Author: Steven Sahiounie

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he is hopeful Hamas will accept an “extraordinarily generous” ceasefire offer to stop Israel’s devastating Gaza offensive in return for the release of hostages. “Hamas must decide, and decide quickly, whether to accept the extraordinarily generous offer for a ceasefire. I am hopeful they would make the right decision, and we can make a fundamental change in the dynamics,” the US official told a World Economic Forum panel in Riyadh. A high-level Egyptian delegation flew in to Israel for talks last Friday amid a new diplomatic push for a truce in the six-month…

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Monday met with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, according to Turkish Foreign Ministry. Fidan and Blinken met on the margins of the meeting of the Contact Group on Gaza, mandated by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and the Arab League, in Riyadh, the ministry said on X. On Monday, Fidan also met with his other counterparts from the contact group, including Jordan’s Ayman Safadi, Norway’s Espen Barth Eide and Yemen’s Shaya Mohsen Al-Zindani. Fidan also held talks with EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell and Malaysian…

Biden and Netanyahu “reviewed ongoing talks to secure the release of hostages together with an immediate ceasefire in Gaza,” a press release by the White House read. The White House on Sunday said that US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a phone call to discuss the ongoing mediated negotiations with Hamas regarding Israeli captives in Gaza. Biden and Netanyahu “reviewed ongoing talks to secure the release of hostages together with an immediate ceasefire in Gaza,” a press release read. They “also discussed increases in the delivery of humanitarian assistance into Gaza, including through preparations to open new…

President Mahmoud Abbas Monday received Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide, on the sidelines of his participation in the special meeting of the World Economic Forum in Riyadh. The President briefed the efforts made to stop the ongoing Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip, and to bring in humanitarian and medical aid immediately, to stop the famine to which Palestinian people are exposed in the besieged Strip, once again warning of the danger of the occupation invading Rafah, which will lead to a humanitarian catastrophe. President Abbas touched on the dangerous Israeli escalation in the West Bank, including Jerusalem, and the continuation of daily…

Two police officers have been killed and another four suffered wounds in a militant attack on a traffic police unit in Russia’s Karachay-Circassian Region in the North Caucasus, the regional branch of the Interior Ministry said in a statement. “Two police officers seconded from the Interior Ministry’s branch in the Kurgan Region were killed. Two officers from the Interior Ministry’s Traffic Police Department in the Karachay-Circassian Region, a member of the regional National Guard unit and a police officer from the Kurgan Region suffered wounds. Five attackers were killed on the spot,” the statement reads. According to the ministry, the…

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Saudi Arabia on Monday, the first stop in a broader trip to the Middle East to discuss issues including the governance of Gaza once the war with Israel ends. Speaking in Riyadh at the opening of a US-Gulf Cooperation Council meeting, Blinken said the most effective way to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza was to achieve a ceasefire. He also said Washington continued efforts to prevent the Gaza war from expanding. The United States has seen “measurable progress” in the humanitarian situation in Gaza over the past few weeks, he said, but…

DUBAI: A panel of ministers and experts gathered at the World Economic Forum in Riyadh on Sunday to discuss the road map for tripling renewables by 2030.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Sunday met with his counterparts from Norway, Jordan and Yemen as well as the EU foreign policy chief in Saudi Arabia’s capital Riyadh. “We agreed on the urgency to address regional issues and in particular to end the suffering in Gaza,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on X after the meeting, adding that they had a good conversation on EU-Türkiye relations, emphasizing the need for “cooperation” and continuation of the “engagement.” During his meeting with Norway’s Espen Barth Eide, Jordan’s Ayman Safadi and Yemen’s Shai Muhsin Zindani, Hakan Fidan drew attention to…

Iranian students have staged mass rallies to express their solidarity with pro-Palestine academic demonstrations across the United States and Europe demanding an end to Israel’s months-long genocidal war against Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip. Iranian students, professors, and personnel in Iran held gatherings on their academic campuses after noon prayers on Sunday to condemn Israeli crimes and atrocities in Gaza over the past seven months. “Academics all over the world, especially American and Western countries, have established humanitarian movements in defense of humanity and human rights, and launched a strong wave of support for the oppressed people of Gaza,”…

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas warns that even a “small strike” on Rafah would lead the population to flee the Gaza Strip. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has urged efforts that would pressure “Israel” against the invasion of Gaza’s southern city of Rafah because it would “mean a new Nakba against the Palestinian people”. In a statement, Abbas stated that he expects “Israel” to invade Rafah in the upcoming few days. He advocated for a political solution that would combine Gaza and the West Bank, including occupied al-Quds, under an independent Palestinian state. “What will happen in the coming few days is what Israel…