Author: Steven Sahiounie

Since the gruesome murder of Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi embassy in Istanbul, Mohammad bin Salman, the de facto leader of the Saudi Kingdom, has kept a rather low profile in the international arena. But that does not mean the young prince has made a U-turn in his major policies, especially his interaction with political dissidents inside his territory. On the contrary, reports leaking out of the kingdom depict a grave picture where the iron-fist prince treats any opposition movement ruthlessly, though all under the radar. Saudi purge In one of the latest moves indicating the rule of terror inside the Saudi…

At least 81 people have died during massive flooding due to heavy rain in western parts of Germany. Chancellor Angela Merkel pledged federal support for victims as the disaster left many houses destroyed. At least 50 people died in Rhineland-Palatinate, a police spokesperson in Koblenz confirmed to the media on Friday. “There is fear that there will be more,” the spokesperson added. Around 1,300 residents are unaccounted for, although officials told reporters that some locals cannot be reached because cell phone service is down. German media earlier quoted the Interior Ministry in neighboring North Rhine-Westphalia state as saying that the death toll…

The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control has said it expects the prevalence of Covid-19 to increase sharply in the coming weeks, reaching 420 cases per 100,000 by August 1, five times more than last week. In a weekly report on Friday, the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) made a concerning prediction about the growth of Covid-19 in the EU, Norway and Iceland. Over the past week, the ECDC said that the virus’ prevalence was around 90 cases per 100,000 people in the region surveyed. However, partially due to the arrival of the more contagious Delta variant of…

In its latest compliance report, WhatsApp reveals that it banned over two million accounts in India between May and June for “harmful behavior” and other rules violations, including sending a “high and abnormal rate of messages.” While only a fraction of its 400 million-strong user base in India, the number of blocked accounts is significant since it is roughly a quarter of the eight million bans WhatApp hands down globally each month. Noting that 95% of the accounts were blocked for exceeding limits placed on the number of times messages can be forwarded in the country, the platform said its “top…

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced on Friday that the country’s security force has identified individuals responsible for instigating the “anarchy and mayhem” that led to the recent outbreak of deadly unrest. Speaking during a visit to Ethekwini Municipality, one of the worst-impacted regions, Ramaphosa stated that the government is “extremely concerned” about “instigated” unrest and looting, which has resulted in dozens of deaths. “We will not allow anarchy and mayhem to unfold in our country,” he vowed, confirming the identification of instigators and the arrest of one perpetrator. Ramaphosa’s announcement was coupled with 25,000 soldiers being deployed to prevent further violent uprising. “What we…

Wikipedia fails to reflect relevant viewpoints on hot-button topics and describes center-left establishment worldviews, its co-founder Larry Sanger said. This consensus reality is prone to nefarious manipulation by powers that be. “There is a big nasty complex game being played behind the scenes to make the articles say what somebody wants them to say,” Sanger said this week, blasting the current community culture at Wikipedia. “There are all kinds of tricks that people can play to ‘win’ it.” Sanger, who launched –along with Jimmy Wales– the world’s premier website for reference materials, has become a vocal critic of his brainchild. He jokingly…

The Turkish intelligence opens recruitment offices to transfer Syrian militants to “Afghanistan”. The Turkish authorities continue their approach of exploiting the militants of the Syrian factions and using them as militias in the regional conflicts, to recently open more than 13 offices within their areas of control in northern Syria in order to attract Syrian militants to travel to “Afghanistan” and fight there. Most of the registration offices for the Syrian militants wishing to travel to “Afghanistan” have spread in Idlib countryside, in addition to several other offices that were opened within the areas under the control of the “Al-Hamza”…

Security chaos continues as new explosions hit Jarablus, northeast of Aleppo A motorcycle bomb exploded yesterday, Wednesday, at night in the city of “Jarablus” in the northeastern countryside of Aleppo, which is under the control of the Turkish forces and their factions. An SDC local source said that the explosion occurred on “Al-Nahr” road in “Jarabulus” and resulted in injuring 3 persons, including a gunman, of varying degrees, and they were taken to the hospital for treatment, while no party claimed responsibility for the bombing The source added that an IED planted by unknowns was discovered near the location of…

In January, Joe Biden minced no words when warning presidential appointees that he would fire them “on the spot” if they treat their colleagues poorly. Former staffers of US Vice President Kamala Harris said they were not surprised about reports of a tense atmosphere in her office as they described similar experiences dating back more than a decade, Business Insider reported on Wednesday. The news outlet’s report singled out interviews with 12 ex-staffers during Harris’ stints as San Francisco’s district attorney from 2004 to 2011, California’s attorney general (AG) between 2011 to and 2017, as well as a US senator from 2017…

A new book by two Washington Post reporters, detailing the last year of Trump’s presidency, has made explosive claims that military top brass feared the president could instigate a coup if he lost the 2020 presidential race. Former US President Donald Trump has rejected fresh allegations that he planned a coup in the US if the 2020 presidential election went in Joe Biden’s favour. “Despite massive Voter Fraud and Irregularities during the 2020 Presidential Election Scam, that we are now seeing play out in very big and important States, I never threatened, or spoke about, to anyone, a coup of…