Syria announces ‘comprehensive ceasefire’ with Kurds after clashes
Damascus, Syria - Syria announced a comprehensive ceasefire with Kurdish forces after a meeting Tuesday between Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa...
Geostrategy
Hamas calls for swift hostage-prisoner swap as talks set to begin
Foreign ministers of several countries, including Egypt, said the talks were a "real opportunity" to achieve a comprehensive and sustainable...
Geostrategy
Geostrategy
Saudi Crown Prince and Iran foreign minister discuss bilateral relations
Iran's foreign minister met Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during his first visit since the Middle East rivals...
- The Iranian foreign minister called the 90-minute meeting a "direct, frank, and productive conversation".
- The Iranian minister said the success of the region is possible by strengthening dialogue and cooperation.
Geostrategy
EU well-prepared for winter as gas reserves hit 90% ahead of target
The speedy filling of storage facilities means the bloc is "in a much more stable position than it was this...
- The crisis sparked by Russia's war led to the European Union adopting a law requiring the 90-percent gas storage by November 1 each year.
- Before Moscow launched its invasion in February 2022, Russia accounted for nearly half of the EU's natural gas imports.
Geostrategy
Iran first Islamic country to have modern observatory, says official
TEHRAN, IRAN – Iran is the first Islamic country to possess a very modern observatory, the head of the Institute...
- The head of the Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences said that Iran lacked the resources to build an observatory.
- He added that an observatory is like a living entity, and continuous work and progress are necessary for proper functioning.
Business
China’s investment rises 23% in BRI countries in Jan-July 2023
BEIJING, CHINA - Between January and July 2023, Chinese enterprises made non-financial direct investments totaling US$13.69 billion (RMB95.34 billion) in...
- This growth amounts to approximately US$13.69 billion, constituting nearly 20 percent of the overall investment in January-July 2023.
- The value of newly signed contracts amounted to US$103 billion, indicating a marginal 0.6 percent year-on-year increase.
Geostrategy
Turkish officials discuss scenarios around stalled Russia grain deal
Turkey’s top diplomat Hakan Fidan is planning to discuss the results of these discussions with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov...
- Under another scenario, unilateral actions will be taken to set up alternative routes based on bilateral agreements, particularly for Ukrainian agricultural supplies via the Danube
- The third, an only 'viable option', envisages a revival of the grain deal "as soon as certain Russian concerns are removed".
Turkey ‘warned’ Russia after Black Sea ship attack: Ankara
The Sukru Okan vessel was flying the flag of Palau when it was fired on by the Russian navy last...
- Turkey's president Recep Tayyip Erdogan's office came under criticism at home for saying nothing about the Russian attack
- Erdogan's office pushed back against its critics on Thursday, arguing that it was technically up to Palau to respond to the incident
Geostrategy
Putin discusses possibility of Iran joining BRICS in call with Raisi
Moscow, Russia - Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed Thursday, in a phone call with his Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi, the...
- South Africa is scheduled to host a summit of the BRICS countries on August 23 and 24, which is expected to be attended by heads of all BRICS member states
- The two leaders also discussed ways to enhance bilateral relations between the two countries in all fields, especially in trade, transportation and logistics
Stocks dragged further by US rate worry, China gloom
Expectations of another Fed hike have pushed 10-year Treasury yields -- a gauge of future rates -- close to their...
- All three main indexes on Wall Street sank for a third straight session on Thursday, while London, Paris and Frankfurt also suffered heavy losses
- Asian markets were well in the red, including Hong Kong, which was down for a sixth consecutive trading day, while European investors were also on the back foot
Parched Egypt struggles to contain water loss
In a country already suffering from severe water scarcity, official figures show that more than a quarter of clean water...
- Nationwide, official figures show 26.5 percent of Egypt's clean water in the 2021-22 fiscal year was lost - a conservative estimate, according to experts
- The Suez Canal governorates of Port Said, Suez and Ismailia have the highest rates of water loss in the country, with over two thirds of clean water going down the drain
Geostrategy
US concerned on hunger strike over Bahrain jail conditions
With support from a military force from neighboring Saudi Arabia, Bahrain crushed the 2011 protests which had demanded a constitutional...
- Prisoners at the Jau prison, which holds dissidents detained when authorities crushed Shiite-led protests in 2011, have been subjected to 23-hour cell confinement
- Bahrain, whose Sunni monarchy has tense relations with Shiite cleric-led Iran, is home to the US Navy's Fifth Fleet, which is at the forefront of the Gulf standoff with Tehran
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Syria announces ‘comprehensive ceasefire’ with Kurds after clashes
Damascus, Syria - Syria announced a comprehensive ceasefire with Kurdish forces after a meeting Tuesday between Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa...
Geostrategy
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Iran picks new president at turbulent time
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Hamas says agrees to new Gaza truce proposal received from mediators but warns its weapons a ‘red line’
The talks in Doha started a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened to seize parts of Gaza if...
Geostrategy
Trump says Iran faces ‘bad, bad things’ if no nuclear deal after Tehran responds to a letter from him
"I sent them a letter just recently, and I said: you have to make a decision, one way or the...
Geostrategy
Pro-Palestine rallies held in many countries on Quds Day
Quds (Jerusalem) Day commemorations were launched in 1979 by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic republic, which has...
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Lawyer complains Turkish student held in US ‘abducted’
A lawyer representing a Turkish university student detained in the United States and facing deportation said Thursday that his client...
- Earlier this week, a video surfaced on social media showing 30-year-old Rumeysa Ozturk being detained by masked, plain-clothed figures near Tufts University in Massachusetts
- The video quickly went viral as a symbol driving the fear and anger gripping US campuses as President Donald Trump clamps down on students accused of holding extremist views
Geostrategy
Palestinian sources say Hamas, mediators in new talks to revive Gaza truce, hostage release deal
Negotiations between Hamas and Israel, mediated by Egypt along with Qatar and the United States, have been deadlocked for weeks...
- Talks are focusing on the possibility of implementing a truce during the Eid al-Fitr and Jewish Passover holidays
- A Palestinian source close to Hamas said that despite the discussions, "no breakthrough" had been achieved so far
Science
Firms and researchers at odds over superhuman AI
The belief that human-or-better intelligence -- often called "artificial general intelligence" (AGI) -- will emerge from current machine-learning techniques fuels...
- "Systems that start to point to AGI are coming into view," OpenAI chief Sam Altman wrote in a blog post last month.
- Such predictions help justify the hundreds of billions of dollars being poured into computing hardware and the energy supplies to run it.