World Press

Iran's Conflict with Israel: A Dangerous Spiral of Violence in the Middle East

Fri, 19 Apr 2024 12:31:00 -0400

The danger of all-out war in the Middle East is greater than ever. How did Israel and Iran get into this mess? And can they still find a way out?

Is Germany Complicit in War Against Gaza?

Fri, 19 Apr 2024 10:04:00 -0400

After Israeli airstrikes killed his wife and daughter, a Palestinian man is now taking legal action in a Berlin court against the export of weapons of war to Israel. The accusation: Germany may be violating international law by doing so – and endangering his life.

Germany's Chancellor Faces Balancing Act on China Trip

Sat, 13 Apr 2024 04:09:00 -0400

The German government wants to become less dependent on China and pay less attention to profits and more to human rights – at least In principle. But there won't be many signs of that during Chancellor Olaf Scholz's upcoming trip to the country. A DER SPIEGEL analysis.

Germany's Dilemma: Berlin's Support for Israel Is Damaging Its International Standing

Fri, 05 Apr 2024 09:11:00 -0400

Criticism of Israel's military operation in the Gaza Strip is growing in Germany and around the world. Because of the country's solidarity with Israel, Berlin is losing is diplomatic stature elsewhere. What can be done?

Interview with Former Russian Central Bank Advisor: "It's Time To Slowly Bleed Russia's Economy Dry"

Wed, 03 Apr 2024 04:09:00 -0400

When Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine, Alexandra Prokopenko quit her job at the Russian Central Bank. In an interview, she explains why the Russian president's economic policy is so successful. And what the West could do that would really harm the Kremlin.

Iraqi Marshlands Under Threat: The Garden of Eden Dries Up

Fri, 22 Mar 2024 12:39:00 -0400

Some say the Garden of Eden was located between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in present-day Iraq. Now, the wetlands there are drying up. The man fighting to save the marshes is risking his life to do so.

Sri Lanka: Dhanush, Udeni and the State Bankruptcy

Tue, 19 Mar 2024 11:43:00 -0400

The biggest humanitarian crisis in decades is raging in the Global South. Around 50 countries are nearing bankruptcy and 165 million people have fallen into poverty. The story of a brother and sister who have lost almost everything. Except each other.

Israel Six Months Later: The Wrenching Decision to Return to the Site of Horror

Tue, 19 Mar 2024 10:46:00 -0400

The first survivors of the Hamas massacre have returned to Kfar Aza, where almost 10 percent of the population was either murdered or abducted. It is a changed place, and the community is fractured.

The Election Farce in Russia: Putin's Elaborate Effort To Make His Re-Election Look Legitimate

Fri, 15 Mar 2024 12:40:00 -0400

Russia's democracy may be dead, but the regime is sparing neither effort nor expense in staging the presidential election. Large voter turnout is supposed to give Putin's rule the appearance of legitimacy.

Enemy and Helper: Is Hamas Exploiting the UN's Palestinian Relief Organization?

Thu, 14 Mar 2024 07:00:00 -0400

UNRWA employees are alleged to have participated in the October 7 terror attack against Israel. Is there any truth to the allegations? And what happens to the Gaza Strip if the most important humanitarian relief organization is abolished in the middle of the war?

Filling the Gap: Germany Seeks to Ramp Up Skilled Labor Migration from Kenya

Wed, 13 Mar 2024 12:44:00 -0400

German cities are suffering from a shortage of bus drivers, and local transportation companies are looking all the way to the shores of Lake Victoria to find what they need. They aren't the only Kenyans in high demand in Germany at the moment.

The Russian Invasion - A Visit to the Ukrainian Troops in the Trenches on the Front

Thu, 29 Feb 2024 08:36:00 -0500

Kyiv's soldiers have been fighting under the most difficult of conditions for two years. They are running out of ammunition and replacement troops are few. Many are no longer capable of imagining normal life. A visit to the front.

How Vladimir Putin Controls the Russians: Everyday Repression and Resignation

Mon, 26 Feb 2024 11:18:00 -0500

Russia has reverted to a dictatorship under President Vladimir Putin. Most people in the country seem to be accepting the war against Ukraine as well as the death of opposition activist Alexei Navalny. Why?

