Author: Steven Sahiounie

The international aid group Mercy Corps is warning about famine and disease affecting Palestinians in Gaza as Israel’s attack continues. Kate Phillips-Barrasso, vice president of Mercy Corps, says relentless fighting and insufficient humanitarian aid were compounding the crisis. She said half a million people face “catastrophic hunger and starvation”, warns of famine. The amount of lifesaving goods being allowed inside Gaza is a drop in the ocean and has not yet increased to the level necessary to meet Gaza Palestinians basic and critical needs, even after Israel opened its Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) border crossing. Phillips-Barrasso said the aid…

Former Minister of Awqaf and Religious Affairs and the preacher of Al-Aqsa Mosque, Sheikh Yousef Salama, was killed this morning in an Israeli airstrike on his home in the al-Maghazi refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip. WAFA correspondent reported that Israeli warplanes targeted the home of Sheikh Salama, Former Minister of Awqaf , leading to his murder and the injury of several members of his family. In a preliminary toll, the ongoing Israeli offensive on Gaza, which began on October 7, has resulted in more than 21,650 deaths and approximately 56,000 injuries. Thousands are still missing, with 70% of…

The Palestinian Authority (PA) foreign ministry says Israel is targeting the UN agency that aids Palestinian refugees to widen the scope of displacement and change the demographic character of the besieged coastal enclave. In a statement, the ministry also said Israel is trying to expel Palestinians from or push them to leave the Gaza Strip. “This is taking place by destroying homes, killing people en masse, and ensuring that poverty and lack of medicine leads to diseases,” it said. Source: AlJazeera

Speaking at a news conference, the Israeli leader says the Philadelphi Corridor – the border area between Gaza and Egypt – “must be in our hands”. “It must be shut. It is clear that any other arrangement would not ensure the demilitarisation that we seek,” he said. The area is currently controlled by Egypt. He added a rare threat to attack Iran directly over the near-daily exchanges of fire across the Israel-Lebanon border. If Hezbollah expands its attacks in northern Israel “it will suffer blows that it has not dreamed of – and so too, Iran”, Netanyahu said, without elaborating. source:…

Data on manufacturing activity in Russia during December has shown the fastest pace of growth in almost seven years, spurring job creation to a three-month high, a survey by S&P Global published this week reveals.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations ( CAIR ) accused the Biden administration of enabling “genocide” in Gaza. “President Biden has privately admitted the Israeli government is indiscriminately bombing Gaza, yet he once again sent deadly weapons to the Israeli government without congressional approval. This makes our nation complicit in war crimes,” CAIR ’s National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell said in a statement. “Sadly, it now appears that President Biden is intent on ignoring the American people and enabling Benjamin Netanyahu’s campaign of genocide, ethnic cleansing and mass starvation in Gaza. If President Biden will not listen to his own conscience, he should at least listen to the majority of…

The trend should continue once Cairo finalizes a free trade deal with the Eurasian Economic Union, Aleksey Tevanyan says

The construction arm of India’s Larsen & Toubro has secured an engineering, procurement, and construction contract for setting up systems related to renewable energy generation and utilities in Saudi Arabia’s AMAALA project. 

International freight forwarding services across the Kingdom will be strengthened further as Saudi Arabia Railways has entered into an agreement with Bahri Logistics.  

Jordan has regulated the export and re-export of essential goods, including rice and sugar, amid soaring shipping costs following tensions in the Red Sea.