Analysis: Israel and Palestinians risk deeper conflict in a distracted world
February 4th, 20230 After bloodshed in Jerusalem and the West Bank and a month since Israel's most right-wing government took office, Israel and the Palestinians risk sliding into a cycle of wider confrontation with pressure on both sides for retaliation, analysts say. A Palestinian gunman shot dead seven people near a synagogue in Jerusalem's outskirts on...
New York woman charged with financing terrorist groups in Syria through cryptocurrency
February 4th, 20230 A New York City woman has been charged with using cryptocurrency to provide financial support to terrorist groups in Syria, a rare prosecution involving virtual currency to fund terrorism. The 11-count indictment charged Victoria Jacobs, 43, who was known as Bakhrom Talipov, with providing support for an act of terrorism, money...
Lebanese central bank devalues official exchange rate: 15,000 liras for one dollar
February 4th, 20230 BEIRUT – Lebanon devalued its official exchange rate for the first time in 25 years on Wednesday, weakening it by 90 percent, but still leaving the local currency well below its market value. The lira has crashed since a financial meltdown in 2019 after decades of corruption, profligate spending and mismanagement by the ruling elite...
leaked British documents reveal former President George W. Bush ordered the CIA to find a replacement for Arafat
February 3rd, 20230 The BBC is reporting that British documents have been leaked confirming former U.S. President George W Bush ordered the CIA to find a replacement for former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. Bush’s order followed the escalation of the Second Intifada in 2001. The CIA effort came after negotiations failed between then-Israeli Prime...
Iran blames Israel for Isfahan drone attack, vows revenge
February 3rd, 20230 Iran blamed Israel for a drone attack on a military factory near the central city of Isfahan, the semi-official ISNA news agency said on Thursday, vowing revenge for what appeared to be the latest episode in a long-running covert war. The attack came amid tension between Iran and the West over Tehran's nuclear activity and its supply of...
Lebanese protest record low value of local currency
January 29th, 20230 BEIRUT – Lebanese protesters burned tires and held up handfuls of local currency bills on Wednesday at the entrance of the Lebanese central bank in Beirut, furious over the spiraling devaluation of the lira. Lebanon's economic meltdown, which began in 2019, has cost the lira around 97 percent of its value. The decline has been...
Lebanese protest as fate of port explosion probe hangs in balance
January 29th, 20230 BEIRUT – More than 200 people protested outside Lebanon's justice palace on Thursday over efforts to derail an investigation into the deadly 2020 Beirut port explosion, as top judges cancelled a meeting to discuss the fate of the inquiry. Judge Tarek Bitar announced on Monday he was resuming his investigation into the blast that...
U.S. concerned over Israeli raid against Palestinian camp ahead of Blinken visit
January 27th, 20230 WASHINGTON, D.C. – Washington is concerned the security situation between the Israelis and Palestinians could worsen ahead of a visit to the Middle East by Secretary of State Antony Blinken starting on Sunday, a U.S. official said, after a deadly raid by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank on Thursday. The top U.S. diplomat...
Jenin resists: Israeli raid at Palestinian refugee camp kills 10, injures dozens
January 26th, 20230 At least 10 Palestinians were killed Thursday during an Israeli raid at the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank. According to the Palestinian health ministry, nine Palestinians were shot and killed by Israeli forces, including an elderly woman, and at least 20 others were seriously wounded. At least four people were in critical...
Saudi foreign minister sees progress to end Yemen conflict
January 22nd, 20230 On Wednesday, Saudi Arabia's foreign minister said progress was being made towards ending the Yemen conflict, in which Riyadh leads a military coalition, but more work was needed, including reinstating a truce and transitioning to a permanent ceasefire. A U.N.-brokered truce deal first agreed to last April, and which expired in...
U.S. senators visit Israel, ask not to meet with far-right ministers
January 20th, 20230 According to an Israeli official, a delegation of U.S. senators arrived in Israel on Tuesday, asking not to meet with far-right ministers Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, along with any other members of their hardline factions. Democratic Senator Jacky Rosen’s office made the request. Rosen co-leads the bipartisan delegation...
Netanyahu says he and White House’s Sullivan discussed prospect of relationship with Saudi Arabia
January 20th, 20230 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, hosting his first senior member of President Biden's administration on Thursday, said they had discussed prospects for a diplomatic breakthrough between Israel and Saudi Arabia. Visiting White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan also heard from the Palestinians that their hopes of...
