Tag Archives: coronavirus

Lebanon on Sunday hosted its annual famous music festival in the ancient northeastern city of Baalbek without an audience. The unprecedented move was dubbed by the organisers as “an act of cultural resilience” to the global coronavirus pandemic as well as the country’s unprecedented economic crisis. By Arthur Blok Held …

06 Jul 2020 This story first appeared as an MEI Insight A podcast version of this story is available on Soundcloud, Itunes, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn, Spreaker, Pocket Casts, Tumblr, Podbean, Audecibel, Patreon and Castbox. Resolving the tug of war in the Middle East will require a backing away from approaches that treat conflicts as zero-sum games, and engagement by all regional and external players. …

On an average day, US President Donald Trump sends about 14 posts to the 28 million Facebook followers of his campaign account. His Democratic rival, Joe Biden, delivers about half that many posts to an audience of just 2 million. The numbers are similarly skewed in other spheres of the …

Almost 7 billion euros were pledged today to support war-torn Syria at a donor conference in Brussels. Around 60 countries and international agencies gathered to drum up financial aid for the Arab nation as the corona-virus and economic chaos wreak even more havoc in a country shattered by a conflict …

The United Arab Emirates can work with Israel on some areas, including fighting the new coronavirus and on technology, while still having political differences with the state, a senior official said on Tuesday. Addressing a conference of the American Jewish Committee (AJC) advocacy group, minister of state for foreign affairs …

Iraq affirmed its commitment to the OPEC+ oil production cut deal but asked the group to take into consideration the members’ economic situation in sharing the burden of future cuts, Iraqi Finance Minister Ali Allawi said on Sunday. “We are seeking to set new rules in future over sharing burden …

The International Monetary Fund on Friday said it had reached a staff-level agreement with Egypt for a one-year, $5.2 billion standby loan to help the North African country grapple with the novel coronavirus pandemic and its economic fallout. The agreement, which must be finalized by the Fund’s executive board, would …

OPEC leader Saudi Arabia and non-OPEC Russia have agreed a preliminary deal to extend existing record oil output cuts by one month while raising pressure on countries with poor compliance to deepen their cuts, OPEC+ sources told Reuters. However, there was no agreement yet on whether to hold an OPEC+ …

Norway, which chairs a group of international donors to the Palestinians, urged Israel on Tuesday not to annex parts of the occupied West Bank. Norway heads the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee (AHLC), which met on Tuesday, partly to discuss Israel’s plan to extend its sovereignty to Jewish settlements and the …

U.S. immunotherapy company Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc (INO.O) on Wednesday said its experimental vaccine to prevent coronavirus infection was shown to produce protective antibodies and immune system responses in mice and guinea pigs. The company’s shares, which have more than quadrupled this year, surged 17.7% to $17.13 in trading before the …

Defying the badly predicted odds from self-assuming ‘experts’ and most mainstream media so-called pundits yet again, Bali proves to be a healthy safe-haven in the world of global viral outbreaks once more. By Joshuahn Jackstonburg This happened during the Asian Flu, SARS, MERS and Zika Virus, and has always been …

People all around the globe are currently directly, or indirectly, affected by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. The Levant News publishes voices from a wide variety of people with different backgrounds. After stories from the Netherlands, Lebanon and Italy today Mohammed Hussein Aldosari writes from Saudi Arabia. The Covid-19 crisis and …

U.S. President Donald Trump ordered meat processing plants to stay open to protect the nation’s food supply even as workers got sick and died. Yet the plants have increasingly been exporting to China while U.S. consumers face shortages, a Reuters analysis of government data showed. Trump, who is in an …

Yemeni authorities declared Aden, interim seat of the Saudi-backed government, an “infested” city on Monday after the number of coronavirus cases there jumped and clashes erupted elsewhere in the south between separatists and government forces. A five-year war has shattered Yemen’s health system, pushed millions to the brink of famine …

Saudi Arabia’s government is suspending the cost of living allowance and raising the value added tax (VAT) threefold, as part of measures aimed to shore up state finances, which have been battered by low oil prices and the coronavirus. “Cost of living allowance will be suspended as of June first, …

Humanity is imprisoned by the Covid-19 pandemic. People are being arrested for walking together in a park, or sitting with more than three persons in one car. Economies are collapsing, and it will be a matter of weeks before millions of people around the globe will start rioting for food. …

In times of crisis and panic, going against the flow is seen by many as inconvenient. This is precisely the case in the current Covid-19 pandemic where people who dare to oppose the official information coming from institutions such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and other local health institutions …

Antibodies from Winter, a 4-year-old llama with great eyelashes, have neutralized coronavirus and other infections in lab experiments. Some scientists hope she might be an important figure in the fight against the coronavirus. Winter is not a superpowered camelid, she was simply the lucky llama chosen by researchers in Belgium, …

Kim Jong-un finally emerged back onto the world stage earlier this week after a 20-day absence, which led to much speculation about his health and well-being. The weeks of speculation about the North Korean dictator’s health brought home an alarming fact: no one really knows who will control North Korea …

Humanity is imprisoned by the Covid-19 pandemic. People are being arrested for sitting on a bench in a park, or hiking with friends in nature. Economies are collapsing, and it will be a matter of weeks before millions of people around the globe will start rioting for food. Mainstream media …

The Trump administration stepped up assertions that the coronavirus originated at a laboratory in Wuhan, adding more fuel to a point of tension between the U.S. and China. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Sunday said he also has seen “enormous evidence” that Covid-19 virus originated in a laboratory in …

