Nations advance ocean protection, vow to defend seabed
UN Ocean Conference wrapped up Friday with world leaders taking major steps toward marine protection and vowing a showdown when...
Geostrategy
US still wants talks with Iran on Sunday: US official
Washington, United States - The United States still hopes to hold talks Sunday with Iran, even after Israel launched a...
Geostrategy
Geostrategy
Germany convicts Syrian ex-colonel in ‘historic’ torture trial
Anwar Raslan, 58, was found guilty of overseeing the murder of 27 people at the Al-Khatib detention center in Damascus,...
- Prosecutors had accused him of overseeing the murder of 58 people and the torture of 4,000 others at the center, but not all of the deaths could be proven.
- Presiding judge Anne Kerber said the Syrian regime had resorted to "violence" and "the heavy use of munitions" to suppress protests that erupted in March 2011.
Geostrategy
Ray of hope peeks through Turkey’s sealed Armenia border
The tracks have been abandoned to birds and stray dogs at the last Turkish train stop before the Armenian border,...
- The first direct contacts in years between the rivals' envoys will take place in Moscow on Friday
- For the economically starved locals of the Turkish frontier town of Akyaka, these talks could not have come soon enough
Geostrategy
Iran ‘spy network’ recruits women online, says Israel
According to Shin Bet domestic security agency, Iranian "espionage network" uses Facebook to recruit Israeli women.
- Iranian agents recruited Israeli women for various missions including covertly photographing US embassy, says Tel Aviv
- Some Israeli citizens agreed to give paid service to the agent "Rambod Namdar", who introduced himself as an Iranian Jew
Geostrategy
UN envoy to West Sahara in Morocco for first regional tour
Staffan de Mistura, a veteran Italian, diplomat began his first visit to the region and landed in Rabat.
- The UN envoy arrived in Rabat on Wednesday, the first stop of a tour that will take him to Morocco and its rival Algeria
- He will hear views on making progress towards the resumption of the political process in the region
Economy
UN: $3.9 billion needed for help in war-torn Yemen
The biggest constraint right is funding to help some 16 million people, a top UN humanitarian official told the UNSC.
- The biggest constraint right is funding to help some 16 million people, a top UN humanitarian official told the UNSC
- He added that funding has been decreasing in recent years, with last year's response plan only funded at 58 percent
Economy
Students struggle as Lebanon crisis cripples university sector
University expenses are now beyond the reach of most Lebanese students, with their country in the throes of a financial,...
- University expenses are now beyond the reach of most Lebanese students, with their country in the throes of a financial, political and health crisis that has ravaged its economy
- The national currency has lost more than 95 percent of its value on the black market, and the minimum wage of 675,000 pounds is worth little more than $20
Business
Metaverse fuels virtual creation of real-life products
The coronavirus pandemic has helped shrink the distance between virtual and real by pushing many designers to create in three...
- The clamor over virtual goods comes amid feverish predictions that the metaverse will eventually replace the web of today
- A growing number of brands have been trying to establish a presence on buzzed-about platforms, anticipating a major tech and societal shift
Investigation
Israel’s ultra-Orthodox Jews confront #MeToo claims
The ultra-Orthodox community or Haredim makes up roughly 12 percent of Israel's 9.3 million population.
- The ultra-Orthodox community or Haredim makes up roughly 12 percent of Israel's 9.3 million population
- Haredim are not a homogeneous group, but each professes to live in strict accordance with Jewish law
Geostrategy
Israel govt seeks ‘compromise’ as Bedouin protest Negev ‘land grab’
Bedouin, who are part of Israel's 20 percent Arab minority, have long opposed tree-planting initiatives in the Negev, blasting them...
- The latest unrest in the decades-long dispute has attracted fresh attention given the make-up of Israel's coalition government, led by right-wing Prime Minister Naftali Bennett.Â
- Bennett's government counts on backing from the leader of the Raam party, Mansour Abbas, whose core political support comes from Bedouin in the Negev.Â
Arts & Culture
Saudi sex harasser named and shamed under the new law
A Saudi has been named in a newspaper after his conviction for sexual harassment, in an apparent first under new...
- A court ordered the public identification of Yasser Muslim Al-Arawi after he was sentenced to eight months in prison and fined 5,000 riyals ($1,300).
- Saudi Arabia only started penalizing sexual harassment in 2018, as the kingdom embarked on wide-ranging social reforms including allowing women to drive.
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Nations advance ocean protection, vow to defend seabed
UN Ocean Conference wrapped up Friday with world leaders taking major steps toward marine protection and vowing a showdown when...
Geostrategy
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Efforts to pause Israel-Palestine war gain pace amid fierce fighting
Palestinian Territories - International efforts towards a new pause in the devastating Gaza war gathered pace Wednesday, as Israel bombarded...
Geostrategy
Houthi rebels target commercial vessel with a missile
Maritime security firm Ambrey said that a merchant ship had been targeted with a missile in southwest of Aden, Yemen....
Geostrategy
UN says Israel-Hamas war leaves Gaza ‘uninhabitable’
Since the relentless Israeli aerial and ground assault, triggered by Hamas's deadly October 7 attacks inside Israel, the United Nations...
Geostrategy
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Business
GSK profit in 2023 falls
The drug maker said revenues swelled 3 percent to $38.54bn.
- Profit after tax slid sharply to £4.9 billion ($6.2 billion) last year from £14.9 billion in 2022, when it received a massive gain from the Haleon demerger
- However, underlying adjusted operating profit, excluding exceptional items, jumped 12 percent to £8.8 billion last year to beat company guidance
Geostrategy
Norway warns of consequences over UNRWA funding cut
"We urge fellow donor countries to reflect on the wider consequences of cutting their funding to UNRWA," Norwegian Foreign Minister...
- Thirteen countries, including major donors such as the United States, Germany, Britain and Sweden, have suspended funding to the UN agency
- The funding is suspended over accusations that 12 on its staff members were involved in the October 7 attack by Hamas members against Israel
Geostrategy
UN court rejects most of Ukraine’s ‘terror’ case against Russia
Kyiv had accused Moscow of being a "terrorist state" whose support for pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine was a harbinger...
- But ICJ tossed out most of Ukraine's claims, ruling only that Russia was "failing to take measures to investigate facts... regarding persons who allegedly committed an offence".
- This case predates Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. The ICJ will decide on Friday whether it has jurisdiction to rule in a separate case over that war.