Arab normalizers face dilemma as Israel goes to the far right
January 16th, 20230 Israel's sharp tilt to what is likely to be the most hard right government in its history puts its new Arab allies in the awkward position of having to deal with ultra-nationalists while trying to do more than just pay lip service to the Palestinian cause. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's cabinet, sworn in two weeks ago, includes...
World Cup 2022 – a promise fulfilled?
January 15th, 20230 By Duggan Flanakin The pyrotechnics have finally settled in Doha on what was a truly sensational and hard fought 2022 World Cup, the stadiums no longer emanating the joyous cheers from audiences who for weeks remained at the edges of their seats, taking in upset after upset — and in the place of pyrotechnics, today Qatar revels in...
Detroit Metro Airport ranks No. 2 for on-time departures in 2022
January 15th, 20230 Air travelers faced delays and cancellations during the holidays, one of the busiest times of the year, as winter weather set in. Still, according to a recent ranking of percentage of on-time departures by an aviation analytics firm, Michigan's biggest airport ranked No. 2 nationally, and No. 4 globally. Of Detroit Metro's nearly......
Former Lebanese Parliament Speaker Hussein al-Husseini, architect of Tiaf Peace Accord, dies at 86
January 14th, 20230 Lebanese Shi'a politician Hussein al-Husseini, a former parliament speaker who was an architect of the peace agreement ending the 1975-90 civil war, died on Wednesday aged 86. Husseini, speaker from 1984 to 1992, was central in asserting a larger role for a Shi'a community that was largely downtrodden at the time, including by helping...
These are the world’s most powerful passports, and the least, to hold in 2023
January 14th, 20230 Henley & Partners have announced the world’s most (and least) powerful passports for 2023. After analyzing exclusive data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA), they developed the index based on the number of destinations passport holders can access without a prior visa. Global travel is now at around......
Israel was never a democracy: So why is the West lamenting end of “liberal” Israel?
Even before the new Israeli government was officially sworn in on December 29, angry reactions began emerging, not only among Palestinians and other Middle Eastern governments, but also among Israel’s historic allies in the West. As early as November 2, top U.S, officials conveyed to Axios that the Biden administration is “unlikely...
U.N. World Arabic Language Day: Americans’ desire to learn Arabic grows
December 24th, 20220 December 18 marked the 10th United Nations World Arabic Language Day, which celebrates the language spoken by more than 300 million people, primarily in the Middle East and North Africa. Arabic is also the fastest-growing language in the United States, according to Census data. Arabic has become the eighth-most taught language in U.S....
Jordanians protest over fuel price increases, day after policeman killed in riots
December 24th, 20220 AMMAN — Jordanians staged sit-ins on Friday, Dec. 16 and activists called for more protests over fuel price increases that have added to a cost-of-living squeeze, a day after riots in a southern city left one police officer dead, witnesses and security sources said. Authorities said the policeman was killed the night of Dec. 15 by a...
Netanyahu says he has secured deal with religious and far-right to form Israeli government
December 21st, 20220 On Wednesday, Benjamin Netanyahu said he had secured a deal to form a new Israeli government after weeks of unexpectedly tough negotiations with religious and far-right coalition partners. "I have managed (to form a government)," Netanyahu said on Twitter, minutes before a midnight deadline set by Israeli President Isaac Herzog. A......
U.S. court decision against Lebanon’s banks gives hope to depositors
December 20th, 20220 A U.S. court of appeals determined this week that cases against Lebanese commercial banks can be tried outside Lebanon, paving the way for more cases by depositors seeking to unlock their frozen funds. The court decision, issued on Thursday in a case brought by Lebanese depositors against leading lender Bank Audi, overturned a federal...
The Nakba Day triumph: How the U.N. Is correcting a historical wrong
December 18th, 20220 The next Nakba Day will be officially commemorated by the United Nations General Assembly on May 15, 2023. The decision by the world’s largest democratic institution is significant, if not a game changer. For nearly 75 years, the Palestinian Nakba, the "Catastrophe" wrought by the ethnic cleansing of Palestine by Zionist militias in......
U.N. approves resolution to commemorate 75th Nakba anniversary
December 17th, 20220 UNITED NATION – The U.N. General Assembly has approved a resolution to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Nakba, a term used to describe the forced displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in the lead-up to the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948. Ninety countries voted in favor of the measure, with 30...
Israeli troops kill Palestinian girl during West Bank firefight
December 16th, 20220 WEST BANK – Israeli forces shot and killed a 16-year-old Palestinian girl during a firefight with militants during a raid in the city of Jenin on Sunday, authorities said, as a wave of violence in the occupied West Bank continued. An Israeli military statement said soldiers hit the girl unintentionally as they returned fire at armed......
