China regulator to ban Evergrande chair from securities market for life
BEIJING, CHINA – Chinese regulators will ban the chairman of property giant Evergrande from the securities market for life on grounds...Business Economy Geostrategy
Oxfam blames Israel for ‘deliberately’ blocking aid to Gaza
Oxfam said in a report that Israel continued to "systematically and deliberately block and undermine any meaningful international humanitarian response"...Geostrategy
After Moscow visit, UN chief to meet Zelensky in Ukraine
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres will meet with President Volodymyr Zelensky in Ukraine next week after a stop in Moscow...Guterres sent letters this week requesting these in-person meetings to try to regain the initiative for the UN
In part this is because the war has divided the UN Security Council permanent members: the United States, France, Britain, China and Russia
Tensions threaten to boil over in Jerusalem’s Muslim quarter
The Old City of Jerusalem, with its Jewish, Muslim, Christian and Armenian quarters, swarms with tourists and pilgrims, security forces,...Muslim and Christian Palestinians as well as rights groups accuse Israeli ultra-nationalist groups of trying to "Judaize" the district in the annexed eastern sector of the city.
And in what Palestinians see as a blatant provocation, Jewish hardliners have been stepping up visits to the esplanade.
Portuguese man detained over Beirut blast
Spanish authorities said Thursday they had arrested and then granted conditional release to a Portuguese man wanted by Interpol over...Moreira is wanted in Lebanon for allegedly having brought explosives into the country
He is wanted in Lebanon for the crimes of "terrorism" and "causing death through the use of explosives."
Turkey calls in Iraq envoy to defend new offensive
Iraq’s charge d’affaires was called in a day after officials in Baghdad denied Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s claim that...Iraq’s charge d’affaires was called in a day after officials in Baghdad denied Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s claim that they backed the offensive
Erdogan said on Wednesday that Turkey’s push into the mountains of northern Iraq was being conducted in “close cooperation with the central Iraqi government."
Parched Iraq’s water resources ‘down 50 percent’
Oil-rich Iraq, despite its mighty Tigris and Euphrates rivers, is classified as one of the world's five countries most vulnerable...Iraq which shares the Tigris and Euphrates with Turkey and Syria often protests that their upstream construction of dams has endangered its water resources.
World has Bank warned that Iraq, a country of 41 million people, could suffer a 20-percent decline in drinking water resources by 2050 due to climate change.
Courts in Iraq sentence eight to death
Eight people have been sentenced to death in Iraq, half of them over a 2020 car bombing in the city...A criminal court in Anbar, a province in western Iraq, "sentenced four terrorists to death by hanging for setting off a car bomb in Ramadi"
Amnesty International said in a report last year that Iraq was the world's fourth leading executioner
Putin hails ‘liberation’ of Mariupol, but nixes steel plant raid
President Vladimir Putin said the ‘liberation’ of Mariupol was a ‘success’ for Russian forces, but also ordered Defense Minister Sergei...Taking full control of Mariupol on the Azov Sea would be a major strategic victory for Russia
It will help Russia connect annexed Crimea to the territories of separatists in eastern Ukraine
Libya’s oil industry falls hostage again to political schism
The National Oil Company (NOC) has this week declared a halt to operations at two major oil export terminals and...The closure is a manifestation of playing out between the parallel administrations of Fathi Bashagha and Abdulhamid Dbeibah
The shutdowns in Libya further squeeze global supply and represent an additional source of upward pressure for prices.
Erdogan claims that Iraq backed Turkey’s push against Kurdish militants
The Turkish leader’s comments came a day after Iraq summoned Turkey’s ambassador to Baghdad to lodge a formal protest against...The Turkish leader’s comments came a day after Iraq summoned Turkey’s ambassador to Baghdad to lodge a formal protest against Erdogan’s latest military campaign
Turkey’s armed forces have reported the death of two soldiers and dozens of Kurdish militants since the launch Sunday of their third offensive in northern Iraq
Ukraine vows to fight to the end in Mariupol as ultimatum expires
Ukraine on Sunday vowed to fight to the end in Mariupol after a Russian ultimatum expired for remaining forces to...Ukrainian President described the situation in Mariupol as "inhuman" and called on Western allies to provide heavy weapons.
"The city still has not fallen," says Ukrainian Prime Minister adding that "Our military is still there and they will fight till the end".
