The European Union is considering the possible high-risk deployment of EU military observers to Libya in the event a ceasefire holds in the war-torn North African country, Politico reports. Libya has been the scene of a years-long civil war between Tripoli’s UN-backed Government of National Accord headed by Fayez al-Sarraj, and rebel General Khalifa Haftar, leader of the Libyan National Army (LNA).
According to a new Right-to-Privacy Index (RPI), Asia has become the world’s worst region for mass surveillance privacy violations, the Thomson Reuters Foundation reports. Published by British-based risk consultancy Verisk Maplecroft, the RPI cites Pakistan, China, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, India and the Philippines as among the worst offenders.
The European Union’s executive has rejected a demand by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to dismiss its top rule of law official for comments about Hungary’s ‘ailing democracy.’
The World Health Organization announced nearly $1 billion in new pledges on Wednesday for the effort to battle the coronavirus pandemic and make sure that poor countries get treatments and vaccines against COVID-19.
U.S. security officials are warning that violent domestic extremists pose a threat to the presidential election next month, amid what one official called a “witch’s brew” of rising political tensions, civil unrest and foreign disinformation campaigns.
Israeli Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that Israel is not ruling out a preliminary strike against Iran, the Jerusalem Post reports. The PM made his statement during a memorial service for those who died in the Yom Kippur War, when Arab states led by Syrian and Egyptian armies ambushed Israel in a surprise attack on October 8th 1973. At the time of the strike which led to war, Israel had been observing Yom Kippur, the most solemn and holy day in the Jewish calendar, and a time when the country comes to a standstill.
The Trump administration may close its embassy in Iraq if the government does not take steps to protect it from attacks by Iranian-backed militants.
There is mounting concern about the plight of persecuted Christian refugees in Hungary despite government pledges to help them.
Saudi Arabia on Monday said it broke up a terrorist cell that had received training from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, arresting 10 people and seizing weapons and explosives.
Authorities in Belarus have admitted detaining hundreds of people in a weekend of massive protests against authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko across the country.
U.S. Vice President Mike Pence joined tens of thousands of Christians to pray in Washington for a nation beset by political and social turmoil ranging from deadly riots to fierce political infighting.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday called on United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to convene an international conference early next year to launch “a genuine peace process” between Israel and the Palestinians.
Two rival Palestinian political parties said on Thursday that they will hold general elections within six months.
The European Union said Thursday it doesn’t recognize Alexander Lukashenko as the President of Belarus after being sworn in for a sixth term during a secret ceremony.
In an article published Tuesday, the WND news outlet reports that the COVID-19 death rate in the US is higher than in many other countries because opponents of President Trump have presented hydroxychloroquine, a malaria drug publicly endorsed by the president in March, as harmful and ineffective in treating coronavirus. WND bases its report on a white paper published by the Economic Standard (ES) called: “Hydroxychloroquine and the Burden of Proof: An Urgent Call to Depoliticize Medicine in the COVID-19 Pandemic.”
Reuters has learned that the US and the United Arab Emirates hope to have a letter of agreement on the sale of American of F-35 stealth fighter jets to the Arab state in time for UAE National Day on December 2. A close ally of America, the UAE has long been interested in purchasing the jets and was promised it would be able to do so upon normalizing relations with Israel.
Eritrea released at least 69 Christian prisoners this month, including many detained in horrific circumstances for their faith “for up to 16 years without trial,” aid workers told Worthy News.
Against a backdrop of rapidly changing geopolitics in the Middle East, Israel on Tuesday joined Egypt, Jordan, Greece, Cyprus, Italy and the Palestinian Authority to sign the statute of the East Mediterranean Gas Forum (EMGF), formally establishing the brainchild of Israel and Egypt as a regional intergovernmental organization, based in Cairo.
President Trump will impose sanctions on China if Beijing authorizes arms sales to Iran following his move to dismantle the 2015 nuclear deal and renew international sanctions on Tehran.
The US is sending around 100 extra troops to Syria to protect against increasing Russian aggression and signs of renewed activity from ISIS in the region, the New York Times (NYT) reported Friday. The newly deployed soldiers will be added to a contingent of some 500 American troops in Syria. Additional military hardware will also be sent and there will be more fighter jet patrols.