Indonesia's Brand New Capital: A Mega-Project Raises Questions in Borneo

Tue, 20 Feb 2024 09:26:00 -0500

Indonesia is building a brand new capital city in the jungles of Borneo. Critics say it's a waste of money and will continue rampant environmental destruction. But might it perhaps become a model city one day?

Good Morning Europe!: Trump's NATO Comments Trigger Defense Debate in Europe

Fri, 16 Feb 2024 12:49:00 -0500

With his recent comments on NATO, Donald Trump shocked the Western world. Is the U.S. preparing to abandon its allies? Europe finally seems to be considering a future in which the American nuclear umbrella no longer exists.

Hamas Hostage Chen Goldstein-Almog on Her Time in Gaza: "Crying Was Forbidden"

Mon, 05 Feb 2024 08:45:00 -0500

Hamas held Chen Goldstein-Almog and her children hostage for 51 days. In an interview, she talks about hunger, fear of death, conversations with her guards – and why she can't really be happy about being free again.

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert: "What Caused the Terrorist Attacks Was Arrogance"

Tue, 23 Jan 2024 06:18:00 -0500

In an interview, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert blames his successor Benjamin Netanyahu, but also arrogance, for the rise of Hamas. He is also calling for an American-European intervention force in the Gaza Strip.

Spiral of Vengeance: The Gathering Storm Clouds in the Middle East

Mon, 22 Jan 2024 13:41:00 -0500

Israeli strikes in Lebanon, Houthi attacks on the Red Sea and Iranian missiles fired on Iraq: The risk of escalation in the Middle East is growing.

Hamas Attack on the Nova Festival: Trance Party Survivors Seek to Overcome the Trauma

Wed, 17 Jan 2024 06:18:00 -0500

They went to the desert for a party but became the targets of a brutal massacre. Survivors of the Tribe of Nova festival are seeking to begin the healing process at a wellness resort in Cyprus.

Mine Clearing in Ukraine: "Dead Soldiers Lay Everywhere in the Fields, Ours and Russian"

Wed, 17 Jan 2024 05:12:00 -0500

Ukraine has been heavily mined. Hundreds of civilians have already fallen victim to the explosives, and the economic damage has been enormous. How do you liberate an entire country from Russia’s treacherous legacy?

What do we produce, and why?

Vincent Liegey — Thu, 30 Sep 2021 07:49:26 -0400

There's a growing argument for decoupling: continuing to increase production of goods and services, but reducing their environmental impacts and our extraction of resources.

- 2021/10 / article

Hunger in France's land of plenty

Gatien Elie — Thu, 30 Sep 2021 07:33:54 -0400

Visitors may love the vibrant street markets and countless cheeses, but something is badly wrong with France's food system. In the absence of joined-up policy, could urban farming point the way forward?

- 2021/10 / article, 2021/10 Food

In search of a good food deal

Gatien Elie — Thu, 30 Sep 2021 07:33:52 -0400

On school trips, J always ‘forgets' to bring a packed lunch and is first to the buffet table at school events. He rarely has breakfast, and at lunchtime discreetly pockets bread and cheese to take home when the dinner lady isn't looking. The school tightens security when thefts become more frequent: J isn't the only pupil who's hungry. They'll have to summon his parents even though, as the social worker knows, they're struggling to pay for school lunches. M is always on the lookout for a good (...)

- 2021/10 / article, 2021/10 Food

Georgia's love-hate affair with Russia

Pierre Daum — Thu, 30 Sep 2021 07:33:50 -0400

Georgia has been independent for 30 turbulent years, and Russia's continuing occupation of a fifth of its territory causes great bitterness. But Russian trade and tourists are unambiguously welcome.

- 2021/10 / article, 2021/10 Georgia

Latin America faces tough choices

Anne-Dominique Correa — Thu, 30 Sep 2021 07:33:48 -0400

While the US focused on the ‘war on terror', China made major investments in Latin America, gaining considerable influence. Now the US wants its influence back.

