Netanyahu says US an ‘extraordinary friend’ during Rubio visit
Before departing Washington on Saturday, Rubio told reporters that while Trump was "not happy" about the strike, it was "not...
Suspect in Charlie Kirk killing caught, widow vows to carry on fight
The widow of prominent right-wing activist Charlie Kirk pledged Friday to carry on her husband's work, after US authorities announced...
Geostrategy
Geostrategy
Afghans below poverty line doubled under Taliban, says UN
The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) released on Tuesday a stark new assessment of 2022 data estimating 34 million Afghans...
- Vast foreign subsidies were halted and aid programs dramatically cut back after the US-backed republic fell in 2021.
- "Some have been compelled to sell their homes, land, or assets that generate income," the UNDP report said.
Geostrategy
Israeli army shoot, injure seven during West Bank raid
NABLUS, PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES - Israeli forces shot and wounded seven people in a raid Tuesday in the occupied West Bank, the...
- The Palestine health ministry reported "six minor injuries from live fire" reached Jenin governmental hospital.
- There was no immediate confirmation of the identity of those wounded in Jenin, a hotbed for Palestinian armed groups.
Geostrategy
Middle East thaw: Now Qatar and UAE to reopen embassies
"The technical committees are now doing their work in this context, and it is expected that there will be exchange...
- The two countries re-established relations in Jan 2021, after the UAE took part in a nearly four-year Gulf blockade of Qatar, but they are yet to restore the diplomatic missions.
- Opening the embassies would be just the latest in a series of reconciliatory steps for Gulf relations since heavyweights Saudi Arabia and Iran moved to restore ties last month.
Geostrategy
Sound Saudi-Syria relations should be norm, says Bashar al-Assad
The Syrian president met with Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan in Damascus. This is the first visit to...
- Assad was politically isolated in the region since the conflict began but Saudi-Iran rapprochement has shifted regional relations.
- Assad and Prince Faisal discussed steps to "achieve a comprehensive political settlement that... contributes to Syria's return to the Arab fold," the Saudi foreign ministry said.
Geostrategy
Civil Society groups under ‘severe restrictions’ in Libya, says HRW
TRIPOLI, LIBYA - Libyan authorities have imposed "severe restrictions" on local and international civil society groups, obstructing their work in the...
- The rights watchdog said authorities must take step like adoption of a "civil society organization law that guarantees the right tot freedom of association."
- Human Rights Watch called for a reform of the penal code, and “redefining criminal acts to exclude peaceful exercise of the right to express opinions."
Geostrategy
Tunisia shuts offices of opposition party Ennahdha
The move came a day after the arrest of the party's leader, Rached Ghannouchi, 81, at his home in the...
- Since early February, authorities in the North African country have arrested more than 20 political opponents and personalities.
- Ghannouchi was the speaker of Tunisia's parliament before Saied dissolved it and went on to seize wide-reaching powers through a series of moves opponents have dubbed a "coup".
Geostrategy
Turkey president Erdogan’s chief rival defends Kurds ahead of vote
ISTANBUL, TURKEY - President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's chief rival in next month's election defended Kurdish rights on Tuesday and accused the...
- Kemal Kilicdaroglu leads a six-party alliance that is posing one of the stiffest electoral challenges of Erdogan's two-decade rule.
- Kilicdaroglu's comments followed weeks of attempts by Erdogan to link the opposition with Kurdish militants fighting the Turkish state.
Saudi top diplomat heads to Syria for first visit since war
Recent months have seen increasing Arab engagement with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who has been politically isolated in the region...
- The visit of Saudi diplomat comes less than a week after Syrian Foreign Minister visited Saudi Arabia, also on the first such visit since the start of the Syrian conflict in 2011
- Prince Faisal said in February that a consensus was building in the Arab world that a new approach to Syria requiring negotiations would be needed to address the conflict
Geostrategy
Kuwait dissolves parliament, to hold new general election
Seeing no way out of a political crisis that has prevented the country from having an effective government, Kuwait's emir...
- In 1962, Kuwait embraced a parliamentary system, but repeated political crises have caused state paralysis
- The rich country, unlike other Gulf Arab states, has a vigorous political life in which MPs and civil society regularly take the authorities to task
Geostrategy
G7 vows ‘severe costs’ for those helping Russia in Ukraine
After two days of talks in the bucolic Japanese mountain resort town Karuizawa, the top diplomats from leading economies unveiled...
- G7 foreign ministers also put Beijing on notice over its "militarization activities" in the South China Sea and insisted their Taiwan policy was unchanged.
- Their final statement sparked a furious reaction from China, which said it had been "maliciously slandered and smeared".
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Netanyahu says US an ‘extraordinary friend’ during Rubio visit
Before departing Washington on Saturday, Rubio told reporters that while Trump was "not happy" about the strike, it was "not...
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More than 100 killed in Lebanon as Israel attacks south and central Beirut
Israeli fighter jets pounded parts of Lebanon and a drone attacked a Sunni neighborhood in central Beirut killing dozens across...
Geostrategy
How Israel killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah?
Israel has been planning for months to kill Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in south Beirut. Reports say Israeli PM approved...
Geostrategy
UN sends emergency food aid for one million Lebanese amid fresh Israeli attacks
The World Food Program says it had launched an emergency operation to provide meals for one million people affected by...
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Geostrategy
Retaliation or defeat: Hezbollah at crossroads after Nasrallah’s killing
Widely seen as the most powerful man in Lebanon before his death of Friday, Nasrallah was the face of Hezbollah...
- Widely seen as the most powerful man in Lebanon before his death of Friday, Nasrallah was the face of Hezbollah and Israel's arch-nemesis for more than 30 years
- But Nasrallah's killing in Hezbollah's southern Beirut bastion known as Dahiyeh was the culmination of two weeks of unprecedented blows to the Iran-backed group
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Death of Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut an inflection point in the Middle East conflict
Rarely seen in public, Nasrallah enjoyed cult status among his supporters and was the only man in Lebanon with the...
- Palestinian group Hamas and Iranian Supreme leader Khamenei condemn the killing of Nasrallah in Israeli strikes
- Israeli military says "most of the senior leaders of Hezbollah have been eliminated" in Lebanon
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Biden ready to ‘adjust’ US forces in Mideast amid tensions: White House
Washington, United States - President Joe Biden ordered US forces in the Middle East to be adjusted "as necessary," the White...
- The US president, who traveled to his beach house in Delaware on Friday, had been briefed several times by his national security team, the White House added
- Biden had earlier confirmed that "the US had no knowledge of or participation in the (Israeli) action," adding in remarks to reporters that, "We're gathering information."