Author: Steven Sahiounie

South Africa’s newly appointed Foreign Minister, Ronald Lamola, said yesterday his country would continue to act within global institutions to protect the rights of Palestinian people and ensure the fair application of international law for all, Anadolu Agency reports. Speaking at his first public discussion on foreign policy in Cape Town since his appointment earlier this month, Lamola said: “South Africa will continue to do everything within its power to preserve the existence of the Palestinian people as a group.” He also said the country will work with global institutions to ensure the end of all acts of apartheid and…

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and newly-elected British Prime Minister Keir Starmer met Thursday for the first time in the US. The closed-door meeting came on the sidelines of the last day of a NATO summit in Washington where NATO leaders gathered Tuesday to mark the military alliance’s 75th anniversary. No further information was disclosed about the meeting. It was the first face-to-face meeting between Erdogan and Starmer after he became prime minister last week when his Labour Party won the House of Commons by a landslide, capturing 412 of the chamber’s 650 seats. Source: Anadolu Agency

Minister of Education and Higher Education, Amjad Barham, met today with the European Union Representative to the State of Palestine, Alexandre Stutzmann, in Ramallah, where they discussed issues of concern for education and the challenges it faces. The minister briefed the EU official on the Ministry’s priority in the current period, particularly in light of the ongoing Israeli occupation aggression on the Gaza Strip and the West Bank and its effect and implications on the components of the educational and learning process. He highlighted the efforts exerted by the Ministry to protect the rights of children and students in schools…

US President Joe Biden said on Thursday the Israel-Gaza war must end now and Israel must not occupy the enclave after the war, telling reporters his ceasefire framework had been agreed on by both Israel and Hamas but there were still gaps to close.“That framework is now agreed on by both Israel and Hamas. So I sent my team to the region to hammer out the details,” Biden said in a news conference.Biden in late May detailed a proposal of three phases aimed at achieving a ceasefire, the release of hostages in Gaza and Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, Israel’s…

RIYADH: Saudi heritage city Diriyah has awarded its largest single contract to date for the development of a district featuring educational institutions, cultural venues, and a luxury hotel. 

A free trade deal between the Gulf Cooperation Council and the UK remains on course to be completed by the end of 2024 despite the change of government in London

World oil demand decelerated in the second quarter, with growth easing to 710,000 barrels per day year-on-year

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s transformational journey has placed it as the second-best country in the world for expats, outperforming the US, the UK, and Belgium, a new survey reveals. 

The G7 foreign ministers condemned on Thursday “Israel’s” decision to greenlight five outposts in the West Bank, criticizing the move alongside the occupation’s plans to expand existing settlements and create new ones. “We, the G7 Foreign Ministers… join the UN and the European Union in condemning the announcement by Israeli Finance Minister (Bezalel) Smotrich that five outposts are to be legalized in the West Bank,” read a statement that also rejected the Israeli occupation’s decision to declare over 3,100 acres as “state lands”. In the statement, the G7 foreign ministers dubbed the latest land grab “the largest such declaration of…

Abdelatty and his Jordanian counterpart agreed in their talks, held in Cairo, on the importance of continuing efforts to pressure regional and international partners and the international community into acting seriously, per Security Council resolutions (the latest being 2735), to stop the ongoing violence instead of merely condemning Israeli violations and aggression. “The catastrophic humanitarian and health situation in Gaza highlights the importance of unconditional and unrestricted access to humanitarian aid amidst blatant violations of international humanitarian law that prevent the delivery of such aid,” Abdelattey said. Both ministers confirmed their complete rejection of Israeli control over the Rafah crossing…