Middle East Experience

A number of Palestinian prisoners, including one of those who escaped from Gilboa Prison, are hunger striking in Israeli prisons.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Palestinian prisoners hunger strike as tensions rise in Israeli prisons

The mission will run 20 experiments and test methods for searching for signs of life on the Red Planet before it ends on October 31.

Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: 'Astronauts' simulate Mars environment in Israel’s Mitzpe Ramon

Businesses in Dubai are increasingly optimistic about improving market conditions and expect Expo 2020 to lead to a positive impact for industries, according to a new survey released by the Dubai Chamber.Most business leaders (83 percent) polled in the “Business Leaders’ Outlook Survey” said they expect conditions to improve in the fourth quarter of 2021.For all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.This represented a big jump from 66 percent who shared the same view in the previous quarter.Most respondents (78 percent) also said they expect their business to benefit from the Expo in the coming months, while 76 percent have already noted improved conditions in the current quarter.“Business confidence in Dubai reached its third-highest level in 10 years as companies in the emirate begin to feel the positive impact of Expo 2020,” Dubai Chamber said.Billed as the biggest in-person event since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Expo 2020 Dubai is set to welcome more than 200 participants – including nations, multilateral organizations, businesses, and educational institutions, as well as millions of visitors – over the six-month cultural fair.President and CEO of Dubai Chamber Hamad Buamin said the findings reflect growing optimism within the local business community and promising economic prospects that are being created by Expo 2020 Dubai.Also contributing to the improved sentiment, Buamin added, are increased government support for the private sector, success in overcoming COVID-related challenges, new business incentives, easing travel restrictions and higher oil prices.He said various sectors, such as trade, tourism, hospitality and logistics are likely to see the most business activity during Expo 2020 Dubai.Read more:Dubai announces portfolio of projects worth $6.8 billionExpo 2020 Dubai unveils nine-meter-tall giants to honor Arab explorersDubai Crown Prince Hamdan bin Mohammed visits UAE pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Expo 2020 leads to increased business buoyancy in Dubai

A nuclear engineer for the US Navy and his wife have been charged with attempting to sell information about nuclear-powered warships to another country, according to court documents released by the US Department of Justice.For almost a year, Jonathan Toebbe, 42, aided by his wife, Diana, 45, both of Annapolis, Maryland, sold information known as “restricted data” concerning the design of nuclear-powered warships to a person they believed was a representative of a foreign power.For all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.In actuality, that person was an undercover FBI agent.The couple had hoped to sell the data in exchange for thousands of dollars in cryptocurrencies and an undercover operation led to the Toebbes carrying out a series of “dead drops” with memory cards concealed in peanut butter sandwiches and chewing gum packages that contained details about secret submarine reactors.The Toebbes have been charged in a criminal complaint alleging violations of the Atomic Energy Act.“The complaint charges a plot to transmit information relating to the design of our nuclear submarines to a foreign nation,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “The work of the FBI, Department of Justice prosecutors, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service and the Department of Energy was critical in thwarting the plot charged in the complaint and taking this first step in bringing the perpetrators to justice.”An FBI affidavit states that on April 1, 2020, Jonathan Toebbe allegedly sent a package to a foreign government, listing a return address in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, containing a sample of restricted data and instructions for establishing a covert relationship to purchase additional restricted data.The affidavit also alleges that Toebbe then began corresponding via encrypted email with an individual whom he believed to be a representative of the foreign government but turned out to be an FBI agent. Toebbe continued this correspondence for several months, which led to an agreement to sell the restricted data in exchange for thousands of dollars in cryptocurrency.On June 8, 2021, the undercover agent sent $10,000 in cryptocurrency to Jonathan Toebbe as “good faith” payment.Shortly afterwards, on June 26, Jonathan and Diana Toebbe traveled to a location in West Virginia.There, with Diana Toebbe acting as a lookout, Jonathan Toebbe placed an SD card concealed within half a peanut butter sandwich at a pre-arranged “dead drop” location.After retrieving the SD card, the undercover agent sent Jonathan Toebbe a $20,000 cryptocurrency payment.In return, Jonathan Toebbe emailed the undercover agent a decryption key for the SD Card. A review of the SD card revealed that it contained state secrets related to submarine nuclear reactors.On Aug. 28, Jonathan Toebbe made another “dead drop” of an SD card in eastern Virginia, this time concealing the card in a chewing gum package.After making a payment to Toebbe of $70,000 in cryptocurrency, the FBI received a decryption key for the card. It, too, contained Restricted Data related to submarine nuclear reactors. The FBI arrested Jonathan and Diana Toebbe on October 9, after he placed yet another SD card at a pre-arranged “dead drop” at a second location in West Virginia.They will have their initial appearances on Tuesday in a federal court in Martinsburg, West Virginia.Toebbe is an employee of the Department of the Navy who served as a nuclear engineer and was assigned to the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program, also known as Naval Reactors.He held an active national security clearance through the US Department of Defense, giving him access to the restricted data.Toebbe worked with and had access to information concerning naval nuclear propulsion including information related to military sensitive design elements, operating parameters and performance characteristics of the reactors for nuclear powered warships.Read more:Lebanese Hezbollah hijacker wanted by FBI dies of cancer: RelativeMurders rose 30 pct in US in 2020 compared to previous year: FBIUS passenger attacks flight attendant, arrested upon landing in Puerto Rico: FBI
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: US Navy nuclear engineer, wife, arrested on espionage-related charges: FBI

