Tag: Region Middle East

Britain moving jets to Middle East to support regional security, PM Starmer says

Britain is moving additional military assets, including fighter jets, to the Middle East to provide support across the region, Prime Minister Keir Starmer told reporters on June 14, as he was en route to a Group of Seven meeting in Canada. Iran and Israel traded missiles and airstrikes on June 14, a day after Israel launched an air offensive against its old enemy, killing commanders and scientists and bombing nuclear sites in a stated bid to stop it building an…

Turkish court issues arrest warrant for owner of pro-opposition TV channel

An Istanbul court has issued an arrest warrant for the owner of a television channel aligned with Turkey’s main opposition party on charges of bid-rigging, the prosecutor’s office said late on Tuesday. The arrest warrant for Cafer Mahiroglu, owner of Halk TV, was issued as part of an investigation into an alleged criminal organisation suspected of rigging public tenders by bribing public officials. Several main opposition CHP members including district mayors were arrested under the investigation, part of a widening…

The New Balance of Power in the Middle East

During his visit to the Middle East in May, U.S. President Donald Trump did several things that few would have predicted months or even weeks earlier. One was his surprise meeting with Syria’s new leader, Ahmed al-Shara, and the subsequent lifting of U.S. sanctions on Syria, notwithstanding Shara’s history as a leader of a militant Islamist group. Another was his decision not to include Israel on the itinerary, despite his administration’s ongoing efforts to end the war in Gaza. The…

Did the Feds Label You a Covid “Violent Extremist?”

Biden administration policy-makers hated you more than you knew. From the start of the Covid pandemic, I warned that the feds were vilifying anyone who failed to kowtow to the latest commands. In October 2023, I wrote: “Federal bureaucrats heaved together a bunch of letters to contrive an ominous new acronym for the latest peril to domestic tranquility. The result: AGAAVE—’anti-government, anti-authority violent extremism’—which looks like a typo for a sugar substitute. The FBI vastly expanded the supposed AGAAVE peril by…

Dozens of Palestinians massacred at US-Israel backed food distribution sites

Jerusalem – Dozens of Palestinians were killed and hundreds more injured today, 1 June, as they waited for food at the newly created Gaza Humanitarian Foundation distribution centres in Rafah and close to the Netzarim Corridor, according to the Ministry of Health. Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) teams joined the mass casualty response in Nasser hospital, Khan Younis. Patients told MSF they were shot from all sides by drones, helicopters, boats, tanks and Israeli soldiers on the ground. “Today’s…

Gaza being deliberately asphyxiated by Israeli forces

As part of the expansion of their ground operations, Israeli forces have issued widescale evacuation orders, further limiting people’s access to medical care and MSF’s ability to provide it. On 19 May, for example, an evacuation order covering almost the entire eastern part of Khan Younis, at the edge of Nasser hospital, forced people to immediately move towards Al-Mawasi area. The Site Management Cluster estimates that over 138,900 people were forcibly displaced between 15-20 May. The intensified Israeli bombardments and evacuation…

Gaza has become a mass grave for Palestinians and those helping them

MSF considers that only international and independent investigations can bring to light the circumstances of, and the responsibilities for, these attacks on aid workers. Although the situation has already been catastrophic for over 18 months, over the past three weeks, MSF has witnessed several incidents involving the killing of humanitarian and medical workers. The coordination of humanitarian movements with Israeli authorities, known as the Humanitarian Notification System, an already imperfect mechanism, has become more unreliable and is now barely affording…

Hungary amends constitution to ban gay parades

Hungarian MPs have passed changes declaring that children’s rights to moral development supersede the right to peaceful assembly The Hungarian parliament has approved a constitutional amendment that upholds a ban on public LGBTQ+ events earlier introduced in the country. Hungarian MPs voted in legislation last month prohibiting gay parades and allowing the authorities to use facial recognition technology to identify their participants and issue fines of $500. The law was introduced by the ruling Fidesz party of Prime Minister Viktor…

Video: Bodies of eight missing paramedics found in Gaza mass grave

The Palestine Red Crescent says it’s located the bodies of eight of the nine paramedics who went missing about a week ago. The medics had been surrounded by Israeli forces while responding to the scene of an attack in Rafah. Gaza’s Health Ministry says their bodies had been discovered in a hole, and that some were bound and had gunshot wounds to the chest. Mads Gilbert, professor of Emergency Medicine at Norway’s University of Tromso weighs in.

UK MPs barred from entering Israel

Two pro-Palestinian British MPs were denied entry to Israel and subsequently deported after local authorities accused them of misrepresenting the nature of their visit and planning to promote campaigns targeting the state. Abtisam Mohamed and Yuan Yang, both members of the governing Labour Party, landed in Tel Aviv at 2:30pm local time on Saturday, accompanied by two aides. During questioning at Ben Gurion Airport, they told border officers they were part of an official UK parliamentary delegation – a claim…

Israel launches first air strike on Lebanon’s Beirut since November truce

Israeli attack destroys a residential building in a Beirut suburb as France’s Macron decries ‘unacceptable’ strike. Israel has carried out an air strike on Lebanon’s capital for the first time since a fragile truce between the Israeli army and the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah in November halted a war between the two. Residents fled as a building was flattened in the Hadath neighbourhood in Beirut’s southern suburbs on Friday when Israel carried out four strikes – an attack reminiscent of…

Zelensky speaks out on US-Ukraine talks in Saudi Arabia

Ukraine’s leader has expressed readiness to enter a US-proposed energy truce with Russia Ukraine’s leader, Vladimir Zelensky, has offered his take on negotiations in Saudi Arabia shortly after the White House released two statements on the US contacts with Kiev’s and Moscow’s respective delegations. Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, Zelensky expressed readiness to observe US President Donald Trump’s proposed agreement to mutually halt strikes on energy facilities with Russia, as well as to stop fighting in the Black…

Court Orders USAGM To Halt Moves To Close Radio Free Europe

For over three years, Syed Abdul Samad Muzoon, a middle-aged former Afghan security official, has lived with his wife and their teenage daughter in Pakistan to pursue immigration to the United States. During Washington’s nearly two-decade-long war in Afghanistan, he worked for the Afghan security forces in sensitive roles, he said, helping the US war effort. Yet, there is still no clarity on whether they will ever be able to make a fresh start in the United States because of…

Kremlin says Iran has right to nuclear energy, acting in line with international law

“Iran has the right to peaceful nuclear energy and is acting in line with international law,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday. Peskov said Moscow accepted Iran’s statements that it has no intention of obtaining nuclear weapons. Iran was one of the topics discussed in a long phone call between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin this week, after which the White House said the two leaders “shared the view that Iran should never be in a…

News from Russia: Israeli jets attack military airfield in southern Syria

Israeli warplanes attacked the Khalkhalah military airfield, located in the vicinity of the administrative center of the province of Suwayda in southern Syria. According to the Syria TV channel, several explosions were heard in the area of the former Syrian air base. The consequences of the attack are unknown. On March 10, Israeli planes attacked the area of the 89th artillery regiment of the former Syrian army in the southern province of Deraa. The base of the 12th Armored Division was also bombed. The command post, ammunition depots, and fuel storage were destroyed. / End of Content /

Chinese DeepSeek challenges US AI market

The following article is from a Russian news source, Tass, which is controlled by the Russian Government. China’s DeepSeek has transformed the global market of artificial intelligence (AI) and has put the leadership of the US in this sphere at jeopardy, the Foreign Affairs magazine said. According to its estimates, DeepSeek is paving the way for China to dominate in the global AI market. The technology of artificial intelligence may create an edge in the military sector, which further emphasizes…