Middle East Experience

Researchers from Weizmann and Yale found that some cells in fetal intestines can produce insulin.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Go with your gut: Fetuses’ gut cells could help treat diabetes - Israeli study

Matanyahu Englman made the remarks during a visit to Ariel University. When he was asked by students, he said: "The picture described by the female guards is a red flag."
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: 'A red flag': State comptroller to investigate Gilboa Prison 'pimping affair'

All US adults are currently eligible for booster shots of the three authorized COVID-19 vaccines.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: US FDA authorizes Pfizer/BioNTech booster for 16- and 17-year-olds

The announcement followed a unanimous vote from members of the Organisation of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: As ties warm up with Arab countries, Syria to host 2024 energy conference

Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has arrived in Kuwait on Friday, his last stop of his Gulf tour that took him to Oman, United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Bahrain ahead of a Gulf summit later this month in Riyadh.The Saudi Crown Prince was welcomed upon arrival by Kuwaiti Crown Prince Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.On this occasion, Kuwait’s Foreign Minister and Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs Sheikh Ahmed Nasser Al-Mohammed Al-Sabah said on Thursday that the visit confirms the firm fraternal relations between Kuwait and Riyadh “on both official and unofficial levels, and in consolidation of amicable bonds between both countries’ leaders and peoples,” according to a statement carried by Kuwait’s news agency KUNA.The Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman’s visit is the third since he took over as crown prince. His first visit to Kuwait was in May 2015 when he was Deputy Crown Prince, and his second was in September 2018 after becoming the Crown Prince on June 21, 2017.While Kuwait’s Crown Prince Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah first visit to the Saudi Kingdom was in June, and his second was on last October when he attended the “Green Middle East Initiative” summit.The cooperation between the two countries included all fields, leading to the establishment of the Gulf Cooperation Council on May 25, 1981, which accomplished many achievements for Gulf countries within the framework of joint action. The two countries signed several agreements that covered various fields, including media, scientific, cultural, economic, air transport services, facilitating citizens’ movement of both countries, flow of goods across the borders, and exchange of scholarships for citizens of both countries.They also inked memoranda of understanding for cooperation in fields of Islamic affairs and provide facilities for pilgrims, which are always preceded by coordination and consultative meetings, positively reflecting on the two brotherly people. In pursuit of expanding cooperation in all fields, the two countries signed the minute of the Saudi-Kuwaiti Coordination Council on July 18th, 2018, which held its first meeting in Riyadh last June, and saw the signing of six agreements on cooperation in the field of youth, encouragement of direct investment, as well as education, scientific research and sports, according to KUNA.Read more:Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince arrives in Doha, received by Qatar’s Emir TamimReturn to 2015 Iran deal should only be first step to longer, stronger deal: Saudi FMCrown Prince Mohammed bin Salman tours Saudi Arabia, UAE pavilions at Expo Dubai
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Saudi Crown Prince arrives in Kuwait

The BBC on Friday urged Iran to end what it said was a mounting campaign of threats and intimidation against its journalists and their families at home and abroad.The corporation said staff from its Persian-language service have endured a decade of harassment and attacks, including asset freezes and arbitrary arrest of relatives.For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.“In the past year, threats against BBC News Persian staff and Persian-speaking journalists outside Iran have escalated,” the broadcaster said in a statement.“Death threats and threats of extra-territorial harm have been made towards BBC News Persian staff in London, leading to police involvement and protection.”The campaign has extended to journalists from other organizations perceived to be critical of the regime, forced returns from overseas and imprisonment, it added.The UN has voiced concern about treatment of BBC Persian staff, saying the authorities in Tehran were prepared to go to illegal lengths to silence reporters.The broadcaster’s World Service operation is part-funded by Britain’s Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office but is editorially independent of government.Diplomatic relations between the two countries are strained over Tehran’s nuclear ambitions and its detention of dual nationals, said to be linked to a historic unpaid debt from a military deal before the shah was deposed in 1979.BBC World Service’s lawyers Caoilfhionn Gallagher and Jennifer Robinson said Persian service staff “receive threats of death and violence simply for doing their jobs.”“We call on the international community to take immediate, robust action to ensure Iran is held accountable, and BBC News Persian journalists can report without fear,” they added.The general secretary of Britain’s biggest journalists’ union the NUJ, Michelle Stanistreet, also backed the call, saying Iran’s actions were “despicable and must stop.”“It is not only completely unacceptable for them to face such vicious personal intimidation, it is also a direct attack on press freedom,” she said.“Journalism is not a crime, and journalists must be free to do their jobs.”The appeal comes on International Human Rights Day, and after two journalists, Maria Ressa of the Philippines and Dmitry Muratov of Russia, received the Nobel Peace Prize.BBC News Persian has a weekly global audience of nearly 22 million people, including some 13 million in Iran itself, the corporation said.Read more:US preparing for outcome where no Iran deal is reached: Senior US diplomatIran intimidates BBC’s Persian staff by targeting parents, relatives back home
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: BBC calls on Iran to end campaign of threats against its staff