The first Jewish wedding in 52 years has been held in Bahrain, a year after the US-brokered Abraham Accords.The event at the Ritz Carlton Manama, ordained by the Association of Gulf Jewish Communities (AGJC), was also the first strictly kosher wedding in the Kingdom’s history and was arranged by the Orthodox Union, the world’s largest kosher certification agency.For all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.Ambassador Houda Nonoo, the former Bahraini Ambassador to the US, tweeted about the wedding noting that the couple who got married are her son and daughter-in-law. The nuptials took place on Sunday.AGJC Rabbi Dr. Eli Abadie said: “All weddings are exciting events as we celebrate the creation of a new Jewish family.’“This wedding was even more significant as it was the first Jewish wedding in more than half a century in the GCC’s only indigenous Jewish community.”“I was honored to officiate the wedding. It is so fulfilling for me to see a resurgence of Jewish life in this region and to assist families throughout the region pray and experience lifecycle events in the GCC.”Dating back to the 1880s, the Bahrain Jewish community is the only indigenous Jewish community in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries and has the only operational synagogue (House of Ten Commandments) and Jewish cemetery in the region.The weekend included two additional ceremonies, a Shabbat Chatan and a Henna ceremony, the latter of which is customary in Sephardic Jewish communities.The wedding is part of a series of Jewish lifecycle events that the AGJC has facilitated since its inception in February 2021, including a bat mitzvah in Oman and a bar mitzvah in Bahrain.“This wedding was an important moment for our family, the community here in Bahrain, and more broadly, for the Jewish community in the region,” said AGJC President Ebrahim Dawood Nonoo. “The atmosphere was euphoric as we sat around the Chuppah (Jewish wedding canopy) which symbolizes the new home being built by the couple, it was also symbolic of the opportunity to further grow Jewish life in the region.”“It is our hope that we will host more Jewish weddings in the region which will lead to more young couples starting their families here and the further growth of our community,” added Nonoo.Bahrain and Gulf neighbor United Arab Emirates normalized relations with Israel last year in the Abraham Accords that built on shared business interests and worries about Iran. Sudan and Morocco followed suit.Read more:US Secretary of State to meet Israel, UAE counterparts to discuss Abraham AccordsBahrain’s Jewish community welcomes ‘historic’ visit of Israeli FM LapidIsraeli PM Bennett meets Bahrain, UAE ministers in US
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: First Jewish wedding held in Bahrain in more than half a century

Firefighters put out a blaze that raged for several hours at a gasoline storage tank in southern Lebanon on Monday, the latest blow to a nation grappling with crippling economic and fuel crises.There were no reports of casualties in the fire at the Zahrani oil facility on the Mediterranean coast, which had sent a huge column of smoke into the sky.For all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.Energy minister Walid Fayad said the fire resulted from a “mistake” while gasoline was being transported from one storage tank to another, the National News Agency (NNA) reported.“We must await the results of the investigation into the causes of the fire,” he added.A security source and a witness said the blaze had been put out after a battle that lasted most of the morning. Fire trucks from Beirut some 45 kilometer (30 miles) away were ordered to go and help, the NNA reported.The gasoline belonged to the army, the prime minister’s office earlier quoted Fayad as saying earlier.The army had diverted traffic away from the facility in a sparsely-populated area, the security source said.Zahrani, around 8 kilometer (5 miles) south of the city of Sidon, also houses one of Lebanon’s main power stations.Lebanon has been hit by a string of calamities including the catastrophic chemicals explosion at Beirut port last year which killed more than 200 people and devastated swathes of the city.At the weekend, fuel shortages led the country’s two biggest power plants - the one in Zahrani and another in Deir Ammar in the north - to shut down completely, adding to the hardship of Lebanese who have struggled with meager supplies of state-generated power for months and often face long queues for vehicle fuel.The energy ministry had said on Sunday that power was being restored to the levels before the blackout, after the army provided 6,000 kilolitres of gas oil to Zahrani and Deir Ammar power plants.The World Bank says Lebanon is suffering one of the deepest depressions of modern history. Three quarters of its population have been plunged into poverty and the currency has lost 90 percent of its value in the past two years.Lebanese have had to increasingly rely on private generators for power, with expensive fuel oil bills, as the state electricity company provided a few if any hours of service a day to their districts.Read more:Fire breaks out in benzene tank at oil facility in south Lebanon: ReportLebanon plunges into darkness as fuel shortage prompts shutdown of two power stationsLebanon restores power supply after complete halt
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Lebanese firefighters put out fire at fuel facility

Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman launched the Kingdom’s National Investment Strategy (NIS) on Monday, the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.According to SPA, the National Investment Strategy is one of the main enablers to achieve the goals of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 program.For all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.The National Investment strategy will contribute to the growth of the national economy and diversifying its sources, which will achieve many of the goals of the Vision 2030, including raising the contribution of the private sector to the gross domestic product to 65 percent, and promoting foreign direct investment to reach 5.7 percent of the total GDP.When launching Vision 2030, the Crown Prince said: “Our country has huge investment capabilities, and we will seek to be an engine for our economy and an additional resource for our country.”The strategy will also achieve the vision’s goals of increasing the proportion of non-oil exports from 16 percent to 50 percent of the total non-oil GDP, reducing the unemployment rate to 7 percent, and advancing the Kingdom to one of the top ten positions in the global competitiveness index by 2030.“Today, we are proud of the remarkable achievements made in the ‘Kingdom of Opportunities’ during the first phase of Vision 2030, under the leadership of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud. We will continue our work to pave the way towards a bright future, enriched by a diversified and sustainable economy,” Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said on the occasion of the launch of the National Investment Strategy.“This strategy is one means to achieve this goal, and we are confident in our abilities to reach our ambitious targets and meet the aspirations of our great people,” he added.Read more: Saudi’s Crown Prince announces new $13 billion ‘Arabian Highland’ developmentAccording to the Crown Prince, the National Investment Strategy revolves around “empowering investors, developing and providing investment opportunities, providing financing solutions, and enhancing competitiveness.”It also contributes to increasing the effectiveness of the partnership between the public and private sectors.SPA reported that the Crown Prince explained that achieving the Kingdom’s ambitious investment goals will be through concerted efforts, and the participation of a number of entities, such as the Public Investment Fund (PIF), in investing in Saudi Arabia according to its strategy.The Crown Prince stressed that the next phase of the strategy includes the development of detailed investment plans for different sectors, including the renewable energy sector, the transport and logistics sector, the tourism sector, and others.The Crown Prince said that more than 12 trillion riyals ($3.2 trillion) will be injected into the local economy up until 2030.The economy will receive another 10 trillion riyals ($2.67 trillion) of government spending through the state’s general budget during the next ten years, and another 5 trillion riyals ($1.33 trillion) of private consumption spending for the same period, bringing the total spending to nearly 27 trillion riyals ($7.2 trillion).The National Investment Strategy aims to raise net foreign direct investment flows to 388 billion riyals ($103.46 billion) annually and increase domestic investment to reach about 1.7 trillion riyals ($0.45 trillion) annually by 2030.It is expected that the investment-to-GDP ratio of the Kingdom will rise from 22 percent in 2019 to 30 percent in 2030, which will contribute to the growth of the Saudi economy to become one of the 15 largest economies in the world, according to SPA.Read more:Saudi Arabia’s non-oil new business growth at seven-year high in SeptemberSaudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund to sell part of stake in Saudi TelecomSaudi government expects budget deficit to shift to surplus in 2023
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince launches National Investment Strategy

Sami Jasim al-Jaburi was allegedly a deputy leader of the jihadist group under Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: Iraq claims capture of IS financial chief in operation abroad

“It’s the eye that makes a photograph, not the camera,” says 90-year-old Jacques Perez, who has forever retained his curiosity for his homeland Tunisia..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: Tunisia’s ‘humanist photographer’ Jacques Perez puts works on display

Iran must halt the imminent execution of Arman Abdolali who was convicted after an unfair trial for a crime committed while he was a child..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: Iran: Halt imminent execution of young man arrested at 17