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Qatar has released a bodybuilding champion and two other Bahrainis who had been detained during fishing trips, Bahrain’s Interior Ministry said on Thursday. Manama on Sunday demanded Qatari authorities release bodybuilder Sami Al Haddad, who was arrested along with a compatriot on Friday in the third such incident in recent …

President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday he hoped positive steps will be taken on Turkey’s role in the F-35 jet programme once U.S. President-elect Joe Biden takes office, describing Ankara’s exclusion for purchasing Russian defences as a “serious wrong”. Last month, Washington imposed long-anticipated sanctions on Turkey’s defence industry over …

The family of Libyan Abdel Basset al-Megrahi, the only person found guilty of the 1988 Lockerbie plane bombing which killed 270, have failed to overturn his conviction after losing a posthumous appeal in a Scottish court on Friday. Megrahi, a Libyan intelligence officer who died in 2012, was jailed for …

Five judges at Scotland’s highest court of criminal appeal are on Friday expected to rule on a posthumous challenge by the family of the only man convicted of the 1988 Lockerbie bombing. The family of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet Al-Megrahi, a former Libyan intelligence officer, have battled for years to bring …

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres plans to appoint veteran diplomat Jan Kubis as his envoy in Libya nearly a year after the last mediator stepped down, according to a letter to the U.N. Security Council seen by Reuters on Thursday. If there are no objections by any of the 15-member council …

Yemenis fear a U.S. decision to blacklist the Houthi movement could further isolate them from the global financial system, depriving the war-battered country of vital remittances and hampering the flow of imports. Yemen’s war and the ensuing economic collapse has left 80% of the population reliant on aid. On Thursday, …

The Levant News publishes voices from around the word from a wide variety of people with different political and social backgrounds. After stories from the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Italy and the United States today Alberto de Luca writes from Lebanon. A country suffering from an ongoing political and financial crisis …

Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud accused Iran of spreading havoc in the region, in a joint press conference in Moscow with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov. He further urged Iran to enhance the capabilities of the Iranian people instead of financing militias to destabilize the security …

Bahrain-born actress May Calamawy has reportedly joined the cast of Disney+’s series “Moon Knight,” according to The Hollywood Reporter. It is not known what role the “Ramy” star will have in the upcoming Marvel series. She will join American-Guatemalan actor Oscar Isaac who is expected to play one of the …

The Yemeni Interior Ministry said the missile which were used to attack Aden’s airport last month were ballistic, Al-Arabiya TV reported. They were launched from a site 100 kilometer away from the airport, in Houthi-controlled areas, the report added. The Ministry said “Iranian and Lebanese experts” are behind the missiles …

A leading figure in the UK’s Muslim community has been appointed to chair one of the country’s largest independent food banks, vowing to confront the poverty that has spiked in his community since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. British-Pakistani Londoner Muddassar Ahmed rose to prominence by heading one of …

I have friends in Haiti, where there’s plenty of cash US paper dollars, Netcom and Nations World.” The Beast, Who is now on the side of Angel NicGillicuddy is laughing. “ I created the system of HOARDABLE Money and interest. It is very naïve of my disciples to think they …

Twitter chief Jack Dorsey backed the messaging platform’s ban of US President Donald Trump, but said Wednesday it sets a “dangerous” precedent and represents a failure to promote healthy conversation on the social network. “Having to ban an account has real and significant ramifications,” Dorsey said in a string of …

The United States on Wednesday blacklisted two Iranian foundations controlled by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and their subsidies, saying the institutions enabled Iran’s elite to sustain a “corrupt” system of ownership over large parts of the economy. The designations announced by the U.S. Treasury Department target Execution of Imam …

A huge fire swept through the Rohingya refugee camps in southern Bangladesh in the early hours of Thursday, the United Nations said, destroying homes belonging to thousands of people. The U.N. Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said more than 550 shelters home to around 3,500 people were either totally or partially destroyed …

Israel is revising military options for a possible clash with Iran, an Israeli newspaper reported on Thursday, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government braces for differences with the incoming U.S. administration on Iranian nuclear policy. U.S. President Donald Trump delighted Netanyahu by quitting the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran and …

U.N. aid chief Mark Lowcock will on Thursday urge Washington to reverse a plan to designate Yemen’s Houthis a foreign terrorist organization, warning the move would push the country into a “famine on a scale that we have not seen for nearly 40 years.” In prepared remarks for a briefing …

Insurers are set to raise the cost of providing cover for merchant ships through the Red Sea after a series of incidents that have hit vessels around Saudi Arabian waters, industry sources said. The possibility of more attacks on commercial shipping carrying oil and commodities through these waterways is growing …

Iran has started work on uranium metal-based fuel for a research reactor, the U.N. nuclear watchdog and Tehran said on Wednesday, in the latest breach of its nuclear deal with six major powers as the country presses for a lifting of U.S. sanctions. Iran has been accelerating its breaches of …

Israel launched an air attack against Iranian-linked targets in Syria near the main border crossing to Iraq in the early hours of Wednesday, one of the biggest strikes yet in a campaign that has escalated in the Trump administration’s final weeks. Israel has been stepping up strikes against Iranian targets …

After riots at the U.S. Capitol by President Donald Trump’s supporters, the Republican Party is facing defections from two camps of voters it can’t afford to lose: those saying Trump and his allies went too far in contesting the election of Democrat Joe Biden – and those saying they didn’t …

Donald Trump on Wednesday became the first president in U.S. history to be impeached twice, as 10 of his fellow Republicans joined Democrats in the House of Representatives to charge him with inciting an insurrection in last week’s violent rampage in the Capitol. The vote in the Democratic-controlled House was …

