Israel bars Jerusalem’s top Muslim cleric from Al-Aqsa: lawyer
Israeli authorities have banned Jerusalem's top Muslim cleric from entering the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound for six months over a recent...
Geostrategy
UN starts new bid to forge plastics treaty amid ‘global crisis’
Geneva, Switzerland -- Nations must resolve the global plastics crisis, the head of UN talks told negotiators from 180 countries...
Geostrategy
Geostrategy
Egypt to set up framework to regulate streaming platform content
Egypt is to establish a licensing framework for digital entertainment platforms like Netflix that will require them to conform to...
- The announcement comes just days after Saudi Arabia and its Gulf neighbours asked Netflix to drop content that conflicted with Islamic social values.
- Egypt's Supreme Council for Media Regulation vowed to take the "necessary steps in the event of the streaming of content contrary to the values of society".
Economy
UN says human progress set back five years by Covid
Depicting a gloomy picture of the state of human progress, a United Nations report argues that an unprecedented array of...
- The Human Development Index has steadily risen for decades, but began sliding in 2020 and continued its fall in 2021, erasing the gains of the preceding five years
- A large contributor to the Human Development Index's recent decline is a global drop in life expectancy, down from 73 years in 2019 to 71.4 years in 2021
Business
UN says Iran can make a nuclear bomb in three weeks
The UN atomic watchdog has warned Iran has enough enriched uranium to make a bomb in three weeks and that...
- The IAEA has been demanding answers from Iran on the presence of nuclear material at three undeclared sites
- The latest reports come as talks to revive the 2015 nuclear deal to curb Iran’s nuclear program remain stalled
Geostrategy
US condemns Iran’s cyberattack on Albania, its ally
US has threatened to launch ‘further action’ against Iran for what it called an ‘unprecedented’ cyberattack against its ally Albania....
- The incident comes as the United States and European powers struggle to salvage an agreement that would impose strict controls on Iran's controversial nuclear sector
- Albania's Prime Minister Edi Rama accused Iran of directing a cyberattack against Albanian institutions on July 15 in a bid to "paralyze public services and hack data"
Geostrategy
Tunisia’s opposition alliance to boycott December elections
Tunisia's main opposition alliance said Wednesday its members including the once-powerful Ennahdha party would boycott December polls to replace a...
- The vote is set for nearly a year and a half after President Kais Saied suspended the Ennahdha-dominated assembly and sacked the government.
- Saied was welcomed by many Tunisians tired of what they saw as a fractious and corrupt system established after the 2011 revolution.
Geostrategy
Qatar reopens mothballed Doha airport to ease World Cup traffic
The Doha airport has been in semi-retirement since it was replaced in 2014 by the nearby Hamad International Airport, which...
- Hamad International Airport was used by three million passengers in June alone and 8.42 million in the second quarter of 2022, 18 percent higher than Q1 traffic.
- But with 150,000 people a day expected to arrive during the peak days of the World Cup, some aviation analysts have said Hamad airport might struggle to cope.
Geostrategy
EU seeks closer ties with gas-rich Qatar, opens office in Doha
The European Union opened an office in Qatar on Wednesday in a sign of the Gulf state's growing influence in solving...
- Qatar is one of the world's top suppliers of liquefied natural gas and growing requests have been made by Germany and other European nations.
- The EU wants closer ties on "the energy sector, economic development, security challenges", EU council president Charles Michel said.
Geostrategy
Erdogan says West staging ‘provocations’ against Russia
Erdogan has maintained good working relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin while trying to stay neutral in the conflict and...
- Erdogan has tried to use his open relations with both Moscow and Kyiv to try to arrange direct talks between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Turkey.
- Turkey has not joined the Western sanctions regime against Russia and signed a new economic cooperation agreement with Moscow during a summit between Putin and Erdogan in Sochi.
Geostrategy
UN gives Gaza children tablets to connect with world
Children make up nearly half of Gaza's population of 2.3 million. Most of them have never been able to leave...
- Some 890 tablets are being handed out this week at schools run by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, following a pilot that saw a few dozen devices given to children last year
- The 15-year blockade of the enclave led by Israel has crippled Gaza's economy, leaving 74 percent of young graduates unemployed.
Geostrategy
Truss to meet cabinet, face MPs on first full day in power
The 47-year-old won an internal ballot of Tory members on Monday, securing 57 percent of the vote, after a grueling...
- After Cabinet, Truss will travel to the House of Commons to spar with opposition Labor leader Keir Starmer, in the rival pair's first Prime Minister's Questions session
- Truss pitched herself to the Tory grassroots as a tax-cutting free-trade champion ready to slash taxes immediately to turbo-charge growth
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Israel bars Jerusalem’s top Muslim cleric from Al-Aqsa: lawyer
Israeli authorities have banned Jerusalem's top Muslim cleric from entering the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound for six months over a recent...
Geostrategy
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Israel claims to have hit 4,500 Hizbollah targets in five months
Jerusalem--The Israeli army said Tuesday it hit about 4,500 Hizbollah targets in Lebanon and Syria over the past five months,...
Geostrategy
GCC sets pace for global decarbonization efforts
The region is in decarbonizing the built environment, with a focus on sustainable urban planning, energy-efficient buildings, and renewable energy...
Economy
Morocco dispatches aid to Gaza through Israeli airport
A diplomatic source said the food aid has arrived at Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv before being transferred to...
Geostrategy
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Geostrategy
Qatar says Israel and Hamas are ‘not near a deal’ on Gaza truce
"We are not near a deal, meaning that we are not seeing both sides converging on language that can resolve...
- All parties were "continuing to work in the negotiations to reach a deal hopefully within the confines of Ramadan", Ansari told a news conference.
- Qatar previously mediated a one-week break in fighting in late November that led to the release of scores of Israeli and foreign hostages.
Geostrategy
Hizbollah says launched over 100 rockets at Israeli positions
Hamas ally Hizbollah and Israel have exchanged near-daily cross-border fire since the Gaza war erupted in October, but several Israeli...
- On Monday, Israeli air strikes near Lebanon's eastern city of Baalbek killed one person, in the second raid on the Hizbollah stronghold since cross-border hostilities began
- The Israeli military confirmed its jets had hit two sites belonging to "Hizbollah's aerial forces" in retaliation for strikes on the occupied Golan Heights over several days
Geostrategy
US hits targets in Yemen as Houthis vow to step up attacks
The Houthis claimed responsibility for the attack on the Pinocchio in a statement early Tuesday, maintaining the missile strike "was...
- CENTCOM said that the strikes were carried out after the Houthis fired two missiles
- Houthis said the attacks would be "in support of the oppressed Palestinian people"