Hamas says ‘ball is completely’ in Israel’s hands in Gaza truce talks
"The negotiating delegation left Cairo heading to Doha. In practice, the occupation (Israel) rejected the proposal submitted by the mediators...Geostrategy
Israel seizes Rafah crossing as Gaza truce talks resume
Egypt's state-linked Al-Qahera News reported that mediators from Qatar, the United States and Egypt were meeting with a Hamas delegation.Geostrategy
Tunisian footballer reaches Italy on migrant boat, says club
TUNIS, TUNISIA - A goalkeeper at a top-flight Tunisian football club has reached Italy as a clandestine migrant, his club said...Tunisia is struggling with a grinding economic crisis that has seen a growing wave of clandestine migration attempts in recent months.
Rome says over 32,000 migrants, including 18,000 Tunisians, reached Italy from Tunisia last year.
Building safety in focus as deadly quake renews alarm for Istanbul
Seismologists warn that a massive earthquake is likely to strike Turkey's biggest city -- officially home to 16 million people...Independent urban scholar Murat Guney said carnage can be avoided if the government has the political will to relocate people from shoddy buildings filling the city's shanty towns.
Guney said Istanbul had around 1,166,000 residential buildings but 70 percent of these constructed before 1999 quake when no quake inspections were conducted.
Syria’s Assad thanks ‘Arab brothers’ for quake aid
The 7.8-magnitude quake hit Turkey and Syria on February 6, leaving a combined death toll of nearly 40,000 people. Since...Some 120 planes laden with assistance have landed in the Syrian airports, about half of them from the United Arab Emirates
At least 3,600 Syrians died in the quake, which came nearly 12 years into the country's civil war - that has devastated swathes of the country
BBC tax raids put India press freedom in spotlight
Just weeks after the BBC aired a documentary examining Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's role in deadly 2002 sectarian riots,...India has fallen 10 spots to 150th on the World Press Freedom Index, compiled by Reporters Without Borders, since Modi took office in 2014.
Criminal complaints were issued against a record 67 journalists in 2020, the latest year for which figures are available, the local civil society group reported.
All hands on deck as UN meets to protect high seas
Another two weeks of negotiations ended with no agreement in August last year, but advocates and officials have expressed cautious...After more than 15 years of talks, the meeting is the third time in less than a year that negotiators are gathering for what is due to be the last round
Ocean ecosystems produce half the planet's oxygen and limit global warming by absorbing a large part of the CO2 emitted by human activities
Quality finance crucial to deal with climate change
"We cannot neglect any element of the climate crisis, including its clear implications for international peace and security,” he adds....Majid Al Suwaidi, Director-General and Special Representative of COP28, calls for catalyzing greater and higher quality climate finance for fragile and vulnerable communities
The UAE will host COP28 in Dubai from 30th November to December 12, which will include the first Global Stocktake to assess progress toward implementation of the Paris Agreement
White House says ‘deeply dismayed’ by Israeli settlements plans
The White House said Thursday it is "deeply dismayed" by Israeli plans for a major expansion of settlements in occupied...The UN Security Council is considering a draft resolution that would demand Israel immediately cease all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory
The 15-member council is likely to vote on Monday on the text, drafted by the United Arab Emirates in coordination with the Palestinians, diplomats told Reuters
UN appeals for $1 billion in aid for Turkey quake victims
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a statement that the funds would provide humanitarian relief for three months to 5.2...Turkey's people have experienced "unspeakable heartache," the UN's Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths said in a separate statement announcing the flash appeal.
Some 47,000 buildings have been destroyed or damaged across Turkey, with thousands of people having sought refuge in temporary shelters.
Iraq marshlands campaigner freed from kidnappers
Baghdad, Iraq---A leading campaigner for the preservation of Iraq's famed southern marshlands has been freed, two weeks after he was kidnapped...Jassim al-Assadi, 65, head of environmentalist group Nature Iraq, was seized on February 1 as he drove to the capital Baghdad on the main motorway from the south.
A hydraulic engineer by profession, Assadi has been involved in numerous initiatives since 2006 to restore the marshlands where he was born.
Repsol’s profit up on high oil prices
The oil firm posted a net profit of $4.55 billion in 2022.Repsol said gas and oil prices "rose sharply during the first half of 2022" due to sanctions imposed against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine
It said the higher earnings had allowed it to boost investments in 2022 by 40 percent over the previous year to 4.18 billion euros,
