Lebanon’s COVID-19 spike overwhelms battered hospitals and exhausted doctors
January 18th, 20210 BEIRUT — COVID-19 patients wait on pavements outside hospitals in Beirut, where emergency rooms are packed and intensive care beds full. Inside, exhausted healthcare workers are succumbing themselves — doctors at one hospital, asking not to be named, said around 40 percent of staff were sick or in isolation. Countries...
Top U.N. officials urge U.S. to revoke blacklisting of Yemen’s Houthis, warn of famine
January 14th, 20210 NEW YORK — On Thursday, three top United Nations officials all called on the United States to revoke its decision to designate Yemen’s Houthis a foreign terrorist organization, warning it would push the country into a large-scale famine and chill peace efforts. U.N. Yemen mediator Martin Griffiths, U.N. aid chief Mark Lowcock and...
International year in review: Palestinians betrayed, calamity in Beirut, crisis in Yemen
January 14th, 20210 The following is a year in review for the top international news that we covered in 2020. Palestinians betrayed, calamity in Beirut, crisis in Yemen. Protests in Lebanon over deepening economic crisis Authorities in some of the most populous areas of Lebanon cracked down on mass protest by Lebanese expressing their frustration...
2021: Palestine’s chance of fighting back
January 12th, 20210 2020 will go down in history as the year that terminated the American-sponsored “peace process.” While 2021 will not reverse the monumental change in the U.S. attitude and objectives in Palestine, Israel and the Middle East, the new year presents Palestinians with the opportunity to think outside the American box. The previous...
In Trump’s final days, Netanyahu orders more settler homes built
January 11th, 20210 JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered construction plans advanced on Monday for some 800 Jewish settler homes in the occupied West Bank, anchoring the projects in the final days of the pro-settlement Trump administration. Palestinians condemned such construction as illegal. The timing of the move appeared to be...
Leaders from around the world react to Capitol Hill protests
January 7th, 20210 Leaders from around the world have been commenting on the pro-Trump riots that took place at Capitol Hill during the election certification. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that he was watching the events minute by minute. “Canadians are deeply disturbed and saddened by the attack on democracy in the United States,...
“Long live the (dead) peace process”: Abbas prioritizes U.S. ties over Palestinian national unity
December 10th, 20200 No one seemed as excited about the election of Joe Biden being the next president of the United States as Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. When all hope seemed lost, where Abbas found himself desperate for political validation and funds, Biden arrived like a conquering knight on a white horse and swept the Palestinian...
U.K. warns people with serious allergies to avoid Pfizer vaccine after two adverse reactions
December 9th, 20200 LONDON — Britain’s medicine regulator has advised that people with a history of significant allergies do not get the Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine after two people reported severe adverse reactions on the first day of rollout. Starting with the elderly and frontline workers, Britain began mass vaccinating its population on...
Iran says “smart satellite-controlled machine gun” killed top nuclear scientist
December 8th, 20200 TEHRAN — The killing of Iran’s top nuclear scientist last month was carried out remotely with artificial intelligence and a machine gun equipped with a “satellite-controlled smart system”, Tasnim news agency quoted a senior commander as saying. Iran has blamed Israel for the assassination of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, who was seen...
“Truth is lost” as Michigan’s immigrant communities hit with misinformation on closed platforms
November 28th, 20201 Closed messaging apps popular among Michigan’s immigrant communities and those with families living abroad are crawling with misinformation. It is a hard problem to capture. Closed and encrypted messaging apps such as WhatsApp make it cheap and easy for users to send texts and make phone calls. But, many of the app’s group...
UAE halts new visas to citizens of 13 mostly Muslim states
November 28th, 20200 DUBAI — The United Arab Emirates has stopped issuing new visas to citizens of 13 mostly Muslim-majority countries, including Iran, Syria, Afghanistan and Pakistan, according to a document issued by a state-owned business park. A source briefed on the matter told Reuters the visas had temporarily stopped being issued to Afghans,...
“Total reset” is wishful thinking: The daunting task of reordering U.S. foreign policy
November 28th, 20200 A new term has imposed itself on the conversation regarding the impending presidency of President-elect Biden: “The Total Reset.” Many headlines have already promised that the Biden presidency is ready to “reset” U.S. foreign policy across the globe, as if the matter is dependent solely on an American desire and...
