Archives for March, 2021

Lt. Col. Jace Neuenschwander signs a document in Mosul

Intel: US, Iraq to renew talks over troop presence in April

The Biden White House accepted Baghdad's request to kickstart strategic dialogue

Benjamin and Sara Netanyahu vote

Exit polls give Netanyahu path to slim majority

According to exit polls, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu might be able to establish a majority coalition if he gets Yamina leader Naftali Bennett to join him.

Agnes Callamard

UN investigator in Khashoggi case says she was threatened by Saudi official

Agnes Callamard told The Guardian that a UN colleague informed her a visiting Saudi official threatened to have her "taken care of" during a meeting in Geneva in January 2020.

French President Emmanuel Macron talks to the press after a meeting with Libya's interim leaders at the Elysee Palace in Paris on March 23, 2021.

French president announces reopening of embassy in Libya

Emmanuel Macron met with head of Libya’s Presidential Council Mohammad Younes Menfi in Paris on Tuesday.

Practice rocket fired in Gaza

Rocket from Gaza hits Israel on election day

The rocket landed near Beersheba while Prime Minister Netanyahu was campaigning there.

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and the EU Council President Charles Michel hold a video conference call with Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Brussels on March 19, 2021. The call comes as the two neighbors seek to make good on improved ties after a spike in tensions last year over maritime claims in the Eastern Mediterranean. The leaders of the EU's 27 member states are set to discuss the state of relations with Ankara as one of the issues at their summit in Brussels next week.

European Council report presents roadmap for EU-Turkey ties

Ahead of a European Council summit this week, a report by EU Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell laid out a roadmap to deepen bilateral trade despite recent setbacks in Ankara’s human rights record, while outlining economic sanctions should more turbulence arise.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe protest

Iran renews call on UK to pay off outstanding debt

The Iranian government is widely accused of using the case of a jailed British-Iranian activist as a pressure tool to secure the repayment of the long-standing debt.

Samantha Power, nominee to be Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, testifies at her confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on March 23, 2021 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. Power previously served as U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. during the Obama administration. (Photo by Greg Nash-Pool/Getty Images)

USAID nominee takes questions on Yemen, Libya, and Israel at Senate hearing

Former UN Ambassador Samantha Power, who is nominated to head the US government’s international development agency, was asked about Yemen, Libya and Israel before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Washington Pulse

Workers search through debris at a warehouse, after it was reportedly hit in an airstrike by the Saudi-led coalition, Sanaa, Yemen, July, 2, 2020.

As Biden reviews drone use, report highlights civilian toll in Yemen

A report by an independent Yemen-based organization details the civilian cost of US drone strikes in Yemen.

IAKOVOS HATZISTAVROU/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

Egypt-Turkey rivalry goes deeper than politics

Cairo is treading cautiously on Ankara’s fence-mending overtures toward Turkey.

YOSSI ZELIGER/AFP via Getty Images

Israeli president calls on citizens to vote amid lowest turnout since 2009

Israeli political leaders were quick to cast their votes this morning for the fourth time in just two years and are encouraging the rest of the country to show up and do the same.

A man walks past tombstones in the poor neighborhood of the City of the Dead, which houses more than half a million people living inside the graveyard, Cairo, Egypt, Dec. 13, 2016.

Egyptians react to new app bringing dead to life

A new application that allows the animation of pictures of the deceased caused controversy among religious institutions in Egypt.

International Criminal Court's Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda addresses a press conference in Kampala, Uganda, Feb. 27, 2015.

Israel debates penalizing Palestinians for cooperation with ICC

Analysts estimate that the revocation of the VIP border pass of Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki could be a first step in Israel’s reaction to the expected ICC probe.

An Israeli policeman stands outside the former house of the Palestinian Siyam family as a member looks from a gate, during their eviction in the Palestinian neighbourhood of Silwan in east Jerusalem near the Old City on July 10, 2019.

Palestinians in Hebron’s Old City build fence to prevent settlers’ attacks

In the southern West Bank Old City of Hebron, Palestinians built an iron fence in a number of alleys and squares to protect themselves from the stones and trash constantly thrown by settlers to drive them to leave for other Palestinian towns.

Nasser al-Qudwa, a member of Fatah's Central Committee and the nephew of late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, reacts during a press conference in the West Bank City of Ramallah, on January 18, 2017.

Former Palestinian foreign minister unveils 25-point election program

Shortly after Nasser al-Qudwa was dismissed from Fatah due to his insistence on running in the legislative elections separately from the movement, he announced a new group dubbed the Palestinian Democratic Assembly and its extensive electoral program.

Newly constructed towers are seen in this photo, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Dec. 16, 2020.

How are Gulf states allocating COVID-related spending?

Gulf states’ borrowings have risen steadily since 2014, raising questions over the allocation of resources as the oil-rich region faces the challenge to build resilient non-oil economies.