- 2021/10 / article

Recognising the PRC

Alice Hérait — Thu, 30 Sep 2021 07:33:46 -0400

It took 22 years from its creation in 1949 for the People's Republic of China (PRC) to gain official UN recognition. Until 1971 Taiwan represented China in UN bodies. In October 1971 the UN General Assembly passed resolution 2758, which confirmed the PRC as the only legitimate government of China: ‘Considering the restoration of the lawful rights of the People's Republic of China is essential both for the protection of the Charter of the United Nations and for the cause that the United (...)

- 2021/10 / article

Behind bars: resisting the Turkish state

Ariane Bonzon — Thu, 30 Sep 2021 07:33:44 -0400

In Turkey hunger strikes and death fasts are still tools of political resistance to the state. In an effort to curb them, the earlier policy of separating prisoners by affiliation gave way to the building of far harsher isolation prisons. What will be the effect of the current dismantling of Turkey's rule of law?

- 2021/10 / article

Taiwan strengthens ties with the US

Alice Hérait — Thu, 30 Sep 2021 07:33:42 -0400

Taiwan expressed its thanks for American vaccines during the pandemic. However, it is equally grateful for US arms sales, vital to an island intent on averting enforced reunification with China.

- 2021/10 / article

End of the ‘Chinese dream' in Taiwan

Tanguy Lepesant — Thu, 30 Sep 2021 07:33:41 -0400

The only future Beijing envisages for Taiwan is as part of ‘greater China'. But the old ‘one country, two systems' appeals less and less to the Taiwanese, especially the young.

- 2021/10 / article

North Africa's great walls of sand

Rémi Carayol & Laurent Gagnol — Thu, 30 Sep 2021 07:33:37 -0400

Morocco built North Africa's first sand wall in the 1980s. Now a growing network of towering barriers can be seen all across the region. This crude form of controlling the movement of people disrupts daily life and stokes resentment, and it risks formalising existing partitions throughout this huge region.

- 2021/10 / article, 2021/10 Sahara

France's fiasco in the Sahel

Marc-Antoine Pérouse de Montclos — Thu, 30 Sep 2021 07:33:36 -0400

France's war in Mali failed to address core political problems and brought chaos, with jihadist groups operating across the region. Will a military pull-out avert the humiliation the US experienced in Afghanistan?

- 2021/10 / article

The febrile world of Georgian politics

Pierre Daum — Thu, 30 Sep 2021 07:33:32 -0400

Georgia celebrated the 30th anniversary of its independence this year under comparatively calm skies. The republic had a difficult start: a civil war (1991-93) followed by wars against the Ossetians and Abkhazians, a coup d'état (January 1992), a decade ruled by former Soviet foreign minister Eduard Shevardnadze (1992-2003), and finally a ‘rose revolution' in 2003 led by the ultraliberal Mikheil Saakashvili of the centre-right United National Movement (UNM), who remained in power till 2012. (...)

- 2021/10 / box, 2021/10 Georgia

The two faces of jihad

Olivier Roy — Thu, 30 Sep 2021 07:33:29 -0400

ISIS and Al-Qaida convinced the West that jihad can only be global. But the Taliban's recent victory and France's embroilment in Mali show that jihadist conflicts are often deeply rooted in local struggles.

- 2021/10 / article

Unrepentant US empire

Serge Halimi — Thu, 30 Sep 2021 07:33:27 -0400

The US is never humble for long: a month after its rout in Afghanistan, the imperial order has been restored. Hence Washington's recent snub to Paris. Not even a month. No sooner had the Taliban taken control of Kabul airport than the neocons re-emerged from the shadows. Now that the West has ‘lost' Afghanistan, they argue, it needs to reassert itself elsewhere to teach its strategic rivals, China and Russia in particular, that it will not back down from the next fight. Former Republican (...)

