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Items by Reuters
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What does a diplomatic row mean for Spain's Algerian energy supplies?
Algeria suspended a 20-year friendship treaty with Spain this week and moved to limit trade with its northern neighbour, raising more questions about the potential impact on the long-established gas business between the two countries. The row over Madrid’s stance on the disputed territory of Western Sahara comes as North...
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Lebanon's patients face crisis as medical staff exodus
Outside one of Lebanon’s leading hospitals, desperate parents arrive seeking help for their sick children, while inside its pediatric intensive care unit the beds lie empty and unattended. There are simply not enough nurses to keep the unit open and staff is forced to turn away ill babies, said the...
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Israel-Lebanon sea boundary row obstructs energy development
A dispute between Israel and Lebanon over their maritime boundary has obstructed energy exploration in the eastern Mediterranean and risks exacerbating tensions between two foes. After months of deadlock in US-mediated talks, Beirut on Sunday warned against any activity in the disputed area, responding to the arrival of a vessel...
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Rumoured Russian scale-back from Syria prompts regional alarm
After some of the heaviest shelling of Syrian territory by Turkish forces in months, six Russian helicopters, on Monday, staged a show of force along the border. The helicopters, filmed and reported on local and social media, appeared to have a clear and simple message: despite reports of Russia pulling...
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Cut off from Black Sea wheat imports, Egypt leans on local harvest
At an agricultural storage complex in the Egyptian city of Banha, Ahmed Nasser watches truck after truck offload freshly-threshed grain from the surrounding Nile Delta. Cut off from much of the Black Sea wheat it depended on by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Egypt, often the world’s biggest importer, is straining...
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Erdogan's vowed military operation returns spotlight to Syrian border towns
President Tayyip Erdogan’s pledge to carry out a new military incursion on Turkiye’s southern borders has triggered speculation about potential targets, with the Syrian town of Tal Rifaat emerging as a primary goal of any operation. Two days after Erdogan announced the plan, the pro-government Yeni Safak newspaper said, on...
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Subtle shift in US rhetoric suggests new Iran approach
A subtle shift in official US statements suggests Washington believes reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal is better than the alternatives, despite the advances in Iran’s nuclear program, diplomatic and other sources said. For months, the Biden administration argued there would soon come a point where the non-proliferation benefits of...
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Erdogan's vow to expand Syria operations raises stakes in Turkiye-NATO row
President Tayyip Erdogan’s pledge to launch military operations soon to expand safe zones already set up across Turkiye’s southern borders has raised the stakes in his row with NATO partners over Finland and Sweden joining the alliance. Analysts said Erdogan’s surprise announcement on Monday reflected his belief that the West...
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A rival sits out Lebanon's election - Now Hezbollah could fill the void
The stakes are high in Lebanon’s election. The heavily armed Hezbollah Movement has seen one of its main rivals descend into disarray, handing it an opportunity to cement power over a divided country that’s sinking into poverty. Abdallah Al-Rahman will not be casting a ballot, though. “I won’t vote for anyone,”...
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Why NOPEC, the US Bill to crush the OPEC cartel, matters
A US Senate committee is expected to pass a Bill on Thursday that could open members of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its partners to antitrust lawsuits for orchestrating supply cuts that raise global crude prices. The No Oil Producing and Exporting Cartels (NOPEC) Bill is intended to protect US consumers...
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Rising oil prices buy Iran time in nuclear talks, officials say
Emboldened by an oil price surge since Russia invaded Ukraine, Iran’s clerical rulers are in no rush to revive a 2015 nuclear pact with world powers to ease sanctions on its energy-reliant economy, three officials familiar with Tehran’s thinking said. Last year, the Islamic Republic engaged in indirect talks with...
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Under military's watch, Sudan's former ruling party making a comeback
Since Sudan’s military staged a coup six months ago, many former allies of toppled autocrat, Omar Al-Bashir, have been allowed to rejoin the civil service, while others have been freed from jail in an apparent push to form a government and reassure donors. The rehabilitation of the Islamist National Congress...
