Author: Steven Sahiounie

The EU’s top foreign policy official Josep Borrell has urged for an extension of the truce that is due to end on Tuesday. “The pause should be extended to make it sustainable and long-lasting while working for a political solution,” he said at the start of a meeting of the intergovernmental organisation Union for the Mediterranean in Barcelona. “Nothing can justify the indiscriminate brutality Hamas unleashed against civilians on October 7,” he said. “But one horror cannot justify another horror.” Source: AlJazeera

Addressing violations of human rights is top of the agenda for the 22nd regular session of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation’s Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission, which kicked off on Sunday and will continue for five days at the organization’s headquarters in Jeddah. The session is being held under the theme “Reforms for a Better Future,” and is organized in cooperation with the Saudi Human Rights Commission. Among those attending the opening day were Hala bint Mazyad Al-Tuwaijri, the commission’s president; Yalmaz Tunc, Turkiye’s minister of justice; Mohammed Lawal Sulaiman, IPHRC chairperson; and Noura Al-Rashoud, IPHRC executive director. Representatives of…

2-day event will only discuss humanitarian crisis in Gaza, regional situation, says Turkish Foreign Ministry Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan will attend the eighth regional forum of the Union of the Mediterranean on Nov. 26-27. According to a statement by the Turkish Foreign Ministry on Sunday, Hakan Fidan will travel to Barcelona to attend the event, in which “humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the regional situation” will be discussed as the only agenda item. Fidan will also meet with his Spanish counterpart Jose Manuel Albares, along with other foreign ministers assigned by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation-Arab League Extraordinary Joint…

While Israel is seizing the Palestinian funds, extremist Israeli Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich, wants to allocate millions of dollars in the 2023 budget to entrench colonization in the Palestinian territories, today said the official presidential spokesman, Nabil Abu Rudeineh. He said in a statement that this proposal comes within the framework of the comprehensive war waged by the Israeli occupation authorities against the Palestinian people, their land, and their sanctities in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including Jerusalem. Abu Rudeineh said that this proposal comes at a time when Israel is withholding Palestinian clearance funds and continuing its…

In a statement posted on X, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he spoke with his Egyptian counterpart, Sameh Shoukry, to thank Cairo for its role in reaching a deal for the release of Hamas captives. He said he also discussed with Shoukry on the need to reduce civilian harm as well as “increasing aid to Gaza, and steps toward a prosperous and viable Palestinian state”. Blinken, however, did not comment on reports of diplomatic efforts to extend the truce. source: AlJazeera

Freed Palestinian prisoners have embraced family members and relatives after returning to their homes in the occupied West Bank. Israel has now released 117 Palestinian prisoners, many of whom are boys under 18 years of age, with some as young as 14. Source: AlJazeera

Biden will not attend COP28 to deal with the challenges of managing the ongoing Gaza war and the anticipated intensification of his presidential campaign in January. US President Joe Biden is expected to miss the opening of COP 28 this week, but will instead send top US officials to the UN climate summit in Dubai this week, the White House confirmed. Biden attended the previous two COP summits and has put tackling climate change at the center of his policymaking. Environmental policy forms a key part of his administration’s national security strategy. As per the New York Times, Senior White House aides suggested that…

Saudi Arabia has trade exchanges with the Russian Federation reaching about $1.6 billion and Iran’s route is one of the most appropriate routes for the transport of goods between the two countries. As the largest exporter of crude oil in the world, Saudi Arabia has always depended on oil revenues in a way that half of the gross domestic product (GDP) of the country is obtained from oil revenues. Now Saudi Arabia seeks to play a role in the international corridors. Following intensive negotiations in March 2023, Iran and Saudi Arabia normalized their relations after seven years of hiatus and this can…

Speaking at the ground-breaking ceremony of the construction project of the second phase of the Imam Khomeini Airport City on Saturday, Mehrdad Bazrpash described it as one of the most important, strategic and largest development projects in the country. The roads minister called on the private sector activists to assist the ministry in implementing the project. The first phase of the development of Imam Khomeini International Airport (IKIA), costing $500 million, will come on stream in March 2025, he added. The minister said a Chinese company will invest more than €2 billion for the completion of the construction operation of the second…

In its latest report, the association said the major steel production companies in the world produced more than 1.5 billion tons of crude steel from January to October 2023, showing a 0.2 percent hike compared to last year’s corresponding period. According to the report, Iran managed to retain its 10th rank among the world’s major steel producers in steel production terms. The 71 giant steel producers in the world produced 150 million tons of crude steel in October 2023, registering a 0.6 percent growth compared to the same period last year. Iran managed to produce 3.1 million tons of crude steel in…