Saudi Arabia World Cup: Why widow of slain Arabian journalist Jamal Khashoggi wants Fifa to honour husband’s fight for free speech
The human rights strategy in Saudi Arabia’s World Cup bid, carried out by law firm AS&H Clifford Chance, does not mention Khashoggi or free speech once across its 28 pages. Under the scope and methodology section of the report by AS&H Clifford Chance, the firm says the scope of its assessment was “determined by the Saudi Arabian Football Federation in agreement with FIFA”.
Immoral consistency: Why calls by West to sideline Afghan cricket team reek of sports colonialism
What began as a boycott based on the International Cricket Council’s requirement that any nation with Test status must have an active women’s team has morphed into a catch-all protest against the numerous limitations placed on women and girls in the Islamic Emirate.
Israel and Hamas swap hostages and prisoners in second phase of ceasefire deal
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Palestinians in Gaza will not be allowed to cross back to the northern part of the territory until the issue is resolved. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians had been displaced from northern Gaza during the war and many were expecting to return from Sunday.
Five days before Trump is sworn in, Israel and Hamas agree to end Gaza war, free hostages and prisoners
If successful, the planned phased ceasefire could halt fighting that has left much of Gaza in ruins, displaced most of the enclave’s pre-war population of 2.3 million, and killed tens of thousands of people. The toll is still rising daily.
China’s credit cuts to Kenya forces the East African nation to turn to UAE for railway financing
Trade between Kenya and the UAE has more than doubled over the last decade, Ruto’s office said. The UAE is the sixth biggest export market for Kenyan goods, and its second biggest source of imports. The value of the trade stood at Ksh445 billion ($3.44 billion) in 2023, with the UAE buying agricultural products, while Kenya imports petroleum products, machinery and chemicals.
Turkey President Erdogan wants militant leader abducted from Kenya and jailed in 1999 to renounce his PKK party
After the first meeting with DEM officials, Ocalan was cited as indicating a willingness to call on the PKK to lay down arms. Two DEM sources said last week the party was now set to visit Ocalan again, as soon as January 15.
Gaza ceasefire deal ready, it is now to Israeli and Hamas leadership to sign it to end war
Mediator Qatar gave Israel and Hamas a final draft of a deal on Monday to end the war in Gaza, after a midnight “breakthrough” in talks attended by US President-elect Donald Trump’s envoy, an official briefed on the negotiations told Reuters. The official said the text for a ceasefire and...
First person: In Gaza starving people live among the dead and are trapped in a land reduced to rubble
A 25-kg bag of wheat flour can sell for $150. In an enclave where farmers once harvested citrus, vegetables and strawberries, I saw small peppers selling at a Gaza City market for $195 a kilo. Nobody was buying. Nobody could afford them.
Senator Bernie Sanders says after losing vote to block arm sales to Israel, US is ‘funding starvation of children in Gaza’
The Senate voted down on Wednesday a long-shot effort by US Senator Bernie Sanders (Independent-Vermont) and a handful of Democrats to block the sales of offensive weapons to Israel, amid a worsening humanitarian crisis in the northern Gaza Strip. Sanders’s bid to halt the sale of tank rounds, mortar rounds...
US Congress comes under scrutiny for muzzling legislators who queried bid to hide true Gaza death toll
The legislation comes shortly after Amnesty International declared that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza, noting as a factor in their decision the immense death toll in the besieged Strip. In the first year of Israel’s ongoing assault on Gaza, the military had killed 44,835 people in Gaza, according to the Health Ministry.
