Author: Steven Sahiounie

US President Joe Biden’s administration has quietly deleted from the official White House account a tweet posted on Tuesday that praised a big increase in Social Security payments. The move came after users had appended a fact-check arguing the president was effectively boasting about the high inflation rate. “Seniors are getting the biggest increase in their Social Security checks in 10 years through President Biden’s leadership,” the tweet read. A skeptical user had added a note clarifying that the size of the cost-of-living increase is calculated proportional to inflation, meaning a record increase in one reflects a record increase…

England manager Gareth Southgate has a lot on his plate as the World Cup in Qatar grows ever closer. He is trying to turn around an England football team enduring its worst run of form since 1992, while facing an ever-growing injury list. All this as he prepares for the first World Cup held mid-season. Moreover, this is a World Cup – starting on November 20 – which has been dogged by a number of human rights issues. The Guardian reported last year that 6,500 migrant workers had died in the country in the 10 years following Qatar’s successful bid to host the tournament in 2010,…

Cristiano Ronaldo has come under a lot of criticism this season and he’s clearly been listening. On Sunday, the five-time Ballon d’Or winner snubbed former teammate Gary Neville ahead of Manchester United’s Premier League match against West Ham following recent criticism from the television pundit. Neville had criticized Ronaldo’s “unacceptable” behavior in United’s recent league victory over Tottenham Hotspur where the 37-year-old appeared to refuse to come on as substitute before leaving the game early. The Portuguese international was subsequently dropped by manager Erik Ten Hag and made to train with the youth team for three days before returning to the first-team squad. In the…

By:Steven Sahiounie, journalist and political commentator There is a battle brewing in the occupied West Bank of Palestine. Thousands of Israeli occupation forces will be deployed to face a growing resistance force. The ‘natives are restless’ and the Lions’ Den has mobilized to fight for their freedom and human rights. The Israeli occupation has depended on divisions among the Palestinian factions. However, it has never before faced a unified force of motivated youth who are willing to die for freedom. 500,000 illegal Jewish settlers now live in the West Bank in some 130 settlements. Recently, Israeli forces reported that dozens of settlers…

By:Steven Sahiounie, journalist and political commentator Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes across Syria for many years, and the latest was on October 24 in a rare daytime attack in Damascus.  Israel views Iran as their chief national security threat.  Iran supports the resistance movement against the Israeli occupation of Palestine, and Hezbollah, the Lebanese resistance group.  When the US-NATO attack on Syria began for ‘regime change’ both Iran and Hezbollah came to the aid of the Syrian government and fought not only the terrorists following Radical Islam, which were used as foot-soldiers by US President Obama, but much later also…

By: Steven Sahiounie, journalist and political commentator The US-employed terrorists, Maghawir al-Thawra (MaT), have turned against their partners, the US Army, stationed at al-Tanf base in the eastern Syrian desert.  On October 4, the terrorists, who are employed as mercenaries by the US military, attempted to break out of the illegal US base using a large-caliber machine gun on the pickup truck they were driving.  However, their break out was thwarted by the Syrian Arab Army who hold positions nearby and returned fire causing the MaT to retreat into the US base. Russian Major General Oleg Yegorov, deputy chief of the Russian Center…

Residents of a town in Syria’s eastern province of Dayr al-Zawr have reportedly blocked a US military convoy as it was attempting to pass through their community, as public outrage is boiling over the presence of American occupation forces in the energy-rich region of the war-torn Arab nation. According to a report published by Syria’s official news agency SANA, the convoy of armored vehicles had to turn around and head back in the directions it came from after locals of Jadeed Bakara town intercepted and expelled it from the area on Tuesday. The development came a week after a US convoy…

Iraq’s new Prime Minister Mohammed says he hopes to continue hosting tension-easing talks between Iran and Saudi Arabia since the two sides have already held several rounds of negotiations in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad since last April. Addressing his first press conference since the new government won the Iraqi parliament’s vote of confidence on Thursday, Shia al-Sudani said his administration has received signals for Iraq to continue hosting the dialogue between the two Persian Gulf countries. “We were asked to continue,” he said, without providing further information Back on September 24, the Iraqi foreign minister highlighted his country’s efforts to mediate between Iran and Saudi Arabia and…

The Israeli Central Elections Committee said on Wednesday, after processing 62% of the ballots, that former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party leads the parliamentary elections. The vote count on Wednesday morning showed that Likud became the largest seat-holder in the Knesset with 33 seats, while incumbent Prime Minister Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid party came in second with 25 seats. The Religious Zionism party ranked third with 14. The Ultra-Orthodox religious political party Shas and Defense Minister Beni Gantz’s National Unity Party received 12 seats each; United Torah Judaism religious conservative party and Finance Minister Avigdor Lieberman’s Yisrael Beytenu (Israel…

Algeria is hosting the 31st summit of the 22-member Arab League on 1 and 2 November, as countries in the region seek to tackle a spate of divisive issues on the agenda. Arab leaders are meeting in the Algerian capital, Algiers, for the first summit of the Arab League in three years, on 1 and 2 November. Algeria has taken over the rotating presidency of the League of Arab States (LAS). The 30th Arab League summit was hosted by Tunisia in 2019. Algeria’s Prime Minister, Aymen Benabderrahmane said before the gathering that the Palestinian issue would top the list of Arab priorities,…