Norway’s wealth fund to enlist AI for managing climate risks
Oslo, Norway -- Norway's sovereign wealth fund said Wednesday that it would incorporate artificial intelligence tools into its investment analysis...
Geostrategy
Saudi Crown Prince to meet Trump in Washington next month
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia -- Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman will meet US President Donald Trump during a three-day...
Geostrategy
Geostrategy
Iraq detects first captagon producing lab near Saudi border: Ministry
Baghdad, Iraq -- Iraq said Sunday it has found a site in a province bordering Saudi Arabia where captagon is produced,...
- Iraq has long been a transit country for captagon, the amphetamine-like stimulant plaguing the Middle East, but officials say it has also become a consumer market for the drug.
- The vast majority of the region's captagon, which derives its name from a once legal drug use to combat narcolepsy, is produced in Syria -- another Iraqi neighbor -- and Lebanon.
Economy
UNDP says over US$14bn needed to mitigate global surge in poverty
NEW YORK, US – In the last three years, poverty rates in low-and lower-middle-income countries have surged, with the number...
- UNDP has called for adaptive social protection and a debt-poverty pause to redirect debt repayments toward critical social expenditures.
- Almost all of these financially hit people live in low - and lower-middle-income economies, with the poorest 20 percent in low-income countries
Geostrategy
Saudi Arabia, Japan sign 26 new cooperation deals
The deals signed during Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's official visit to Saudi Arabia reflect the shared commitment to the...
- The deals signed during Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's official visit to Saudi Arabia reflect the shared commitment to the Saudi-Japanese Vision 2030
- The two nations' trade volume reached $47.489 billion in 2022 as Saudi Arabia continues to be a key energy partner to Japan, providing 40 percent of its oil needs
Geostrategy
Fears over Syria’s proposed control on aid to rebel-held areas
They worry over the fate of residents in Syria's last remaining rebel strongholds, in the north and northwest, after the...
- But expiry of the UN mechanism, as well as Syria's decision to change course on the delivery of aid to those areas, has sparked fears and questions among the humanitarian community
- The crossing is the main entry point for aid to rebel-held areas, though it also occasionally trickles in from areas under the control of Damascus.
Geostrategy
MBRGI joins UAE delegation, takes part in UN forum on sustainable development goals
DUBAI, UAE - Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives (MBRGI) joined the UAE delegation to the United Nations High-Level...
- Established in 2012, the High-Level Political Forum is the UN’s central platform for the follow-up and review of the 2030 Agenda for SDGs at the global level.
- The UAE delegation discussed ways to bolster mutual collaboration, strategic partnerships and knowledge-sharing, in line with MBRGI’s mission.
Morocco, Shell sign 12-year natural gas deal: ministry
Morocco has sought to diversify its energy sources particularly since neighbouring Algeria stopped supplying natural gas via the GME in...
- The agreement includes the annual delivery of 500 million cubic meters of LNG to Morocco, the value of the 12-year deal has not been disclosed
- In the initial years, the gas will be delivered through Spanish ports and the Maghreb GME, It will eventually be delivered through planned Moroccan LNG terminals
Iraqi Christian leader leaves Baghdad as tensions with president soar
Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako, the patriarch of Iraq's Chaldean Catholic Church and architect of Pope Francis' historic visit to the...
- Kildani is the leader of the Babylon Movement, whose armed wing is part of Hashed al-Shaabi - a network of largely pro-Iran paramilitaries that were integrated into Iraqi forces
- In a statement on Saturday, the cardinal condemned the government's "silence" over what he described as a campaign against him by the Babylon Movement
Iraq honey production at the mercy of heat and drought
Bees thrive in temperatures of around 30-35 degrees Celsius, not in searing heat, when the thermometer climbs to 50, said...
- A bee needs to constantly forage for the pollen and nectar necessary for honey production but the drought is forcing bees to travel longer to pollinate
- In 2022, honey produced in parts of Iraq controlled by the Baghdad federal authorities reached 870 tonnes, while in Kurdistan 850 tonnes were produced
Israelis continue protests as judicial reform advances
Following stiff opposition and growing international criticism -- including from US President Joe Biden -- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered...
- Saturday's rallies, the 28th since the reform agenda was unveiled in January, come days after parliament approved in its first reading the bill
- The proposals on Judicial reforms would also give the Netanyahu's government a greater say in the appointment of judges
Geostrategy
Tensions lurk behind facade of Gulf Arab detente: Crisis Group
Dubai, UAE - Six years after imposing a comprehensive blockade on Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and...
- The roots of the Gulf dispute stemmed from Qatar's foreign policy, which was viewed as a threat by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, and Egypt
- While the four-year blockade of Qatar may be over, deep-seated fault lines remain, and new ones are emerging
Norway’s wealth fund to enlist AI for managing climate risks
Oslo, Norway -- Norway's sovereign wealth fund said Wednesday that it would incorporate artificial intelligence tools into its investment analysis...
Geostrategy
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Turkey protesters defiant despite nearly 1,500 arrests
The protests erupted on March 19 after the arrest of Istanbul opposition mayor Ekrem Imamoglu as part of a graft...
Geostrategy
Russia, Ukraine agree to halt Black Sea strikes in US-brokered talks in Saudi Arabia
With President Donald Trump pushing for a rapid end to the war that has killed tens of thousands of people,...
Geostrategy
Syria slams ‘flagrant’ Israeli violation after deadly bombardment
Syria slammed Israeli attacks as a "flagrant violation" of its sovereignty after deadly bombardment Tuesday in the country's south, where...
Geostrategy
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Geostrategy
Trump admin sent journalist classified US plan for Yemen strikes
A US journalist was inadvertently included in a group chat in which Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Vice President JD Vance...
- The Atlantic magazine's editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg wrote that he had hours of advance notice of Yemen strikes via the group chat on Signal
- Defence Secretary Hegseth, a former Fox News host with no experience running a huge organization like the Pentagon, took no responsibility for the security breach
Geostrategy
US, Russia negotiations on partial Ukraine ceasefire end after 12 hours in Saudi Arabia
The US-Ukraine and US-Russia talks were originally planned to take place simultaneously to enable shuttle diplomacy, with the United States...
- With Ukrainian negotiators waiting nearby, a day after they sat down with the US team, the Americans and Russians met in Riyadh with a Black Sea ceasefire top of the agenda
- US President Donald Trump is pushing for a rapid end to the three-year war and hopes the latest round of talks will pave the way for a breakthrough
Geostrategy
Israel PM accuses security chief of investigating minister without his consent
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday accused Israel's internal security chief, whose dismissal was blocked by the supreme court, of...
- "The claim that the prime minister authorised Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar to gather evidence against Minister Ben Gvir is yet another exposed lie," Netanyahu said
- He was responding to a report that Bar's agency had spent months investigating far-right infiltration of the police and its links to Ben Gvir