The majority of displaced Syrians want to go home but unless conditions improve, few will risk returning to their war-torn country, a grassroots civil rights organisation says. In a report released on July 21, the Syrian Association for Citizens’ Dignity said the longer Syrians felt unable to return, the more …
Read More »King Salman reported to be in good condition
Saudi Arabiaâs King Salman is in stable condition, three Saudi sources said, after the 84-year-old monarch was admitted to hospital in the capital Riyadh on Monday with what state media said was inflammation of the gall bladder. The king, who has ruled the worldâs largest oil exporter and close U.S. …
Read More »Labour abuse facing migrant workers in Israel
Thai agricultural workers in Israel will be at greater risk of labour abuses under a new partnership between the governments, advocates said, voicing concerns that the United Nations migration agency (IOM) would no longer oversee the process. Thailandâs Department of Employment (DOE) this week signed a deal with the Israeli …
Read More »Omar Bashir facing trial for illegal 1989 coup
Sudan started on Tuesday a new trial against ousted President Omar al-Bashir and some of his former allies on charges of leading a military coup that brought the autocrat to power in 1989. State TV broadcast the judge opening the trial without showing footage of Bashir, who has been jailed …
Read More »Syria thwarts Israeli airstrike on Damascus
Syrian air defenses on Monday intercepted a new Israeli âaggressionâ above the capital Damascus, state media said, in the latest wave of attacks that Western intelligence sources have said were Israeli strikes on a major Iranian-backed ammunition depot on the edge of the capital. State television said Israeli missiles had …
Read More »Qatar, Turkey, Trump all taking positions as Egypt prepares for Libya intervention
Qatarâs state minister for defense affairs met on Monday with the Turkish defense minister and Libyaâs minister of interior to discuss the latest developments in Libya, Qatarâs ministry of defense said on Twitter. Egyptian lawmakers approved on Monday the deployment of armed forces in combat missions abroad giving President Sisi …
Read More »Egypt parliament to decide on military intervention in Libya
Egyptâs parliament is to vote Monday to authorize the president to deploy troops to neighboring Libya if Turkey-backed forces there, allied with the UN-supported government in Tripoli, move to retake the strategic coastal city of Sirte. An Egyptian intervention would further destabilize oil-rich Libya, and put two US allies â …
Read More »Syria car bomb alleviated with Turkish crossborder help
A car bomb attack in northwestern Syriaâs Azaz region killed five people and wounded 85 others, a local hospital in Syria and Turkish state media said on Sunday. The incident took place in the village of Siccu, across the border from Turkeyâs southern province of Kilis, Turkeyâs Anadolu agency said. …
Read More »UAE launches long postponed Mars probe
The United Arab Emirates launched its first mission to Mars on Monday as it strives to develop its scientific and technological capabilities and reduce its reliance on oil. The Hope Probe blasted off from Japanâs Tanegashima Space Center at 1:58 a.m. UAE time/6:58 a.m. Japanese time Monday (2158 GMT Sunday) …
Read More »Saudi King rushed to hospital
Saudi Arabiaâs 84-year-old ruler, King Salman bin Abdulaziz, has been admitted to hospital in the capital Riyadh, suffering from inflammation of the gall bladder, state news agency SPA said on Monday. The king, who has ruled the worldâs largest oil exporter and close U.S. ally since 2015, was undergoing medical …
Read More »Syria defies war, corona for parliamentary elections
Syria held a parliamentary election on Sunday, gripped by a collapsing economy and new U.S. sanctions after President Bashar al-Assad clawed back control of most of the country. People voted across government territory at more than 7,000 polling stations, including for the first time in former rebel bastions that the …
Read More »Netanyahu corruption trial resumes
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahuâs graft trial resumed on Sunday after a two-month break amid mounting protests over his alleged corruption and handling of the coronavirus crisis. Netanyahu, the first serving Israeli prime minister to go on trial, did not attend what a spokesman for the prosecution said would be …
Read More »Latest explosion at Iran power plant
An explosion occurred at a power plant in Iranâs central Isfahan province on Sunday but there were no casualties, the official IRNA news agency reported. The blast was caused by the wear and tear of a transformer at the power plant in Islamabad, the managing director of the Isfahan power …
Read More »European leaders threaten sanctions violators over Libya
The leaders of France, Germany and Italy on Saturday threatened for the first time to use sanctions against countries that continued to violate a United Nations arms embargo on Libya. French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte urged âall foreign actors to end …
Read More »91-year old Kuwaiti amir rushed to hospital
Kuwaitâs 91-year-old ruler Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah was admitted to hospital on Saturday for medical checks, and the countryâs crown prince will temporarily carry out some of his duties, the state news agency KUNA reported. It said Sheikh Sabah, who has ruled the OPEC oil producer and U.S. ally …
