Author: Steven Sahiounie

Four Palestinian detainees remain on an open-ended hunger strike today for varying periods in protest of their unfair detention, without charges or trial, under Israel’s so-called administrative detention policy. Kayed al-Fasfous, 34, and Sultan Khlouf, 42, have been on hunger strike for 31 days. The third detainee, Iyad Baraqa, 24, has been on hunger strike for 24 days, while detainee Maher al-Akhras has been on hunger strike for 11 days, all in protest of being detained without charges or trial. Last month, the PLO Commission for Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs urged the international community to break its silence over the…

Exiting the country is more complicated than most realize, Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg has claimed More than 90% of Western businesses that were present in Russia before the conflict with Ukraine broke out are still operating in the country, Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg said on Thursday. In an interview with German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Schallenberg also highlighted that Russian companies are still active in Austria and Germany, while Vienna’s dependence on gas supplies from the sanctions-hit country remains high. “Exit from the Russian market is a far more complicated process than it is often described,” Schallenberg said. Austria’s…

Facing political pressure, the organization has re-imposed its ban on Russian, Belarusian, and Iranian envoys The Nobel Foundation has reversed its decision to invite ambassadors from Russia, Belarus, and Iran to its annual awards ceremony in Sweden in December. The foundation’s previous decision to invite these ambassadors provoked outrage from Ukrainian and Swedish politicians. Russia and Belarus were barred from last year’s awards ceremony over the conflict in Ukraine, while Iran was excluded due to anti-government protests happening in Tehran at the time. However, the foundation announced on Thursday that ambassadors from all three countries would be invited to this…

Iran’s foreign minister said that Palestinian leaders told him the resistance is in good standing and is prepared to retaliate if one of its leaders is assassinated. Oman has proposed an initiative to remove Western sanctions on Iran, and Tehran and other parties are exchanging messages in response to this initiative, Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said on Friday in a press conference during his visit to Lebanon. He mentioned the upcoming election of the next Lebanese president and stated that any decision regarding this matter must be made by the Lebanese leadership. The foreign minister said that Palestinian leaders…

Foreign Minister of Turkey Hakan Fidan will be visiting Tehran on Sunday, September 3. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkey announced on Saturday that Fidan will travel to Tehran at the invitation of his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amirabdollahian. “During the visit, Minister Fidan will hold high-level meetings in Tehran,” the ministry said. “The visit will render the opportunity to discuss the possibilities for further advancing our bilateral cooperation in all fields with Iran and to exchange views on current regional and international developments,” it added. Iran has on various occasion voiced readiness to promote cooperation with the government of…

Last Wednesday, 12 Gabonese military men announced on national TV that the country’s borders were closed until further notice.  Gabon’s military leaders said on Saturday that the country’s borders will be reopened after they were closed since Wednesday due to the recent coup that toppled ex-president Ali Bongo. According to a spokesman for Gabon’s coup leaders, the junta had “decided with immediate effect to reopen the land, sea, and air borders as of this Saturday”. Last Wednesday, 12 Gabonese military men announced on national TV that the country’s borders were closed until further notice. On that day, General Brice Oligui…

For the first time, the document was not adopted unanimously as Russia and China abstained from voting on the proposal prepared by France, the informal overseer of the dossier, the ministry said Moscow is concerned about the tendency of the US, UK and French representatives to abuse their powers in the UN Security Council, including when it comes to peacekeeping efforts, the Russian Foreign Ministry said after the council adopted a resolution to extend the mandate of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon. “For the first time, the document was not adopted unanimously as Russia and China abstained from voting…

Director of Sasaa town in Damascus countryside was injured on Saturday in an explosive device blast stuck to his car by terrorists in Hineh village of, Qatana area. “An explosive device, which was stuck to the car of Sa’saa town Director, Muhammad Al-Ahmad, went off, Internal Ministry said in a statement. The officer was admitted to one of Damascus hospitals for treatment, according the statement. Source: SANA

Israeli occupation forces have continued to block the entrance to Burqa village, located east of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, for the second consecutive day, according to Palestinian security sources. The sources reported that Israeli occupation forces have maintained the closure of the main entrance to the village, preventing residents from entering or leaving. This has left villagers with no choice but to use unpaved dirt roads to access their workplaces and other destinations. This recent escalation by the Israeli occupation raises concerns among the local population and subjects them to significant difficulties in their daily commutes and access…

The Ukrainian sea drone was timely detected and destroyed in the waters of the Black Sea, the Russian Defense Ministry said Russian forces destroyed a sea drone in the Black Sea that Kiev had launched in an attempt to strike the Crimean Bridge, the Russian Defense Ministry told reporters. “At 11:15 p.m. Moscow time on September 1, the Kiev regime attempted a terrorist strike on the Crimean Bridge with a semi-submersible uncrewed surface vessel. The Ukrainian sea drone was timely detected and destroyed in the waters of the Black Sea,” the ministry said. The Russian Defense Ministry said on Friday…