No normalization, but Saudi Arabia and Israel ready to gang up on Iran
November 26th, 20200 RIYADH — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman earlier this week, despite a denial of the meeting by Israeli officials. On the discussion table was a country that has played the role of boogeyman for both Israel and its allies in the U.S. government: Iran. The two leaders talked...
Syria’s longtime Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem dies at age 79
November 21st, 20200 DAMASCUS – Syria’s longtime Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem, a career diplomat who became one of the country’s most prominent faces to the outside world during the uprising against President Bashar Assad, died on Monday. He was 79. Al-Moallem, who served as ambassador to Washington for nine years, starting in 1990 during...
Future of American democracy: On inequality, polarization and violence
November 18th, 20200 In January 2017, the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU)’s Democracy Index downgraded the state of democracy in the United States from “full democracy” to “flawed democracy.” The demotion of a country that has constantly prided itself, not only on being democratic but also on championing democracy throughout the world, took......
We can stop COVID-19: Moderna vaccine success gives world more hope
November 16th, 20200 Moderna Inc’s experimental vaccine is 94.5 percent effective in preventing COVID-19 based on interim data from a late-stage trial, the company said on Monday, becoming the second U.S. drugmaker to report results that far exceed expectations. Together with Pfizer Inc’s vaccine, which is also more than 90 percent effective, and...
Nowhere to go: Displaced Iraqis desperate as camps close
November 14th, 20200 MOSUL — Iraq has started closing camps housing tens of thousands of people, including many who fled their homes during the final battle against ISIS, but aid groups warn this could create a second wave of displacement with dire consequences. Among those having to leave are 50-year-old Umm Ahmed and her two sons, who have lived at......
Hope is elusive in troubled Middle East
November 5th, 20200 Where is the hope for the Middle East? No matter how hard we try, it is hard to find grounds for optimism about the future of this troubled region. The Middle East has been a focus of American foreign policy for decades. The time, talent and resources that the United States has spent on challenges in the Middle East are staggering,...
Israeli delegation travels to Sudan to discuss normalization, Sudanese PM ready for ties with Israel
October 23rd, 20200 KHARTOUM – On Thursday, Sudan’s Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok indicated he was ready to proceed with normalizing relations with Israel once a yet-to-be-formed transitional parliament has approved the step, two Sudanese government sources told Reuters. The comments are the clearest sign that Hamdok, under pressure from the United...
Yemen’s warring parties start prisoner swap, raising peace prospects
October 17th, 20200 SANAA – On Thursday, planes carrying prisoners exchanged by the warring parties in Yemen took off from three airports in an operation to return about 1,000 men home and help build the trust to enable fresh talks to end a devastating war. The Saudi-led military coalition and Yemen’s Houthi movement agreed last month in Switzerland to...
America’s standing in the world
October 15th, 20200 Call it American exceptionalism or not, the American people have always embraced the idea that we live in an exceptional country. We are grateful to be Americans. We take a lot of pride in our country, as we should. Pride and patriotism are among America’s greatest strengths. Having said that, we need to be clear-eyed about our......
Despite ambiguity in international law, Palestinians are winning the “legitimacy war”
October 14th, 20200 “International law” remains one of the most discussed terms in the context of the Israeli occupation of Palestine. It is almost always present, whether the discussion pertains to the Israeli wars and siege on Gaza, the expansion of illegal Jewish settlements in the West Bank or the encroaching apartheid throughout Israel and the...
Lebanon asks Interpol to arrest Russian ship captain, owner over port explosion
October 2nd, 20200 BEIRUT (REUTERS) – Lebanon has asked Interpol to issue arrest warrants for the Russian captain and owner of the ship that brought the explosive material that detonated at Beirut port in August, killing nearly 200 people, state media reported on Thursday. About two months after the explosion that injured thousands and ravaged the......
In lieu of a liberation strategy: Palestinian elections are designed to buy time
October 1st, 20200 It is abundantly clear that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has underestimated the seriousness of the challenges facing Palestine and the Palestinians. The rushed agreement between his party, Fatah, and Hamas in Istanbul on September 24, and the Palestinian leader’s speech at the 75th session of the U.N. General...
How do Democrats and Republicans differ on Palestine and Israel?
September 23rd, 20200 The polarized nature of American politics often makes it difficult to address fundamental differences between the country’s two main political rivals, Republicans and Democrats. As each side is intent on discrediting the other at every opportunity, unbiased information regarding the two parties’ actual stances on internal and......