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Russia-Ukraine fallout starts felling fragile 'frontier' economies
The fallout of the Russia and Ukraine war has just helped tip two of world’s poorest countries into full-blown crises, and the list of those at risk – and the queue at the International Monetary Fund’s door – will only get longer from here. They may be far from the...
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You still need us, UAE tells US as it flexes Gulf oil muscles
By single-handedly knocking 13 per cent off rocketing oil prices on one day this week, the United Arab Emirates demonstrated the power Gulf producers wield in the market and sent a wake-up call to Washington to pay closer attention to its long time allies. OPEC heavyweights, Saudi Arabia and the...
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Arab refugees see double standards in Europe's embrace of Ukrainians
Syrian refugee, Ahmad Al-Hariri, who fled the war in his country for neighbouring Lebanon 10 years ago, spent the last decade hoping in vain to escape to a new life in Europe, Reuters reports. Watching European nations open their arms to hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians in less than a...
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College dreams dashed as young Afghan women fight to keep poverty at bay
As students return to universities across Afghanistan this month, law major, Waheeda Bayat, will not be among them. The 24-year-old was looking forward to resuming her course at the private Gawharshad University in Kabul, but amid an economic collapse that has dragged millions of Afghans into poverty, she cannot afford to go...
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IMF's tough terms deepen doubts over quick Lebanon bailout
The IMF has asked Lebanon to fulfil a string of pre-conditions before negotiating a bailout, four sources briefed on recent talks said, pressing for steps Beirut has long failed to deliver and compounding doubts over whether a rescue plan can be agreed, Reuters reports. An IMF deal is seen as...
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The importance of Turkiye's oversight of warship movements as possible Russia, Ukraine war heats up
Ukraine asks Turkey to ban Russian ships from its waterways...
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Demand for Hebrew lessons jumps in Gaza as Israel eases work restrictions
In a brightly lit classroom in Gaza, a teacher spells out Hebrew words on a whiteboard, followed attentively by Maher Al-Farra and dozens of other Palestinians hoping to take advantage of an opening up of employment opportunities in Israel. Increased demand for the classes at the Nafha Languages Centre follows...
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How a Saudi woman's iPhone revealed hacking around the world
A single activist helped turn the tide against NSO Group, one of the world’s most sophisticated spyware companies now facing a cascade of legal action and scrutiny in Washington over damaging new allegations that its software was used to hack government officials and dissidents around the world. It all started...
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Libya's Dbeibah: the ambitious politician
A move by Libya’s parliament to oust Interim Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah, who had promised not to use his stand-in position for political advancement, is testament to his success in doing just that. A reported assassination attempt on Dbeibah overnight came a day after he vowed not to cede power to any...
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Egypt's tuk-tuk drivers wary of plans for green streets
Ahmed Samir zips expertly through the Cairo traffic in his tuk-tuk, making a meagre living by ferrying Egyptians around the chaotic mega-city in his three-wheeled people carrier, Thomson Reuters Foundation reports. But Samir’s daily routine of beeping, swerving and cursing Cairo’s congestion could all come to a crashing halt under...
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War, siege leave Yemenis unable to buy their own honey
Idrees Al-Haddad used to buy seven kilogramme tubs of Yemen’s world-famous honey when he went shopping. Today he can only afford one kilogramme. Like many Yemenis suffering the extreme inflation and salary losses of a seven-year war, Al-Haddad’s reduced consumption has left the industry with a production surplus. “Merchants used to...
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COVID and war push Yemen's businesswomen to smash taboos
Short of masks and short of protective gowns, Yemen’s over-stretched medical workers started dying from COVID-19. Nadia Dhrah – herself a doctor – was dismayed, so she resolved to do what she could to help. Dhrah, who had set up a tiny business making surgical masks and clothing in 2019,...