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Just finished watching the HBO Max sci-fi mini-series Station Eleven (2021) and, what can I say. It’s like watching experimental theatre. Brilliant performances but nothing makes any sense! By Emad El-Din Aysha, PhD Don’t take my word for it. The star of the show and not coincidentally one of my …

American president Joe Biden is failing in his first year in office on nearly every single major issue as support for his presidency continues to drop. Friend and foe agree that he will go down in history as the worst president ever in U.S. history. Who is brave enough to …

A Lebanese man arrested for taking people hostage and threatening to blow up a bank up as he attempted to withdraw $50,000 of his own money began a hunger strike on Wednesday. Abdullah Al-Saii was armed with a gun, grenade and bottles of benzene when he entered a branch of …

An Arabic-language satirical Israeli song criticising normalization between Israel and the UAE has gone viral in the Middle East this week, causing a stir online. The song “Dubai, Dubai” was performed by Israeli comedian and activist Noam Shuster-Eliassi and appeared as part of a comedy sketch on the Arabic-language station …

Sudanese security forces shot dead an anti-coup protester on Wednesday as American diplomats visited Khartoum seeking to help end a crisis which has claimed dozens of lives and derailed the country’s democratic transition. For two days shops have shuttered and protesters have blockaded streets in a civil disobedience campaign to …

Russia maintained a tough posture amid the tensions over its troop buildup near Ukraine, with a top diplomat warning Wednesday that Moscow will accept nothing less but “watertight” U.S. guarantees precluding NATO’s expansion to Ukraine. Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, who led the Russian delegation at the security talks with …

The foreign ministries of France, Germany, Italy and Spain urged Israeli authorities on Wednesday evening to stop the construction of new housing units in East Jerusalem. Earlier in the month, Israeli authorities approved plans for the construction of around 3,500 homes in occupied East Jerusalem, nearly half of which are …

The EU Delegation and the EU Member States on Wednesday urged Lebanon to resume Cabinet sessions, prepare for elections, reach a deal with the International Monetary Fund and ensure justice in the port probe. In a joint statement, they called on the Government and other decision-making bodies to “restore, without …

The International Support Group for Lebanon (ISG) said Wednesday that it has taken note of steps to reconvene the Council of Ministers, urging the resumption of its meetings as soon as possible. “The ISG urges expeditious and effective government decisions to initiate the direly needed reforms as well as measures, …

A Tunisian man died in hospital on Wednesday from injuries inflicted by police, activists said, in what would be the first death from protests against President Kais Saied’s assumption of extra powers. Local radio station Mosaique FM said the public prosecutor was investigating the death after police deployed water cannons …

Israeli lawmakers on Tuesday called for a parliamentary inquiry into the police’s alleged use of sophisticated spyware on Israeli citizens, including protesters opposed to former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, following a newspaper report on the surveillance. Hebrew-language business newspaper Calcalist reported that in 2020, police used the NSO spyware Pegasus …

Russia is sending troops from the country’s far east to Belarus for major war games, officials said Tuesday, in a deployment further beefing up Russian military assets near Ukraine amid Western fears of an invasion. Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin said the drills are intended to practice a joint response …

Israel said Tuesday it has successfully tested a system designed to intercept ballistic missiles outside the earth’s atmosphere. The Arrow Weapon System is part of an array of missile defenses Israel has developed in recent years to protect itself in any future conflict with archenemy Iran or regional militant groups, …

Mount Lebanon Attorney General Judge Ghada Aoun on Tuesday issued a no disposal note for all real state properties and vehicles belonging to Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh. The decision is based on a lawsuit filed by the legal department of the People Want the Reform of the Regime activist …

Prime Minister Najib Miqati held talks Tuesday at the Baabda Palace with President Michel Aoun. “I agreed with President Aoun on the various matters and we’ll meet next week in a Cabinet session on the state budget and urgent living issues,” Miqati said after the meeting. It will be Cabinet’s …

Mexico has dropped all COVID-19 entry requirements as of January. Together with El Salvador, the Dominican Republic, and Costa Rica, there are now four countries in the world that dropped all covid-related entry restrictions. “These countries will see a boost in their visitors”, said Jeroen Vliex, Chief Commercial Officer of …

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on Tuesday designated three “Hizbullah-linked financial facilitators and their Lebanon-based travel company,” the Treasury said in a statement. Specifically, OFAC designated Adel Diab, Ali Mohamad Daoun, Jihad Salem Alame, and their company, Dar Al Salam for Travel & …

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said funding for Iran could lead to “terror on steroids” on Tuesday, in an apparent warning against world powers easing sanctions against Tehran as they seek a new nuclear deal. “The last thing you want to do … is pour tens of billions of dollars …

Lt. Gen. Turki bin Bandar bin Abdulaziz, the commander of the Royal Saudi Air Force, met with his Iraqi counterpart Gen. Shihab Jahid Ali during his visit to Riyadh. During the meeting, they discussed issues of interest to the two forces and ways to promote joint action, the Kingdom’s defense …

Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi group attacked the United Arab Emirates in what the group said was an operation using missiles and drones, setting off explosions in fuel trucks that killed three people and causing a fire near the airport of Abu Dhabi, capital of the region’s commercial and tourism hub. The strike on a leading Gulf Arab ally of …

“Media reports that the United States has brokered an energy deal between Israel and Lebanon are false,” the U.S. State Department tweeted. Israeli Channel 12 news had said that the U.S. had brokered an agreement for Israel to indirectly supply natural gas to Lebanon through Jordan and Syria. The report …

Muslims were made the “bogeyman” by some politicians in the US at the time of the 2016 election won by former President Donald Trump, a leading American Muslim has told Arab News. Huma Abedin, chief of staff of the defeated Democratic Party candidate Hillary Clinton, said she endured calls for …