Read More »Possible bankruptcy for the human slave trafficking business
After responding to a comment by MVM * with regard to declaring demurrage on The US dollar, a message was sent directly to M.V.M. Inc. in request to begin a partnership targeting the revelation and return to legitimate circulation of all the cash money paper US dollars used for paying …
Read More »Lessons from the Flophouse: Late night cinema and picking on the wrong species of helpless white male – Part I
By Emad El-Din Aysha, PhD âWith most people, not describable as artists, all the finer part of their vitality goes into sex. They become third-rate poets during their courtship. All their instincts of drama come out freshly with their wives. The artist is he in whom this emotionality …
Read More »Pentagon claims Turkey has over 3000 fighters in Libya
Turkey sent between 3,500 and 3,800 paid Syrian fighters to Libya over the first three months of the year, the US Defense Department’s inspector general concluded in a new report, its first to detail Turkish deployments in Libya’s war. The quarterly report on counterterrorism operations in Africa by the Pentagon’s …
Read More »Study on Saudi cybersecurity rings warning bell
Only 8 percent of organizations in Saudi Arabia are considered âleadersâ in âcyber resilienceâ compared with 17 percent globally, according to a new study that identifies how well organizations are prepared to defend themselves against cyberattacks. The study, carried out by the multinational professional services company Accenture, said that companies …
Read More »Iraqi PM headed to Saudi and Iran
Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi will travel to Saudi Arabia and Iran back-to-back next week, carefully balancing ties to regional rivals in his first foreign trip as premier, officials said Saturday. On Sunday, Al-Kadhimi will host Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in Baghdad, before traveling with Iraqâs ministers of oil, electricity, …
Read More »G20 headed to Saudi for post-coronavirus talks
G20 finance ministers and central bankers are set to hold talks Saturday aimed at spurring global economic recovery from a coronavirus-triggered recession amid growing calls to widen debt relief for crisis-hit poor countries. The virtual talks, hosted by Saudi Arabia, come as the surging pandemic continues to batter the global …
Read More »France condemns weak US embargo over Libya
Franceâs foreign ministry on Friday rebuffed U.S. assertions that a European Union naval mission to enforce a U.N. weapons embargo for Libya was biased and not serious, saying Washington should itself be doing more to stop the flow of weapons. David Schenker, assistant secretary for Near East Affairs at the …
Read More »AUB medical centre lays off hundreds as coronacrisis bites
Zawqan Abdelkhalek, a nurse at the American University of Beirutâs (AUB) medical centre since 2012, was laid off on Friday along with hundreds of colleagues as even hospitals buckle under the weight of Lebanonâs economic collapse. âI have a baby daughter, I need to get her food and water and …
Read More »Erdogan warns Egypt not to interfere in Libya
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan denounced Egypt and the United Arab Emirates on Friday for supporting forces based in eastern Libya, after Egyptâs President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi met Libyan tribesmen who called for Cairo to intervene in the civil war. Turkey has been providing military aid to the Tripoli-based government in …
Read More »New launch date for UAE’s Hope probe set for July 20
A new launch date for the UAEâs mission to Mars has been set for July 20, officials have announced. Lift-off from Japanâs Tanegashima Island, 1,000 kilometres to the south west of Tokyo, will take place at 1.58am UAE time. The launch of the Hope probe has already been delayed twice …
Read More »Ethiopian maids spurned in post-crisis Lebanon
Ethiopian mother Alemtsehay Nasir went to Lebanon dreaming that her maidâs job would let her earn money to make a better life for her young son. But she was fired when the COVID-19 pandemic hit and her employers dumped her on the streets. The 32-year-old was left on the curb …
Read More »Sudan compromises on gay rights under financial pressure
Sudanâs decision to lift the death penalty and flogging as punishment for gay sex was hailed by LGBT+ activists on Thursday as a promising sign after almost four decades of Islamist rule, with calls for prison sentences to be abolished as well. Others criticised the relaxation of the law in …
Read More »Sisi making warnings about security of Libyan border zone
Egypt will not stand idle in the face of any direct threat to Egyptian and Libyan security, President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi said on Thursday, after lawmakers allied to commander Khalifa Haftar urged Cairo to intervene militarily in Libyaâs civil war. Tribal leaders who flew in from Haftarâs Benghazi stronghold told Sisi …
Read More »Tunis jobless protesters target oil pumps
Tunisian demonstrators shut an oil pumping station that feeds a coastal terminal on Thursday, escalating weeks of protests for jobs in the marginalized southern region of Tatouine, witnesses told Reuters. The move places further pressure on Tunisian leaders already struggling with political deadlock following the resignation on Wednesday of prime …
Read More »Has the whole world gone crazy?