People all around the globe are currently directly, or indirectly, affected by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. The Levant News publishes voices from a wide variety of people with different backgrounds. After stories from the Netherlands, Lebanon and Italy today Saleh Abdulwahed writes from the Saudi capital Riyadh. While driving through …

Dutch pollster and data-analyst Maurice de Hond exposed a relationship between the spread of the COVID-19 virus and the weather (especially specific humidity). Which can be found here. In his second contribution to The Levant News he elaborates how aerosols play an important role in the infection with the virus. …

As the world faces a spiraling daily commercial downturn that is faster and deeper than any since World War 2, the singular entity of Bali – Earth’s most photographed island – has felt it more than anywhere. By Joshuahn Jackstonburg Due to the almost total reliance on business via foreign …

Oil and gas exporter Algeria plans to develop other natural resources including uranium, gold and phosphate with the help of foreign investors after the end of the health crisis caused by the novel coronavirus, President Abdelmadjid Tebboune said on Friday. The North African country’s economy still relies heavily on energy …

A patent has been granted by the UAE Ministry of Economy for the development of an innovative and promising treatment for COVID-19 infections using stem cells. The treatment was developed by a team of doctors and researchers at the Abu Dhabi Stem Cell Center (ADSCC) and involves extracting stem cells …

In his book Plagues and Peoples historian William Hardy McNeill uses two concepts to describe the impact of diseases on humankind. One are the micro-parasites: the bacteria, viruses and other invisible lifeforms that cause disease. The other are the macro-parasites: the rulers, states and conquerors that impose taxes on subjects, …

President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he believes China’s handling of the coronavirus is proof that Beijing “will do anything they can” to make him lose his re-election bid in November. In an interview in the Oval Office, Trump talked tough on China and said he was looking at different …

People all around the globe are currently directly, or indirectly, affected by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. The Levant News publishes voices from a wide variety of people with different backgrounds. After stories from the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia and Italy today George Labaki writes from the mountains of Lebanon. As a …

Egyptian lawmakers have called for stricter surveillance of women on video sharing apps after the arrests of a popular social media influencer and a well-known belly dancer on charges of debauchery and inciting immorality. Instagram and TikTok influencer Haneen Hossam, 20, is under 15 days detention for a post encouraging …

The U.N. human rights office voiced concern on Monday about more than a dozen countries that have declared states of emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic where police have arrested or detained hundreds of thousands of people and killed others. “Emergency powers should not be a weapon governments can wield …

Dutch pollster and data-analyst Maurice de Hond exposed a relationship between the spread of the COVID-19 virus and the weather (especially specific humidity). He calls for further scientific research on this phenomenon. His recent findings are currently being analysed by scientists. By Maurice de Hond A highly respected virologist sent …

Most of us are very sure businesses in the luxury industry always have backup plans for everything. Do these plans actually cover semi-apocalyptic scenarios like the one we are witnessing today with the Covid-19 outbreak that’s putting the whole world in a corona lockdown? By Patricia Issa While this is …

The new coronavirus may be deepening dictatorship in parts of the Middle East already tightly controlled by authoritarian regimes. However, there is a subtle change at work as well—not in the degree of authoritarianism but in its nature. By Nathan J. Brown and Yasmine Farouk Close attention to the ways …

Egypt’s parliament approved on Wednesday amendments to the country’s emergency laws that give expanded powers to the presidency and the military prosecution as authorities try to counter the new coronavirus outbreak. The amendments allow the state to take and enforce a series of measures, some of which have already been …

“You [Jinping], your government and your scientists had to know long ago that coronavirus is highly infectious, but you left the world in the dark about it.” Julian Reichelt, the editor-in-chief of Germany’s largest paper Bild on Thursday launched a full frontal attack on China’s communist President Xi Jinping for …

US President Donald Trump warned that China could face consequences if it was “knowingly responsible” for the coronavirus pandemic, as he ratcheted up criticism of Beijing over its handling of the outbreak. “It could have been stopped in China before it started and it wasn’t,” Trump said at a White …

The social and economic corona lockdowns all over the world are not due to end anytime soon. The measures taken kill off businesses critical to the livelihoods of millions of people. They have precipitated the unemployment of tens of millions of people – and continue to cause an unprecedented global …

While coronavirus closures are coaxing wildlife into the abandoned streets of many a metropolis, in one Israeli city the four-legged interlopers are assertive and, well, quite boorish. Wild boars, some as bulky as Rottweilers and traveling in family packs, have been trotting through Haifa in increasing numbers. Their once-nocturnal visitations …

As the new coronavirus and its economic and political consequences ripple cross the Arab world, Arab regimes are facing an extraordinary and possibly existential test. Their public health capacities may be strained but so too will their economic resources and coercive institutions. Moral suasion will grow increasingly important, even in …

Returning to life after this extended quarantine under coronavirus is going to be very different for people. Some people will go back to life as it was, and some others, those who mainly did all the thinking, probably won’t. These people will come back with a different appreciation for life, …

Andy Warhol predicted a time everyone would have 15 minutes of fame. He was nearly right – it is actually 15 seconds. That is the maximum duration of a video clip with music (non-music clips can last up to a minute) on TikTok, the video-sharing platform that has taken the …

An Oxford professor has claimed that a vaccine for Covid-19 could be ready by autumn. Sarah Gilbert is a professor of vaccinology at the University of Oxford and leads a team of researchers in developing a vaccine for the coronavirus, which has so far infected more than 1.7 million worldwide. The …

Bernie Sanders has endorsed the Democratic candidate and former vice president Joe Biden for president, a week after the progressive senator ended his campaign. The announcement on Monday was made in an event Mr Biden streamed live online because of the coronavirus pandemic. Appearing on a split screen and with …