Author: Steven Sahiounie

The United States said Tuesday that Israel should let the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA into Gaza, after he was denied entry.“Our belief is that they should be able to visit UNRWA’s field of operation, including in Gaza, and we’re going to continue to work with the government of Israel to rapidly approve all requested visas for UN and NGO workers,” State Department spokesman Vedant Patel told reporters.UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said Monday in Cairo that he had intended to go into the southern Gaza city of Rafah, but that he was denied entry by Israel.Israel…

The secretary-general of the Gulf Cooperation Council, Jasem Albudaiwi, held a series of meetings with EU officials in Belgium on Tuesday about ways to strengthen Gulf-European relations and cooperation in efforts to address regional issues. During a session at the EU headquarters in Brussels with members of the EU Political and Security Committee, including its chairperson Delphine Pronk, Albudaiwi reviewed the strength and depth of the cooperation between the GCC and the EU at all levels. “He stressed the great importance that the two sides attach to moving forward toward coordination in many security files, particularly ongoing commercial, economic and…

UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi said he visited Damascus on Tuesday to restart talks focused on fostering confidence in the peaceful use of atomic energy by Syria.Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, met with President Bashar Assad, who had extended the invitation, and Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad.“We’re ready to start working on reigniting high-level dialogue between the IAEA and Syria, focusing on building confidence in the peaceful use of nuclear energy in Syria,” Grossi wrote in a post on X.Syria’s state news agency also reported Grossi’s visit.IAEA inspectors last visited Syria in 2011, the year its…

France is prepared to send an army to Ukraine, with roughly 2,000 service members deployed in the first stage. According to Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) Director Sergei Naryshkin on Tuesday, Paris has plans to send an army unit to Ukraine, deploying nearly 2,000 troops in the beginning stage. Naryshkin divulged that France believes the number of French troops dead in Ukraine is now “above a psychological level.” He accused the current French government of disregarding the lives of “ordinary Frenchmen”, emphasizing that SVR intelligence indicates that a “detachment is already being readied to deploy to Ukraine. It would be…

South Africa’s top ambassador accused the Israeli occupation of creating a precedent for governments to defy the highest UN court on Tuesday, accusing it of enforcing a starvation campaign in Gaza. In early March, South Africa returned to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to request further provisional measures against “Israel”, aimed at addressing the widespread starvation among Palestinians in the blockaded Gaza Strip.  A UN-endorsed report released on Monday warned that famine is expected to spread in the northern region of the Gaza Strip any time between now and May. South Africa’s Foreign Minister, Naledi Pandor, said on Tuesday that “Israel”…

All political forces in the country should unite in the search for the necessary compromise for the country and the solution of the tasks at hand, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with the leaders of the Duma factions. “The Russian people fulfilled their duty during the elections. Now it’s our turn, as authorities, to fulfill their duty before the people,” the president said. “We must, of course, unite in the interests of the state,” Putin pointed out. “So far, we have been able to do this under rather difficult conditions of external pressure,” the head of state…

Brazil’s foreign minister during a visit to Beirut called on Israel to end its attacks on southern Lebanon.Mauro Vieira, who is on a wider diplomatic tour of region, was welcomed to the Lebanese capital by Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati.The foreign minister condemned Israel for violating international resolutions during its war on Hamas and skirmishes with Hezbollah on borders of southern Lebanon Brazil contributes a peacekeeping military unit to the UN Interim Force in Lebanon, known as UNIFIL.Vieira briefed Mikati on the outcome of his visits to Saudi Arabia and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.He said that Brazil, through a broader…

This step aims at easing the process of setting up a global financial hub in Ras El-Hekma city, along with attracting foreign investments, one of the sources said

AMMAN — Jordanian exports to Saudi Arabia rose in 2023 to JD984 million, by an increase of 7.1 per cent, compared to JD840 million in 2022, topping the list of Jordanian exports to countries of the Greater Arab Free Trade Area.

The Japanese yen tumbled on Tuesday after the central bank made the momentous, but widely anticipated, decision to end its negative interest rate policy, while the dollar rose ahead of the upcoming Federal Reserve decision on rates.