The United States won an appeal in London’s High Court to have Wikileaks founder Julian Assange extradited to face criminal charges, including breaking a spying law and conspiring to hack government computers.“The court allows the appeal,” Judge Timothy Holroyde said. He said the United States had given a package of assurances to Britain about the conditions of Assange’s detention.For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.The judge said he was satisfied with a package of assurances given by the United States about the conditions of Assange’s detention including a pledge not to hold him in a so-called “ADX” maximum security prison in Colorado and that he would be transferred to Australia to serve his sentence if convicted.The ruling brings Assange one step closer to being extradited but further hurdles remain.Judge Holroyde said the case must now be remitted to Westminster Magistrates’ Court with the direction judges send it to the British government to decide whether or not Assange should be extradited to the United States.US authorities accuse Australian-born Assange, 50, of 18 counts relating to Wikileaks’ release of vast troves of confidential US military records and diplomatic cables which they said had put lives in danger.The United States was appealing against a Jan. 4 ruling by a London District Judge that Assange should not be extradited because he would likely commit suicide in a US prison.WikiLeaks came to prominence when it published a US military video in 2010 showing a 2007 attack by Apache helicopters in Baghdad that killed a dozen people, including two Reuters news staff. It then released thousands of secret classified files and diplomatic cables.US prosecutors and Western security officials regard Assange as a reckless and dangerous enemy of the state whose actions imperiled the lives of agents named in the leaked material.But supporters cast Assange as an anti-establishment hero who has been victimized by the United States for exposing US wrongdoing in Afghanistan and Iraq.Read more:Biden virtual ‘Summit for Democracy’ to rally nations against rising authoritarianismUS assurances not enough to avert Assange suicide risk: WikiLeaks founder’s lawyers
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: United States wins appeal over extradition of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange

The top US commander for the Middle East said Thursday that the United States will keep the current 2,500 troops in Iraq for the foreseeable future, and he warned that he expects increasing attacks on US and Iraqi personnel by Iranian-backed militias determined to get American forces out.Marine Gen. Frank McKenzie said in an interview with The Associated Press at the Pentagon that despite the shift by US forces to a non-combat role in Iraq, they will still provide air support and other military aid for Iraq’s fight against ISIS terrorist group.For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.Noting that Iranian-backed militias want all Western forces out of Iraq, he said an ongoing uptick in violence may continue through December.“They actually want all US forces to leave, and all US forces are not going to leave,” he said, adding that as a result, “that may provoke a response as we get later into the end of the month.”The Iraqi government earlier Thursday announced the conclusion of talks on ending the US combat mission against ISIS. US forces have been largely in an advisory role for some time, so the announced transition changes little. The announcement reflects a July decision by the Biden administration to end the US combat mission in Iraq by Dec. 31.“We’ve drawn down from bases we didn’t need, we’ve made it harder to get at us. But the Iraqis still want us to be there. They still want the presence, they still want the engagement,” said McKenzie. “So as long as they want it, and we can mutually agree that’s the case — we’re going to be there.”He said he believes ISIS militants will continue to be a threat in Iraq and that the group will “keep recreating itself, perhaps under a different name.” The key, he said, will be to ensure that ISIS is not able to coalesce with other elements around the globe and become increasingly strong and dangerous.America invaded Iraq in 2003, and at the peak point had more than 170,000 troops battling insurgents in the country and later working to train and advise Iraqi forces. All US forces were withdrawn at the end of 2011, but just three years later, American troops were back to help Iraq beat back ISIS, which had swept across the border from Syria to gain control of a large swath of the country.The US presence in Iraq has long been a flash point for Tehran, but tensions spiked after a January 2020 US drone strike near the Baghdad airport killed a top Iranian general.In retaliation, Iran launched a barrage of missiles at al-Asad airbase, where US troops were stationed. More than 100 service members suffered traumatic brain injuries in the blasts.More recently, Iranian proxies are believed responsible for an assassination attempt last month on Iraq’s Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi. And officials have said they believe Iran was behind the October drone attack at the military outpost in southern Syria where American troops are based. No US personnel were killed or injured in the attack.“I think an attack to kill the prime minister is a pretty significant event,” McKenzie said. “I think that’s a signpost of the desperation that they’re under right now.” Iranian officials have said Tehran and its allies had nothing to do with last month’s drone attack that lightly injured the Iraqi prime minister.McKenzie, who has headed US Central Command for nearly three years and traveled extensively throughout the region, painted a picture that reflected the recent upheaval in Afghanistan, where US troops departed at the end of August.On Afghanistan, McKenzie said the al-Qaeda extremist group has grown slightly since US forces left and that the ruling Taliban leaders are divided about their 2020 pledge to break ties with the group. He said the departure of the US military and intelligence assets from the country has made it “very hard, not impossible” to ensure that neither al-Qaida nor ISIS group’s Afghanistan affiliate can pose a threat to the United States.Like the Taliban’s long campaign to get Americans out of Afghanistan, Iran and its proxies have battled to get the US out of Iraq and the broader Middle East.“Iran still pursues a vision of ejecting us,” he said. “And they see the principal battleground for that as being in Iraq. And I believe they are under the view that they can increase friction in Iraq to where we will leave.”Iran, he said, believes that campaign won’t affect the nuclear negotiations that were long stalled but are now restarting. But, he said, “I think it’s a dangerous position for the Iranians to maintain, because I think they’re not going to be able to decouple those two things.”McKenzie said that as NATO begins to expand its presence in Iraq as planned, the US will refine its force there. And the total US force presence will depend on future agreements with Iraq’s government.The US troops in Syria, currently numbering about 900, will continue to advise and assist Syrian rebel forces in the fight against ISIS, McKenzie said. He said it’s not clear how much longer that will be necessary but said, “I think we are measurably closer than we were a couple of years ago. I still think we have a ways to go.”More broadly, McKenzie noted that the US troop presence across the Middle East has significantly dropped since last year, when it peaked amid tensions with Iran, at as much as 80,000. The US has identified China and Russia as the top national security threats, labeling China as America’s “pacing challenge,” and has looked to focus more effort and assets in the Pacific.In its recent review of the positioning of US forces around the world, the Pentagon said little about removing or repositioning troops in the Middle East. McKenzie and other top military leaders have long worried that the US military is concentrated in too few locations in the Middle East and must disperse more to increase security.“We think it is important to work with our partners in the region to present a more complex targeting problem to Iran,” he said, adding that US will look at other bases and opportunities to move troops around to achieve that goal.McKenzie said he is particularly concerned by Iran’s development of ballistic and cruise missiles as well as armed drones.“And so those things are very concerning to me because they continue to develop them,” he said. “And they show no signs of abating in their research in this field, and their fielding of new and increasingly lethal and capable weapons.”Read more:US-led troops end combat mission in Iraq: OfficialUS officially announces end date for ‘combat mission’ in IraqIranian commander urged escalation against US forces at Iraq meeting: Sources
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: General McKenzie says US troops to remain in Iraq

George Attieh, who heads Lebanon’s public sector watchdog, accuses many employees of using the state’s disarray to ask for bribes..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: Disarray of Lebanon’s public sector breeds further corruption

The trauma of the Algerian War has poisoned French politics for more than half a century..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: France opens classified Algerian War archives to ‘look truth in the eyes’