Ankara says was used by the group it blames for an attempted military coup in 2016, state-owned Anadolu news agency said on Wednesday. Ankara has cracked down on the network …

A counterterrorism organization formed by some of the biggest US tech companies including Facebook and Microsoft is significantly expanding the types of extremist content shared between firms in a key database, aiming to crack down on material from white supremacists and far-right militias, the group told Reuters. Until now, the …

Fitch Ratings, the leading global credit rating agency, has revised its Saudi Aramco outlook to stable from negative while affirming the company’s long-term issuer default rating (IDR) at ‘A.’ The revision of the outlook on Saudi Aramco’s IDR is driven by a similar action on the sovereign, the rating agency said in …

A former Iranian prosecutor was charged on Tuesday with war crimes and murder over the execution of more than 100 political prisoners in Iran in 1988. Hamid Noury, 60, has been under arrest in Sweden since 2019, when he was detained at Stockholm airport as he arrived to visit relatives. …

Iraq’s Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi said on Monday he wants another American company to replace Exxon Mobil Corp when it exits Iraq. Exxon, which in 2019 had looked poised to move ahead with a $53 billion project to boost Iraq’s oil output, has been seeking to sell its 32.7% stake in one …

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is set on Tuesday to recommend fully vaccinated Americans wear masks indoors in at least some instances, as the more highly transmissible Delta variant of the coronavirus has led to a surge in infections, sources said. That would mark a reversal …

Leaked documents have revealed Iran’s secret research into how the Republic’s cyber capacity could be used to sink cargo ships, blow up a petrol station or other forms of cyber assault, according to a report by Sky News. The leaked documents — a set of internal files — also include information …

The US will end its combat mission in Iraq by the end of the year but counterterrorism cooperation with Baghdad will continue, President Joe Biden said on Monday. In White House talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi, Biden said the US role in Iraq would shift to advising and …