It seems like the whole world is going crazy: the most recent trend in the United States is buying guns and ammo in mass quantities. This unprecedented surge in gun buying seems to be related to the COVID-19 pandemic, but itâs not the first time something like this has happened. …
Read More »The show stopper
President Trump to the press corps; âI read an interesting article in the news the other day. Here is what it says. I have it here right in front of me. Maybe the formal declaration to begin demurrage charges on The US dollar will not even be necessary. We will …
Read More »Lebanon restructing banks to fight financial crisis
Lebanonâs central bank has set up a committee to restructure financially stricken commercial banks and study their performance, according to a memo by the bank seen by Reuters on Thursday. The panel will also propose measures to preserve the soundness of the banking sector, the memo said. Lebanese banks are …
Read More »Gazans fighting against waste with Israeli embargo
Dismayed by the plastic bags piling up in the Gaza Strip, a group of young Palestinians is recycling discarded fabric into reusable totes to clamp down on waste and protect the environment. Their cloth bags – painted with colourful characters and slogans including âNOT PLASTIC – FANTASTICâ sell for 25 …
Read More »Anti-Russian report to be published in UK soon
A long-delayed report into Russian influence in British politics will be published in the next week, parliamentâs intelligence and security committee agreed on Thursday, a day after a dispute over the appointment of its chairman. The committee, which oversees the work of Britainâs intelligence community, has been in focus since …
Read More »Rouhani foils attempt at impeachment
A group of Iranian parliamentarians has abandoned an attempt to impeach President Hassan Rouhani, the Tasnim news agency reported on Wednesday, marking the end of a move sparked by growing economic hardship. Approximately 10 parliamentarians who were seeking to impeach the president, and rally other members of the 290 seat …
Read More »Pompeo threatens Russian pipeline project with sanctions
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday warned investors in two Russian natural gas pipeline projects that they could face sanctions as the Trump administration seeks to curb the Kremlinâs economic leverage over Europe and Turkey. Pompeo told a news conference that European investors in the Nord Stream 2 …
Read More »Israelis pressure Netanyahu to focus on COVID, not annexation
A coronavirus resurgence in Israel and divisions within Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahuâs government have sidelined its plans to annex parts of the occupied West Bank, officials said. Although the conservative Netanyahu and Defence Minister Benny Gantz, his centrist coalition partner, agreed the government could begin moving on annexation as of …
Read More »Palestine plays regional power politics with proposed energy deal
by James M. Dorsey | Jul 14, 2020 An initial version of this story was first published in Inside Arabia A podcast version of this story is available on Soundcloud, Itunes, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn, Spreaker, Pocket Casts, Tumblr, Podbean, Audecibel, Patreon and Castbox. A Palestinian move to secure Palestineâs energy needs by tying them to high-stakes Turkish regional gambits constitutes an effort to reduce Palestinian dependence on …
Read More »The Russia-Taliban bounty: a pretext for more sanctions against Moscow
The New York Times accusations of Russia allegedly offering bounties to members of the Taliban movement for killing American soldiers in Afghanistan resulted in increased anti-Russia sentiment in the US. The Donald Trump administration will likely be under pressure to impose fresh packages of sanctions against Moscow, even though some …
Read More »The MOO-LA pulls up to Doral
Tonight Angel NicGillicuddyâs great ship The Moo-La is floating just off the coast of the great city Doral, Florida. Angel and Barron are sitting high up in the crowâs nest. Here is the report: Meetings are going well for The New Southern Confederation of The Americas. This time it wonât …
Read More »Egypt being tempted into entering Libya by eastern government
Libyaâs eastern-based parliament has called for Egypt to directly intervene in the countryâs civil war to counter Turkish support for the internationally recognised Government of National Accord (GNA), based in the capital Tripoli. In a statement late on Monday, the House of Representatives based in the eastern port of Tobruk …
Read More »UN support Qatar case over unlawful air blockade
The U.N.âs highest court for disputes between countries sided with Qatar on Tuesday in its legal fight with several Gulf states that imposed an air blockade against Doha. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt severed political, trade and transport ties with Qatar in June 2017, accusing Qatar …
Read More »The Square of Communication
Many books about corporate communication mention the so-called ‘square of communication’. As a communication specialist the following factors interested me the most: 1-Right placeâchoose the right location that suit both you and your counterpart to optimize the outcomes. 2-Right timeâselect the timing that suit your and counterpart preferences. 3-Right agenda …
Read More »In surprise move Trump and Erdogan agree on Libya security
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and U.S. President Donald Trump agreed in a phone call to work more closely in Libya to ensure lasting stability in the country, the Turkish presidency said on Tuesday. Turkey supports the internationally recognised Government of National Accord in Libya, which is fighting against the eastern-based …
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