- 2021/10 / editorial

Sand barriers of the Sahara

Agnès Stienne — Thu, 30 Sep 2021 06:09:00 -0400

Sources: Laurent Gagnol; ‘Displacement Tracking Matrix' (DTM), International Organisation for Migrations, 2020; Africa Intelligence, February 2021; UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (Minurso); Sentinel Hub; Satellites.pro; Google Earth

- Africa / Map, 2021/10 Sahara

Borrell: «Afghanistan was a catastrophe. Europe must share responsibility»

Federico Fubini — Mon, 30 Aug 2021 01:09:39 -0400

EU High Representative Josep Borrell suggests giving neighboring countries financial support to keep Afghan refugees: «The US is not willing to fight for other people’s wars anymore. We need a EU permanent “Initial Entry Force” to act quickly in an emergency»

Cyprus Mail: India posts record jump in Covid-19 cases

Reuters News Service — Sat, 30 May 2020 05:55:32 -0400

India reported a record daily jump of 7,964 new COVID-19 infections on Saturday, with a recent surge in cases as lockdown restrictions start to ease raising the possibility that Prime Minister Narendra Modi could extend curbs beyond May 31.

In an open letter marking one year into his second term, Modi appealed to the country’s population of 1.3 billion to follow all lockdown rules to stop the spread of the pandemic.

The prime minister said there was a “long battle” ahead against the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19.

“Our country is besieged with problems amidst a vast population and limited resources,” Modi said, adding that labourers and migrant workers had “undergone tremendous suffering” due to restrictions.

The government could extend the lockdown beyond May 31, a home ministry official said on Saturday. The home ministry did not immediately respond to a request for further comment.

India has recorded a total of 173,763 COVID-19 cases and 4,971 deaths, making it the ninth most-affected country globally, Reuters data showed.

While fatality rates in India have been lower than in worse-hit countries, experts warned that its peak has not been reached due to mounting cases of new infections.

Officials are also nervous about the pandemic spreading through villages as millions of jobless migrant workers return home from cities.

Rights activists and the opposition have criticised Modi’s handling of the pandemic, accusing him of announcing an abrupt lockdown that left the poor in the lurch and forced thousands to walk or jostle for space on buses and special trains to reach home amid the fear of getting infected.

Over 100 migrant workers have died either in accidents or due to starvation as they desperately tried to head back to their villages, the home ministry official said.

The post India posts record jump in Covid-19 cases appeared first on Cyprus Mail.

Cyprus Mail

Cyprus Mail: NASA to try again for landmark SpaceX launch

Reuters News Service — Sat, 30 May 2020 05:50:30 -0400

Elon Musk’s private rocket company SpaceX was set for a repeat attempt at launching two Americans into orbit on Saturday from Florida for a mission that would mark the first spaceflight of NASA astronauts from U.S. soil in nine years.

The mission’s first launch try on Wednesday was called off with less than 17 minutes remaining on the countdown clock due to stormy weather around the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral.

The forecast for Saturday was likewise precarious. Mission managers plan to make an earlier decision on weather hazards in a bid to avoid unnecessarily wearing out the crew with another suit-up and full day of launch preparations.

“Back-to-back wet dress rehearsals” disrupt the astronauts’ sleep cycles, NASA chief Jim Bridenstine told a Friday news conference.

Barring weather or other unforeseen problems, the 24-story-tall SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is due to lift off at 3:22 p.m. EDT, propelling astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken aloft on a 19-hour ride to the International Space Station.

They will be carried there inside the newly designed Crew Dragon capsule, making its first flight into orbit with humans aboard.

The launch pad is the same one used by NASA’s final space shuttle flight, piloted by Hurley, in 2011. Since then, NASA astronauts have had to hitch rides into orbit aboard Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft.

Bridenstine has said that resuming launches of American astronauts on American-made rockets from U.S. soil is the space agency’s top priority.

For Musk, the launch represents another milestone for the reusable rockets his company pioneered to make spaceflight less costly and frequent. And it would mark the first time that commercially developed space vehicles – owned and operated by a private entity rather than NASA – have carried Americans into orbit.

The last time NASA launched astronauts into space aboard a brand new vehicle was 40 years ago at the start of the shuttle program.

President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence visited the Kennedy Space Center three days ago for the first launch attempt. Trump said he plans to return for Saturday’s retry.

If the mission is scrubbed again, the next launch window would be Sunday afternoon, with weather forecasts appearing somewhat more favorable for that day.

