Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Reuters
-
Beyond cutting hair and rhetoric, little West can do to change Iran’s trajectory
Western actors and officials have cut their hair on camera to dramatise their support for Iranian women, whose protests have rocked the Islamic Republic since a 22-year-old woman died in the custody of Iran’s morality police over a month ago. “For Freedom”, French actor, Juliette Binoche, said as she snipped off...
-
Saudi oil power play bruises US ties but will not break them
Neither side is backing down in a battle of wills over oil, between Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince and US President Joe Biden, putting a severe strain on their countries’ energy-for-security alliance, although a full rupture looks unlikely, Gulf sources and experts said. As de facto leader of the OPEC+ oil...
-
What is NOPEC, the US bill to pressure the OPEC+ oil group?
US legislation that could open members of oil producing group OPEC+ to antitrust lawsuits has emerged as a possible tool to tackle high fuel prices, after the body said it would slash production despite lobbying by the Biden administration. The No Oil Producing and Exporting Cartels (NOPEC) bill, which passed...
-
In an empty kitchen, Yemeni family struggles with hunger
In a bare kitchen in her house in the Yemeni capital, Sana’a, Umm Zakaria Al-Sharaabi, prepares for a daily challenge – creating a meal out of virtually nothing to feed the 18 people in her extended family. “Today we have yet to make lunch,” she says, gesturing at an empty...
-
Israel, Lebanon closing in on maritime border deal
Lebanon and Israel are closer than ever to signing a deal demarcating their maritime border, opening the door to new oil and gas exploration, after years of US-brokered negotiations. While limited in scope, the agreement is set to ease security and economic concerns in both countries, whose shared history is...
-
Kabul blast a setback for Afghan women seeking education against the odds
Raihana, 19, wanted to be a doctor, studying until midnight in recent weeks for Afghanistan’s university entrance exam, a chance for women to advance their education even as they face growing restrictions from the Taliban government, Reuters reported. Her diligent preparation ended on Friday when a suicide attacker detonated his explosives during...
-
Teachers' strike and soaring fees: Lebanon’s public school pupils miss class
School teacher, Claude Koteich, her teenage daughter and 10-year-old son should have all been back in class weeks ago – but a crisis in Lebanon’s education sector has left them lounging at home on a Monday afternoon. Lebanon’s three-year financial meltdown has severely devalued the country’s pound and drained State...
-
Sudanese head north to Egypt seeking brighter future
At downtown Khartoum’s Al-Souq Al-Arabi, travel agencies helping young Sudanese seek a brighter economic future in Egypt are replacing once-packed hardware stores in a corner of the capital’s main commercial hub. The exodus reflects growing despondence over prospects at home, where the economy has been in free fall and the...
-
Saudi Prince's Ukraine mediation signals 'useful' Russia ties
Saudi Arabia has won a diplomatic victory by securing freedom for foreign fighters captured in Ukraine, signalling the value of the Crown Prince’s alliance with Russia to Western partners seeking to isolate Moscow over the war there, analysts say. Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, may also find that the initiative...
-
On the run, Lebanon woman who stole own savings says she is not the criminal
On the run from authorities after forcing a bank to release her family savings at gunpoint to treat her cancer-stricken sister, 28-year-old Lebanese interior designer, Sali Hafiz, insists she is not the criminal. “We are in the country of mafias. If you are not a wolf, the wolves will eat...
-
Lebanon bid for IMF deal hits snags
Five months after Lebanon’s draft IMF deal raised hopes it could finally pull together an economic reform plan to address its financial meltdown, political and financial elites are obstructing prospects of securing any rescue package. Efforts to enact eight reforms sought by the IMF are going nowhere or falling short,...
-
Healing with humour, Palestinian comedians strike a chord in occupied cities
Palestinian-American, Amer Zahr, is on a mission to heal through humour. In 2015, he started bringing fellow Arab-American comedians from the United States to perform stand-up across occupied Palestinian cities including Nablus, Bethlehem and Ramallah. Seven years later, Zahr’s now annual Palestine Comedy Festival is still going strong. “Laughter is therapy,” he...
