Author: Steven Sahiounie

The foreign ministers of Iran and Saudi Arabia agree that there is an urgency to stop the crimes of Israel against the Palestinians and deliver humanitarian aid to the war-stricken people in the besieged Gaza Strip. In a phone conversation on Sunday, Prince Faisal bin Farhan and his newly appointed counterpart Abbas Araqchi discussed the latest developments in Gaza amid the continuation of the Israeli regime’s crimes in the Strip and the intensification of tensions in the region. The top Iranian and Saudi diplomats also said that mutual relations are on the right track and discussed ways to further enhance…

Following the arrest of Telegram messaging platform creator Pavel Durov the Russian embassy in France accused French authorities on Sunday of “refusing to cooperate.” The billionaire co-founder and CEO of Telegram was arrested at Le Bourget airport near Paris on Saturday evening, according to TF1 TV. Durov, who was traveling from Azerbaijan on his private jet, was detained around 8 p.m. local time due to an outstanding arrest warrant in France. According to French media, this comes as part of a preliminary police investigation. The 39-year-old Russia-born entrepreneur has been residing in Dubai and holds dual citizenship in France and the UAE. The embassy…

Pope Francis condemned Kiev’s legislative ban on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church on Sunday during his weekly prayers. “Do not touch churches,” the pope said, one day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky enacted the bill into the legislation on the country’s independence day from the Soviet Union. “In thinking of the law recently adopted in Ukraine, I fear for the liberty of those who pray,” the Catholic Church leader added. Ukraine has sought to distance itself from the church since 2014. The efforts were expedited following the start of its war with Russia in February 2022. Although the church severed ties with the Moscow Patriarchate in 2022, Ukrainian…

Relations between Syria and Turkey cannot be restored without settling problems that caused their severance, Syrian President Bashar Assad said. “Amid the current global crisis <…> we tried to consider all the initiatives proposed to us in the context of restoring relations with Turkey as soon as possible and in a positive manner. But no problem can be resolved if it real causes are ignored and relations cannot be restore without settling the problem that caused their reverence,” the SANA news agency quoted him as saying in his address to the new People’s Assembly (parliament). According to Assad, to settle…

The Ministry of Health said today that nOPV polio vaccines have finally been delivered, and coordination is underway to bring them into the Gaza Strip. The Ministry added in a press statement that the necessary cold-chain equipment to preserve the vaccines in the Gaza Strip has been brought in. The equipment will be distributed to centers designated for vaccination. It called on international institutions to work and pressure the occupation authorities to stop the ongoing aggression against Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip so that medical teams can vaccinate children and limit the spread of the polio virus. source: WAFA

Steven Sahiounie, journalist and political commentator The late US President John F. Kennedy is not alive today to voice his opinion on the Israeli war on Gaza, but we know he would stand with the Palestinians, not the Israeli government.While yet a young senator, Kennedy in July 1957 delivered a famous speech where he voiced his opposition to then President Eisenhower’s military and political support for French colonialism, and called on the US administration to support the fight for freedom and independence in Algeria. The situation in Gaza, the Occupied West Bank, and Occupied East Jerusalem today is very similar…

Five people were killed by the Ukrainian shelling of the settlement of Rakitnoye in the Belgorod Region, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on his Telegram channel, adding that 12 people, including 3 children, were injured. “The Ukrainian Armed Forces carried out a brutal terrorist strike at the settlement of Rakitnoye in the middle of the night. To our great grief, the enemy strike took lives of 5 civilians. […] 12 people, including 3 minors, were injured in the shelling,” Gladkov said. The governor specified that 4 people are in severe condition; all injured people currently receive medical aid in hospitals. In…

The Paris prosecutor’s office will make a statement on the detention of Telegram messenger founder Pavel Durov on Monday, August 26, a spokesman for the prosecutor’s office told TASS. “A press statement will be issued tomorrow,” he said when asked to clarify the causes for Durov’s detention and his current status. The LCI television channel reported earlier that Durov had been arrested at Le Bourget Airport late on August 24. He has been placed in custody and may soon be brought to court, the TF1 television channel said. According to TF1, Durov might be charged with terrorism, drug trafficking, fraud,…

President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi stressed in a meeting with Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff General Charles Brown on Sunday that the current regional situation demands decisive action from the international community and all active parties to exert all efforts to defuse regional tension. During the meeting, El-Sisi emphasized the need to halt the escalation that threatens the security and stability of the entire region, warning of the risks of opening a new front of conflict in Lebanon and underscoring the need to preserve Lebanon’s stability and sovereignty. Early on Sunday, Hezbollah carried out a large-scale attack with rockets and drones on Israeli…

US businessman Elon Musk believes that people in Europe will soon be executed for liking a joke social media post. “POV: It’s 2030 in Europe and you’re being executed for liking a meme,” he said on his X page, commenting on Telegram co-founder Pavel Durov’s detention in France. Previously, the LCI TV channel reported that Durov was detained in France. According to the media outlet, Durov was detained at Le Bourget Airport after arriving from Azerbaijan. The TF1 TV channel reported that Durov was put into custody and will be delivered to a court soon. Reportedly, Durov may be charged…