Musk, the South African-born high-tech entrepreneur who made his fortune in Silicon Valley, is also the CEO of electric carmaker and battery manufacturer Tesla Inc. He founded Hawthorne, California-based SpaceX, formally known as Space Exploration Technologies, in 2002.

Hurley, 53, and Behnken, 49, NASA employees under contract to fly with SpaceX, are expected to remain at the space station for several weeks, assisting a short-handed crew aboard the orbital laboratory.

Aerospace giant Boeing Co, producing its own launch system in competition with SpaceX, is expected to fly its CST-100 Starliner vehicle with astronauts aboard for the first time next year. NASA has awarded nearly $8 billion to SpaceX and Boeing combined for development of their rival rockets.

The post NASA to try again for landmark SpaceX launch appeared first on Cyprus Mail.

Cyprus Mail

JPost.com - Homepage: 70-year-old Palestinian woman dies from fire at Shuafat refugee camp

By IDAN ZONSHINE — Sat, 30 May 2020 05:48:55 -0400

Three others were injured by the flames and smoke in the apartment, and were also evacuated to Hadassah Hospital in light condition.

JPost.com - Homepage

Cyprus Mail: La Liga back on June 11 as organisers trial virtual crowd noise

Reuters News Service — Sat, 30 May 2020 05:47:36 -0400

Spanish football’s top-flight will resume after a three-month pause due to the coronavirus pandemic on June 11 with the local derby between Sevilla and Real Betis, the government’s department for sport (CSD) said in a statement on Friday.

Meanwhile, president Javier Tebas has outlined La Liga’ plans to offer viewers the chance to hear virtual crowd noise during the matches, which will be played without supporters to prevent further spread of the virus.

“At a meeting of the contact group they form alongside the CSD, the Spanish soccer federation (RFEF) and La Liga have agreed to the format of the final 11 rounds of fixtures of La Liga and the second division,” said the CSD’s statement.

The statement added that the season would finish by July 18, “depending on the evolution of the virus”.

La Liga will be the second of Europe’s top five leagues to resume action after the pandemic paralysed all major sporting competitions around the world last March, following Germany’s Bundesliga starting up earlier this month.

German broadcasters have reproduced fan noise for television viewers in order to make the matches in empty stadiums more appealing and Tebas said the Spanish league are looking to use the same technology.

“Tonight we are doing audiovisual tests so that spectators will be able to choose between two backgrounds, the real one or one with fans and virtual sound,” Tebas told a forum organised by Spanish newspaper Marca on Friday.

“In the Bundesliga they have chosen to have virtual sound with a lot of success and we are working to try and have the same option.

“We want to give fans two options: silence or virtual sound. The tests that we have done are very interesting and surprising, but spectators will have both options.”

England’s Premier League will recommence on June 17 while Italy’s Serie A is set to continue on June 20, although France’s Ligue 1 was cancelled last month, with Paris St Germain declared champions.

The post La Liga back on June 11 as organisers trial virtual crowd noise appeared first on Cyprus Mail.

Cyprus Mail

Twitter Search / yenisafakEN: Taiwan approves Gilead's remdesivir to treat COVID-19 https://www.yenisafak.com/en/news/taiwan-approves-gileads-remdesivir-to-treat-covid-19-3530739 …pic.twitter.com/CwWbobyh7L

(@yenisafakEN) — Sat, 30 May 2020 05:45:00 -0400

Taiwan approves Gilead's remdesivir to treat COVID-19 https://www.yenisafak.com/en/news/taiwan-approves-gileads-remdesivir-to-treat-covid-19-3530739 … pic.twitter.com/CwWbobyh7L

Twitter Search / yenisafakEN

JPost.com - Homepage: Austrian MPs want Iran-backed Hezbollah banned within European Union

By BENJAMIN WEINTHAL — Sat, 30 May 2020 05:41:01 -0400

NEOS party urges Austrian to outlaw the Lebanese terrorist movement.