WhY ThE MeSsAGe aBouT UniVeRsaL BaSic InComE iS AlloWeD to ProLiFeRatE on MaiNStrEaM MeDiA Thanggoulal Khongsai Manipur has made a good and powerful statement at The National Youth Parliament Festival 2021. Prime Minister Modi has even promoted him. I am The Beast, everyone knows me, and I am here to …

Interpol has issued red notices for the captain and owner of the ship that carried the chemicals which devastated Beirut in an explosion in August, killing 200 people, Lebanon’s state media said. Five months since one of the biggest non-nuclear blasts on record, big questions remain about the ammonium nitrate …

Syria said Israel bombed Iranian-backed militia bases near the Iraqi border in the early hours of Wednesday, in a raid which military defectors and Western intelligence sources said was one of Israel’s most extensive in recent months. Syrian news agency SANA and state media said Israel had struck sites in …

Oman’s Sultan Haitham will be succeeded by his eldest son Dhi Yazan, according to a new basic law published on Tuesday that creates a new position of crown prince and establishes succession from ruler to the eldest son. Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said had announced plans for the constitutional change …

Iran’s military launched a short-range naval missile drill on Wednesday, Iranian state TV reported, at a time of high tension between arch foes Tehran and Washington. Iran has one of the biggest missile programmes in the Middle East, regarding such weapons as an important deterrent and retaliatory force against U.S. …

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Tuesday without providing hard evidence that al Qaeda had established a new home base in Iran and that it was time “for America and all free nations to crush the Iran-al-Qaeda axis.” The comments, rejected by Iran as “warmongering lies,” in some …

Kuwaiti ministers handed in their resignations to the prime minister on Tuesday, the government communications office (CGC) said, days after lawmakers submitted a motion asking to question the premier over issues including the makeup of the cabinet. Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah al-Khalid al-Sabah must submit the resignations to the OPEC …

France on Tuesday condemned Israel’s plan to advance construction of 800 more Jewish settler homes in the occupied West Bank in a move to cement the projects shortly before pro-settlement U.S. President Donald Trump leaves office. In a statement, the French Foreign Ministry urged Israeli authorities to drop the plan. …

Iran demands the removal of the so-called snapback mechanism in its nuclear accord, which could revive all U.N. sanctions against Tehran, in the event of new talks with world powers, a senior aide to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said. Under the 2015 deal, Iran agreed to curb its nuclear …

Egypt reopened its airspace to Qatari flights on Tuesday and will allow the resumption of air traffic between the two countries as part of a thaw in relations with the Gulf state, officials said. The decision follows moves by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt to end …

A criminal court in Geneva on Monday began hearing charges of corruption and document forgery against the French-Israeli businessman Beny Steinmetz over the securing of lucrative mining deals in the West African country of Guinea, the latest chapter in a yearslong international investigation. Swiss prosecutors have accused Mr. Steinmetz, a …

All of the CIA’s publicly available documentation on Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) has been made available to the public, on the back of COVID-19 omnibus bill, online magazine dedicated to tech, science and humans, VICE Motherboard reported on Tuesday. By Tala Issa The US government is expected to publish its …

President Donald Trump told reporters outside the White House on Tuesday that the fresh Democrat push for a second impeachment is part of a long-running campaign against him that is fueling anger among his supporters. “On the impeachment, it’s really a continuation of the greatest witch hunt in the history …

Authoritarian tendencies in Central Asia continue to grow. The region lacks democratic traditions and its clan-based societies overwhelmingly prefer some form of despotism rather than Western liberal democracy. By Nikola Mikovic Voters in Kyrgyzstan recently decided to abandon parliamentary democracy. The former Soviet republic is returning to the presidential political …

Israeli Prime Benjamin Netanyahu dropped U.S. President Donald Trump from the banner photo of his Twitter account on Tuesday in an apparent break with a political ally facing possible impeachment. A photo of Netanyahu sitting next to Trump at a White House meeting had long taken pride of place on …

Daesh terrorists killed at least eight regime loyalists in eastern Syria on Monday, the latest in a series of deadly extremist attacks, a Britain-based war monitor reported. Five Syrian soldiers and three pro-regime militia fighters were among those killed in the Daesh attack on one of their positions in a …

The U.S. military has not halted a U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, the Department of Defense told Reuters on Monday, despite a new law prohibiting further reductions without the Pentagon sending Congress an assessment of the risks. “Currently, no new orders have been issued which impact the progression of the …

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo plans to use newly declassified U.S. intelligence on Tuesday to publicly accuse Iran of ties to al Qaeda, two people familiar with the matter said, as part of his last-minute offensive against Tehran before handing over to the incoming Biden administration. With just eight …

Uganda banned social media on Tuesday, two days ahead of a presidential election pitting Yoweri Museveni, one of Africa’s longest-serving leaders, against opposition frontrunner Bobi Wine, a popular singer. In a letter seen by Reuters to internet service providers dated Jan. 12, Uganda’s communications regulator ordered them to block all …

Saudi Arabia has put on hold financing plans potentially worth billions of dollars for the expansion of Riyadh’s airport, sources said, a sign that the kingdom is re-assessing strategic priorities after the coronavirus crisis. Riyadh Airports Company, which manages and operates King Khalid International Airport in the Saudi capital, approached …

Nearly a third of Somalia’s parliamentary seats will be reserved for female lawmakers in an election next month, the prime minister said, a measure long demanded by women’s rights campaigners in the Horn of Africa nation. While welcoming Saturday’s announcement by Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble, some women’s groups cautioned …

Scholars of Islam and the Middle East the world over have long craved a glimpse of the rich collections of artifacts and manuscripts held in Saudi Arabia’s libraries and museums. So, when Saudi authorities launched its e-visa system in September 2019, academics leaped at the opportunity to visit the country. …