-
Attacks on major Iraqi gas field drive out US contractors
A series of rocket attacks on a gas field in northern Iraq has sent the US contractors working on its expansion packing, dealing a blow to the Kurdish region’s hopes of boosting its revenues and offering a small alternative to Russian gas. The project to expand the Khor Mor field...
-
From the US to China and Europe, Saudi seizes the diplomatic moment
Last Wednesday, Uzbek President, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, became the first leader from his country to visit Saudi Arabia in 30 years, the latest recipient of a Saudi diplomatic offensive that has included the United States, France, China and other powers. Four years after the murder of dissident Saudi journalist, Jamal Khashoggi,...
-
Fatal stabbings highlight violence against women in Egypt
A series of violent crimes against women in Egypt has drawn attention to gaps in legal and social protection that leave female citizens vulnerable to attacks and harassment, victims and activists say. The highest profile case was the murder in late June of 21-year-old student, Naira Ashraf, who was stabbed...
-
Russia Jews head for Israel as Kremlin targets emigration group
In the hours after Russia invaded Ukraine in February, Ilya Fomintsev, a 43-year-old oncologist and director of a medical charity, took to the streets of Moscow to protest. He was arrested and sentenced to 20 days’ detention. Fearing for his future, like many other opponents of the “special military operation”...
-
Does everyone want to leave Lebanon?
It’s a weekday, but 50-year-old Lebanese finance ministry employee Walid Chaar is not at work and hasn’t been since June. He rushes to water the garden at his home in the hills south of Beirut, using the single hour of rationed state power to run the sprinkler. He then phones...
-
For children in Gaza, another round of violence reopens trauma
When Israeli missiles started landing in Gaza in early August, shattering glass and destroying buildings, Jouman Abdu put on headphones, covered her eyes with a blindfold and stretched on the couch. The eight-year-old Palestinian girl said that she came up with this ritual to escape the bang of the...
-
Ben & Jerry's Unilever fight shows risks of ceding control
Ben & Jerry’s legal battle with Unilever sheds light on an issue affecting a growing number of purpose-led brands: how to maintain their identity after being bought by a major consumer company. Multinational consumer groups have raced to snap up socially conscious brands in recent years, seeking to tap into a...
-
Iran nuclear deal limbo may serve interests of both US and Iran
Whether or not Tehran and Washington accept a European Union “final” offer to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, neither is likely to declare the pact dead because keeping it alive serves both sides’ interests, diplomats, analysts and officials said. Their reasons, however, are radically different. For US President Joe Biden’s...
-
The issues holding back revival of the Iran nuclear deal
Iran and the United States are struggling to overcome divisions on three major issues in indirect talks on revival of a 2015 nuclear deal while months of negotiations have entered a crucial stage. A senior EU official shuttling between the parties said on August that a “final” offer was proposed...
-
From blast to banking crisis, one woman embodies Lebanon's complete collapse
Liliane Cheaito’s scratchy, laboured breathing went on until a nurse appeared at her hospital bed, where the 28-year-old has spent nearly every moment of the last two years in silent suffering following the Beirut port explosion of 2020. Using a suctioning machine, the nurse emptied her lungs of built-up phlegm...
-
Detentions loom over Egypt's political dialogue
After nine years of sweeping crackdowns on dissent, Egypt is set to launch a carefully choreographed political dialogue, but the main Islamist opposition movement is excluded and critics say a parallel move to release prisoners is proceeding too slowly. The dialogue, announced by President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi in April and...
-
What became of the Arab Spring?
Tunisian President Kais Saied is set to secure more power under a new constitution that is expected to pass in a referendum on Monday, in what critics fear is a march to one-man rule over a country that rose up against dictatorship in 2010. Saied’s opponents fear the changes will...