JPost.com - Homepage

Twitter Search / yenisafakEN: Russia sees another 8,000 daily COVID-19 cases https://www.yenisafak.com/en/world/russia-sees-another-8000-daily-covid-19-cases-3530742 …pic.twitter.com/58mCDBY0ne

(@yenisafakEN) — Sat, 30 May 2020 05:35:00 -0400

Russia sees another 8,000 daily COVID-19 cases https://www.yenisafak.com/en/world/russia-sees-another-8000-daily-covid-19-cases-3530742 … pic.twitter.com/58mCDBY0ne

Twitter Search / yenisafakEN

Twitter Search / yenisafakEN: COVID-19 cases up to 224 in Myanmar https://www.yenisafak.com/en/world/covid-19-cases-up-to-224-in-myanmar-3530736 …pic.twitter.com/qwSsznnQQQ

(@yenisafakEN) — Sat, 30 May 2020 05:30:00 -0400

COVID-19 cases up to 224 in Myanmar https://www.yenisafak.com/en/world/covid-19-cases-up-to-224-in-myanmar-3530736 … pic.twitter.com/qwSsznnQQQ

Twitter Search / yenisafakEN

Twitter Search / yenisafakEN: China reports four new coronavirus cases for May 29 https://www.yenisafak.com/en/world/china-reports-four-new-coronavirus-cases-for-may-29-3530749 …pic.twitter.com/UVP6jILd3f

(@yenisafakEN) — Sat, 30 May 2020 05:24:33 -0400

China reports four new coronavirus cases for May 29 https://www.yenisafak.com/en/world/china-reports-four-new-coronavirus-cases-for-may-29-3530749 … pic.twitter.com/UVP6jILd3f

Twitter Search / yenisafakEN

Twitter Search / yenisafakEN: COVID-19 claims 131 more lives in Peru https://www.yenisafak.com/en/world/covid-19-claims-131-more-lives-in-peru-3530734 …pic.twitter.com/50cmLDArkz

(@yenisafakEN) — Sat, 30 May 2020 05:15:00 -0400

COVID-19 claims 131 more lives in Peru https://www.yenisafak.com/en/world/covid-19-claims-131-more-lives-in-peru-3530734 … pic.twitter.com/50cmLDArkz

Twitter Search / yenisafakEN

JPost.com - Homepage: Mosques in Iran to resume daily prayers - president

By REUTERS — Sat, 30 May 2020 05:01:13 -0400

As of Friday, Iran had recorded 146,668 infections, with 7,677 deaths.

JPost.com - Homepage

Twitter Search / yenisafakEN: COVID-19 forecast to decimate Latin American job market https://www.yenisafak.com/en/news/covid-19-forecast-to-decimate-latin-american-job-market-3530737 …pic.twitter.com/wIDTh94RPC

(@yenisafakEN) — Sat, 30 May 2020 04:59:00 -0400

COVID-19 forecast to decimate Latin American job market https://www.yenisafak.com/en/news/covid-19-forecast-to-decimate-latin-american-job-market-3530737 … pic.twitter.com/wIDTh94RPC

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Cyprus Mail: Have you seen this teen?

Staff Reporter — Sat, 30 May 2020 04:58:06 -0400

Police on Saturday issued a missing person bulletin for a 16-year-old male from Nicosia who was last seen the previous day.

Constantinos Savvides is about 1.70m metres tall, average built with blond hair. He wears a ring on his nose.

When last seen he was wearing black shorts and black t-shirt with white letters. He also had a black backpack with him.

Anyone with information on his whereabouts should contact Nicosia CID on 22802222 or the public hotline 1460 or their nearest police station.

The post Have you seen this teen? appeared first on Cyprus Mail.

Cyprus Mail

Twitter Search / yenisafakEN: Prototype of new SpaceX rocket Starship explodes on Texas test pad https://www.yenisafak.com/en/video-gallery/news/prototype-of-new-spacex-rocket-starship-explodes-on-texas-test-pad-2204127 …pic.twitter.com/HGhfqlrfm9

(@yenisafakEN) — Sat, 30 May 2020 04:56:36 -0400

Prototype of new SpaceX rocket Starship explodes on Texas test pad https://www.yenisafak.com/en/video-gallery/news/prototype-of-new-spacex-rocket-starship-explodes-on-texas-test-pad-2204127 … pic.twitter.com/HGhfqlrfm9

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