DirecTV plans to drop One America News Network, significantly shrinking the reach of the right-wing TV channel friendly to Donald Trump and widely criticized for spreading misinformation including the former president’s false claim that he won the 2020 election. The satellite television provider said Saturday that it has informed OAN’s …

Dozens of Lebanese, including families of Beirut port explosion victims, rallied Monday outside the Justice Palace in support of Judge Tarek Bitar after he was forced to suspend his work as a lead investigator into the Beirut port blast. Protesters held portraits of their loved ones who died in the …

Thanks toThe Free Economy Publishing CompanyandDr. Hugo R. Fack But don’t expect to just Google this stuffand get the truth about the economic philosophy ofNetaji Subhas Chandra Bose. Netaji was NOT at all interested insocializingindustry and agriculture,but that is what the main stream mediaof his time,and still today,want you to believe. …

A suspected Houthi drone attack near Abu Dhabi airport killed at least three people and sparked multiple explosions in the United Arab Emirates’ capital on Monday.By The Levant News newsdeskAn Abu Dhabi police statement said three tanker trucks carrying fuel exploded in the emirate’s Mussafah area after catching fire, with …

In a Gaza TV studio of the ruling Islamist armed movement Hamas, a set features Israeli flags, Hebrew documents and a portrait of Theodor Herzl, the father of modern Zionism. The make-believe office of enemy state Israel’s security service is being used to shoot a “pro-resistance” television series on the …

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken held talks with his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian to discuss efforts to promote the democratic process in Libya, the State Department said on Sunday. Efforts to lead Libya into elections at the end of December were thrown into disarray when the country’s electoral …

Sudanese doctors protested Sunday against violent attacks by security forces targeting medical personnel during pro-democracy rallies following last year’s military coup. “During every protest they fire tear gas inside the hospital where I work,” one doctor, Houda Ahmad, said at the rally in Khartoum. “They even attack us inside the …

China said Friday it gained support on issues including the treatment of Uyghur Muslims from a number of Gulf states following talks between their foreign ministers at which they agreed to upgrade relations. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said the ministers and Gulf Cooperation Council Secretary-General Nayef Falah Al-Hajraf …

A project to expand parts of the Suez Canal is expected to be completed after two years of work in July 2023, the chairman of the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) said on Sunday. The SCA announced accelerated plans to extend a second channel of the canal and to enlarge an …

Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is negotiating a plea bargain to end his corruption trial, news agencies have reported. Netanyahu, who lost power in June after 12 consecutive years as prime minister and is now opposition leader, has pleaded not guilty to charges of bribery, breach of trust and …

President Vladimir Putin will host his Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi for talks in Moscow next week as Russia tries to help salvage a nuclear deal between world powers and Tehran, state television channel Rossiya-1 reported on Sunday. Rossiya-1 did not disclose when precisely the meeting between the two leaders would …

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi warned Sunday against disrupting the elections for “personal and suspicious” goals. He urged all Lebanese parties to prioritize Lebanon’s interest and to participate in the elections for change not for elimination. He stressed that the election is “a democratic occasion to hold accountable all those who …

Singapore’s leader said the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) should continue excluding Myanmar’s junta from its meeting until it cooperates on an agreed peace plans. Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in a video call on Friday urged the regional group’s new chair, Cambodia, to engage all sides in Myanmar’s …

Top bosses of Google and Facebook were directly involved in approving an allegedly illegal 2018 deal to cement their dominance of the online advertising market, US court documents revealed Friday. The records, part of an anti-trust lawsuit by a coalition of US states targeting Google, make serious allegations against Big …

Israeli Finance Minister Avigdor Lieberman said on Saturday that he had tested positive for COVID-19 and would self-isolate but continue working from home. “I feel good and will isolate in the next few days,” Lieberman said on Twitter. Foreign Minister Yair Lapid tested positive on Monday. Lieberman has faced some …

China reaffirmed its opposition to unilateral sanctions by the United States against Iran as the Chinese and Iranian foreign ministers announced the launch of a 25-year cooperation agreement aimed at strengthening economic and political ties. In a meeting on Friday in the city of Wuxi, in Jiangsu province, Chinese Foreign …

The U.N. Security Council has condemned the seizure of a United Arab Emirates ship and demanded that Yemen’s Houthi rebels immediately release the vessel and its crew. A press statement from the U.N.’s most powerful body called on all sides “to resolve the issue quickly and underlined the importance of …

Prime Minister Najib Miqati on Saturday swiftly welcomed the announcement by Hizbullah and the Amal Movement that they will resume their participation in Cabinet sessions. “This meets the repeated calls made by the premier for everyone’s participation in shouldering national responsibility, especially amid this critical situation that the country is …

Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard last week launched a solid-fuel satellite carrier rocket into space, the country’s official IRNA news agency reported. The report quoted Gen. Amirali Hajizadeh, chief of the Guard’s aerospace unit, as saying the test was successful. He said it marked the first time Iran used a solid-fuel …

The European Union is mobilizing “all its resources” to aid Ukraine after a cyberattack on the country’s government websites, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Friday. Borrell said the EU’s political and security committee would convene later on Friday for an urgent meeting on the attack, which he …

The cell phones of nearly three dozen journalists and activists in El Salvador, several of whom were investigating alleged state corruption, have been hacked since mid-2020 and implanted with sophisticated spyware typically available only to governments and law enforcement, a Canadian research institute said it has found. The alleged hacks, …

Thousands of Israeli nationalists have staged a protest outside the parliament building in Jerusalem, urging the government not to demolish a West Bank settlement outpost. The demonstration came a month after a Palestinian gunman fired on a car filled with seminary students at the Homesh outpost, near the West Bank …