Trump hails ‘tremendous day for Middle East’ as leaders sign Gaza declaration
As part of Trump's plan to end the Gaza war, Hamas on Monday freed the last 20 surviving hostages it...
Geostrategy
Qantas: stolen data from 5.7 million customers leaked online
Sydney, Australia -- Australian airline Qantas said Sunday that data from 5.7 million customers stolen in a major cyberattack in...
Geostrategy
Arts & Culture
Iraq’s Christians turn to TV to save dying language
Syriac-speaking communities in Iraq and Syria have declined over the years, owing to decades of conflict driving many to seek...
- Syriac has traditionally been the language spoken by Christians in Iraq and neighbouring Syria, mostly in homes but also in some schools and during church services
- Syriac is also taught at around 265 schools across Iraq, according to Imad Salem Jajjo, responsible for Syriac education within the education ministry
Royal fever sweeps Jordan ahead of crown prince Hussein’s wedding
On the big day for the Hashemite kingdom, a key Western ally, the royal red motorcade, reserved for special occasions,...
- The eldest son of King Abdullah II will marry Saudi fiancee Rajwa Al Saif at the grand royal wedding with regional monarchs, US First Lady Jill Biden is also among the guests
- Photos of Saif's henna bridal party took the internet by storm last week as she donned a white gown with an Arabic poetry verse embroidered: "When I see you, life becomes sweet"
Geostrategy
Extension of Kurdish parliament unconstitutional, says Iraq supreme court
Iraq's supreme court ruled as unconstitutional the extended mandate of autonomous Kurdistan's parliament, rendering invalid votes taken by the chamber...
- The president of the top federal court in Baghdad, found unconstitutional the year-long extension of the chamber's mandate.
- As a result, decisions taken by the Kurdistan parliament since October 2022 "are constitutionally invalid", the judge said.
Geostrategy
Moscow issues 1.5m passports in occupied Ukraine territories
Russia has for years been issuing passports to people living in the eastern Donbas areas held by pro-Moscow separatists since...
- People from the occupied regions told AFP this month that they had been pressured into taking up a Russian passport.
- The EU has said it will not recognize Russian passports issued by Moscow in the "illegally-occupied" regions of Ukraine.
Geostrategy
Putin slams Ukraine as Moscow hit by multiple drone attacks
As drones struck in and around Moscow, Russian drones targeted Kyiv for a third straight day while Ukraine gears up...
- The Russian defense ministry said that eight drones were used in the attack, adding that five of them were downed and three disabled.
- Putin said Moscow's air defense had worked in a satisfactory manner, noting that the attacks were Kyiv's "response" to a Russian strike on Ukraine's army intelligence headquarters.
Economy
Meeting discusses growth of new economic sectors in UAE
ABU DHABI, UAE - The Economic Integration Committee held its second meeting this year and discussed a range of key...
- The Committee also discussed strengthening of the Anti-Money Laundering/ Combating the Financing of Terrorism ( AML/CFT) efforts.
- The meeting discussed cooperation between the federal and local authorities concerned with the implementation of various economy-related laws.
Science
Global action needed to reduce ‘extinction risk’ from AI, say experts
A one-line statement signed by dozens of specialists, including Sam Altman whose firm OpenAI created the ChatGPT bot, said tackling...
- ChatGPT has demonstrated an ability to generate essays, poems and conversations from the briefest of prompts -- and sparking billions of dollars in investments.
- Critics and insiders have raised the alarm over everything from biased algorithms to the possibility of massive job losses as AI-powered automation seeps into daily life.
Geostrategy
Iran ‘resolves’ one of UN nuclear watchdog’s concerns
Iranian media reports came just days before the board of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency is due to...
- The IAEA's concerns about the sites are one of the remaining obstacles to the revival of the 2015 nuclear deal, which was left in tatters by the withdrawal of the US in 2018.
- The Marivan site in Abadeh county in the southern province of Fars is the first of the three sites to be addressed under a work plan agreed by Iran and the IAEA in March last year.
Geostrategy
Saudi national freed from captors in ‘special operation’ by Lebanese army
Beirut, Lebanon--A Saudi national who had been kidnapped in Beirut has been freed in a "special operation" by the Lebanese army...
- The army said that Saudi national Mashari al-Mutairi was freed from kidnappers in special operation by the army on the Syrian border
- The Saudi national was kidnapped by unidentified assailants dressed as security personnel in a four-wheel drive vehicle on the Beirut seafront
Geostrategy
Israelis revive flashpoint West Bank settlement
Neither the army nor the defence ministry commented on their role in Monday's developments at Homesh when contacted by journalists....
- The journalists saw Israeli soldiers guarding around 20 people carrying out construction work at the Homesh site, which Israel evacuated nearly two decades ago
- The latest development comes weeks after the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged his government had no plans to reconstruct the site
Trump hails ‘tremendous day for Middle East’ as leaders sign Gaza declaration
As part of Trump's plan to end the Gaza war, Hamas on Monday freed the last 20 surviving hostages it...
Geostrategy
Company News
Latest News
Readying for jobs of tomorrow: WEF’s Till Leopold stresses upskilling
Davos, Switzerland -- In the next five years, millions of jobs will be created. Governments, employers, and education institutions, therefore,...
World Economic Forum
Davos25: Working in silos can’t resolve systemic issues, says Catalyst Now’s Galtung
Davos, Switzerland -- Some of the biggest problems in the world today are systemic problems, which cannot be resolved with...
World Economic Forum
Trump pledges historic tax cuts, investment growth, oil price action, and Ukraine peace effort at Davos 2025
The newly inaugurated president remarked that he would “like to meet with President Putin soon” and “get the war ended,”...
Most Read
Geostrategy
EXCLUSIVE: ILO chief urges action on job gap and reskilling at Davos 2025
Davos, Switzerland -- The world labor market is nearing the pre-Covid levels but gender gap and other concerns remain, International...
- Houngbo said he saw the unemployment gap between young women and young men to the disadvantage of women.
- The most important thing is that the private and public sectors need to step up investment in reskilling, he said.
Geostrategy
Nations retreating inward making global cooperation harder, Dr Masood tells TRENDS at Davos
Davos, Switzerland - The world is grappling with challenges that demand collective action, but rising nationalism and geopolitical tensions are...
- The world faces problems that can only be solved if people and countries come together, Dr. Masood said
- He pointed to US-China tensions as a major barrier to addressing shared global challenges
Geostrategy
UNRWA: Reconstructing Gaza Strip exceeds agency’s capabilities due to severe damage
Gaza, Palestine - The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), confirmed today that the reconstruction process...
- UNRWA said that the agency can contribute to rehabilitating the infrastructure in the camps and returning employees to work inside them, and operating their wells.
- The agency emphasized that locating the missing—numbering in the thousands beneath the rubble—requires meticulous planning and the expertise of specialized teams