Archives for July, 2023

TOPSHOT - A member of a Ukrainian volunteer unit and a computer science student Valdemar, 19, poses in the unit's gun position used to counter threats during air-raid sirens, in a suburb of Kyiv on February 28, 2023. - Colonel "Smak" and his Ukrainian volunteer unit of 80 civilian volunteers take turns day and night keeping watch for incoming threats: Iranian-made "Shahed" explosive drones launched by the Russians. Since October, the unit - whose machine gun dates back to the 1920s - has shot down three suc

Analysis

Can Iran's Shahed drones in Ukraine help ease tension with Russia?

Tensions that emerged after Iran summoned the Russian ambassador over Moscow's comments on disputed islands with the UAE has once again highlighted the limits of trust in bilateral relations between the two.

Anton Mardasov

By Anton Mardasov

Members of the Amhara militia ride in the back of a pickup truck in the city of Gondar, Ethiopia.

Israeli kidnapped in Ethiopia released after 3 weeks in captivity

Three weeks after he was reported kidnapped, Israeli-Ethiopian citizen Francis Adbabayi was released and united with his sons.

A picture taken during a guided tour organized by Egypt's State Information Service on Feb. 11, 2020.

Why Senate Democrats are urging Biden to withhold part of Egypt's military aid

The letter led by Sen. Chris Murphy called for the Biden administration to withhold $320 million from Egypt's annual military assistance package.

Lebanese anti-government protesters hold a mask of Lebanon's Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh during a protest in front of the central bank headquarters in Beirut to protest against the economic policies of the bank on November 27, 2019. - Since September, debt-saddled Lebanon has had a liquidity crisis, with banks rationing the supply of dollars. As a result, the dollar exchange rate on the parallel market has topped 2,000 Lebanese pounds -- a spike from the pegged rate of 1,507. (Photo by JOSEPH EID / A

Lebanon's scorned central bank chief Riad Salameh steps down

Salameh is under investigation in both Lebanon and Europe for financial crimes as Lebanon’s economic crisis continues.

Relatives mourn over the caskets of 11 people killed in Turkish airstrikes.

US, Russia mum as Turkey escalates attacks against Kurdish groups in Syria, Iraq

Both the White House and the State Department remain silent as Turkey's military campaign against the PKK continues "full blast."

Shell St Fergus Gas Plant in Aberdeenshire

Analysis

Expanded UK-Turkey trade deal seen as win-win, could include services

The current deal does not account for services, which form integral parts of the British and Turkish economies.

In Bristol, reporting on regional business, climate change, AI, tech

MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images

Analysis

Top Israeli official says country won't block Saudi civil nuclear program

Amid reports that Saudi Arabia is conditioning normalization with Israel on Washington's approval to start a civil nuclear program, a top Israeli official says Israeli support is not out of the question.

Rina Bassist

By Rina Bassist

In Paris, reporting on Israeli politics and European affairs

Migrants have been abandoned by Tunisian security forces in the desert, according to Libyan border guards and the migrants themselves

Migrants between life and death in Tunisia-Libya desert

Agence France-Presse

This aerial photo taken on August 4, 2019 shows tugboats berthing an oil tanker at Qingdao port in Qingdao in China's eastern Shandong province. - China's good shipments abroad beat expectations to rise in July while its purchases continued to shrink, official data showed on August 8. (Photo by AFP) / China OUT (Photo by STR/AFP via Getty Images)

Iran's oil shipments to China triple in 3 years despite sanctions

Iran’s strengthening ties to China have prompted some senators to call for more sanctions.

Smoke billows during inside Ain al-Helweh Palestinian refugee camp in the Lebanese coastal city of Sidon

UN reports 11 killed as clashes rock Lebanon Palestinian camp

Agence France-Presse

A bag of rice is unloaded from a truck at an Indian grains depot near New Delhi on August 27, 2013, one day after the Indian parliament passed a flagship 18-billion-dollar programme to provide subsidised food to the poor that is intended to "wipe out" endemic hunger and malnutrition in the aspiring superpower. Despite decades of fast economic growth, India still struggles to feed its 1.2-billion population adequately with more than 40 percent of children under five malnourished, according to a major survey

Analysis

UAE rice ban after major exporter India spikes global supply fears

The UAE was the world's 16th-largest importer of rice in 2021 and the majority of it came from India.

By Salim A. Essaid

Benjamin Netanyahu train

Israel’s north-south rail project will link to Saudi Arabia, Netanyahu says

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is optimistic about the possibility of connecting Israel to the Saudi and wider Gulf rail network.

Smoke rises during clashes in Ain al-Hilweh camp, Lebanon's largest Palestinian refugee camp, near the southern coastal city of Sidon, Feb. 28, 2017.

What’s behind Palestinian violence in Lebanon’s Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp?

Lebanon’s largest refugee camp, Ain al-Hilweh, is no stranger to violence between rival Palestinian factions.

Jamshid Sharmahd, 66, potentially faces the death penalty for 'corruption on earth' in connection with a 2008 mosque bombing

Three years of anguish for family of Iran death row German

Agence France-Presse

Some 40 patients are treated at Al-Canal Center for Social Rehabilitation in Baghdad amid a spike in drug abuse

Battling drug crisis, Iraq searches for cure

Agence France-Presse

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas (C) meeting with a delegation of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine ahead of talks in El Alamein

Palestinian rivals form 'reconciliation committee'

Agence France-Presse