Noontime News Recap: Drone incidents spread across Europe as Middle East tensions and US leak probe deepen
Drone incidents linked to the Russia, Ukraine war have now been recorded in at least 20 European countries, underlining how the conflict is spilling far beyond the battlefield and into airspace across the continent. đź”—In the Middle East, Iranian media reported that an oil tanker was struck near Kharg Island on Saturday morning, close to the Strait of Hormuz, in the latest sign of rising US, Iran tensions around a vital shipping route. đź”—Israel also carried out strikes across southern and eastern Lebanon overnight, with Lebanon's health ministry saying three people were killed and 15 injured, as cross border violence... [Continue Reading]
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UAE president pardons Egyptian dissident-poet Abdul Rahman al-Qaradawi after 10-year sentence
The United Arab Emirates has pardoned Egyptian opposition activist and poet Abdul Rahman al-Qaradawi, days after an Abu Dhabi court sentenced him to 10 years in prison. State media said President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan issued the pardon and that procedures are now under way to implement it. It was not immediately clear whether al-Qaradawi has been released.According to the reported court ruling, al-Qaradawi was sentenced on August 27 by the Abu Dhabi Federal Court of Appeal's Cybercrime Division and fined 200,000 dirhams, or about $55,000. The case followed his arrest in Lebanon in December 2024 and extradition... [Continue Reading]
Xi urges Middle East states to oppose external interference during rare Egypt visit
Chinese President Xi Jinping has called on Middle East countries to oppose external interference and to shape their own security arrangements during a rare visit to Egypt. The remarks came during talks in Cairo with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Xi's first visit to the country in a decade. The meeting took place at the Ittihadiya Presidential Palace in the Egyptian capital, where Xi was greeted with a 21-gun salute.According to the supplied material, Xi said the people of the Middle East should be the masters of their own affairs and should support regional dialogue on peace and security. He... [Continue Reading]
Fear the Shia, Arm the Sunnis: The Uncomfortable Numbers Behind America’s War Narrative
“When fear is managed carefully enough, a nation can be taught to look away from the blood on the floor and stare instead at the shadow on the wall.” A friend of mine, whose name I will not reveal because he asked me not to, sat across from me over dinner and placed a question on the table that would not leave me alone. He was born into a Muslim Shia background, and for the angle of this article, that detail matters, not because I wish to reduce a man to a sect, but because sect has become one of... [Continue Reading]
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