Newsaholic

  Egypt has entered the league of nuclear program developing nations with its historic development of the first nuclear plant in the country. This was further affirmed after the discussion between Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El- Sisi and Director General of ROSATOM Alexey Likhachev. The Russian state agency is working in coordination with Cairo in order to construct the El Dabaa Nuclear Power Plant. Egyptian spokesman said that the Egyptan President and the Russian delegates will discuss developments in the construction of the nuclear plant project which will reportedly commence from next year. The recent report reveals that El-Sisi is looking forward to the ‘new edifice’ that will be in addition to all the projects that Russians and the Egyptians have been working on in coordination with each other. He further added this plant will be a symbol for Egyptian-Russian friendship for the Egyptian people. He showed his confidence in the experience that the Russians have in thi...

  Here’s something I want to share about my reading today. If we will go back to the nuclear deal issue, The reality lies behind the mask of Khamenei-not only does he wish to rejoin the nuclear settlement, he is desperate to do so. He almost definitely instructs Rouhani and Zarif in private to restart the contract as Joe assumes office next year.   Morever,The supreme leader is also seeing how the sanctions have dramatically shut off the influx of funds to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and its region-wide cronies and militant organizations. Looking at it, Iran's supreme leader is shrewdly openly undermining the JCPOA, though he both needs it in private and wishes to bring it back to life.  

 The ex-Israeli UN Ambassador Danny Danon feels that the elect President Joe Biden might just need to carry ahead what Donald Trump started in the first place. In his suggestion, the Iranians never took the deal seriously. The sanctions only saw them turn as a bad tempered child who wanted his way all the time. To ‘continue the momentum’ would be the right thing to do for the Biden administration and the road of peace and reconstruction for the Middle East. Since the peace treaty was signed with Israel, he pointed out how the number of flights had increased between Tel Aviv and the rest of the Middle Eastern nations. Further Danon feels that the Biden administration does not need to appease the Iranians. Instead, it should concentrate on “Instead, the new administration should apply more pressure, to work with the allies in the region, and if the Iranians would be willing to change the agreement which I doubt it, you can speak about it.” In order to call the bl...

  The thunder between Australia and China refuses to calm down even after nearly three decades of cordial economic and political relations. This year, especially, saw an increase in friction points between the two and now the experts have suggested that relations might further worsen. Even as the Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said a few days earlier that he is open to dialogue with the Chinese officials but experts and those close to their affair have asserted that now the differences have reached a non-negotiable end. The tensions initially started in 2017 but were still cordial enough for the trade and economic exchanges to continue but as Covid-19 pandemic hit, it became extremely fragile as Australia became one of the countries to blame China for it. Canberra also became one of the leading countries strongly against policies offered to lockout Chinese tech giants like Huawei from its 5g rollout. This obviously did not go down well with China, which restricted A...

All the countries who have feared Iran going rogue after the United States withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal are urging the gulf nation oto not squander the chance to salvage the nuclear deal in future. There are many countries who are attempting to keep the 2015 deal on Iran’s nuclear activities and they have agreed on Monday to address the possibility of the US returning to the deal positively under the Biden administration. The virtual meeting on Monday saw different parties coming to an agreement over the Iran issue after over a year. One of the top German officials present in the meeting said that a ‘downward spiral’ was caused due to Tehran making a U turn on the 2015 accord. The countries involved in the matter are Germany, France, Britain, China and Russia. These countries are trying their best to prevent the deal from collapsing after the Trump administration had unilaterally withdrawn from the nuclear deal. The European countries are optimistic about the shift in power in...

  Saturday, December 19, 2020. Reports from Galkayo the capital of Mudug region say that a suicide bomber blew himself up at the residence of the prime minister of Somalia Mohamed Hussein Roble. The bomber struck shortly after noon in front of a football stadium in Galkayo, the capital of Galmudug state. Preliminary reports of casualties in the blast say that civilians and military officers, including Danab's deputy commander in Marsho, were seriously injured, and the commander of the 21st Division, General Qooje, and other officers were killed. The dead also include former Galkayo District Commissioner Mohamud Yassin Tumey and the death toll has risen so far. The bombings come at a time of deteriorating security, disputed election commissions and the president's preoccupation with foreign policy. It is feared that the explosions will increase, and security will deteriorate. The government has not yet come up with a plan to stop extremist groups from killing civilians in So...

  Addressing the European Parliament, the EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier stated that this is a critical point in time for both sides to resolve issues and seek to strike a deal as the final few hours are left of Brexit deadlock.   After discussions with representatives to the EU's heads of state and fisheries ministers, Barnier was engaged in late-night talks with the UK negotiators team led by David Frost.   Both sides are at loggerheads concerning whether the EU will have the option to impose taxes on UK products or should the UK shut its seas to EU ships after the transition period ends.   There are significant disagreements over how much fish the UK can catch in its own waters in the coming future, while Barnier has proposed to return 15% to 18% of fish quota caught by EU in British waters.   On Friday, Boris Johnson stated that it would be tough if the UK were to be compelled to trade on World Trade Organization (WTO) terms from 1 Janu...

  Thursday, December 17, 2020. Members of the candidates' union for the upcoming presidential election have spoken out against the deployment of troops to some of the candidates' residences in Mogadishu this morning. The statement from the opposition candidates first condemned the move by the Somali government and the closure of roads. Candidates have also warned the Somali president to reconsider his alleged harassment of opposition politicians. Candidates have again warned against using the country's security forces for personal gain, urging the force not to be used to oppress and harass civilians. The Council of Candidates declared that any irresponsibility resulting from this provocation will be borne by President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo. This comes at a time when more troops have been deployed on some roads this morning, especially in the neighborhoods where most of the candidates are staying, such as Zoobe Road, Ceel Qalaw Road, Macruuf, Somali Airline and even ...

  Tuesday, December 15, 2020. Protests against the federal government of Somalia took place in Mogadishu today. The demonstrations, which were attended by a large number of youths, politicians and intellectuals began this morning in Karaan and Yaqshid districts of Benadir region. The crowd chanted slogans such as ‘let President Farmajo fall’ as a dictator and other words to express their feelings. The situation was tense, with protesters burning tires on some key roads. The protesters, who were reportedly shot by Somali security forces found. The shooting reportedly caused heavy casualties. Meanwhile, more troops have been deployed on some roads to prevent the planned protests. Troops mostly on Maka Al-Mukarramah Road blocked traffic, with people using their feet. In addition to the recent activities of political antagonism. Demonstration area currently highest residential districts of Karan and Yaqshiid, are also expected to come out in other people to demonstrations against...

  Monday, December 14, 2020. Since the dispute over the election commissions sparked controversy between the government and opposition parties, there have been international and local calls for the government to change the way it nominates the commissions. The international community and Somali stakeholders have urged Farmajo to come up with a calm environment to resolve the dispute, and to accept changes to the electoral commissions, which are said to include members of the army, intelligence and civil servants. The Speaker of the Upper House of the Federal Parliament, the Union of Presidential Candidates, Puntland and Jubbaland State presidents, the Civil Society, the majority of the Somali intelligentsia agreed that President Farmajo and Prime Minister Roble need to address the following issues in order to leave the country protected from political turmoil and conflict that could lead to retaliation. 1. Recognize that the advice and vetting of the implementation of the elect...

  Sunday, December 13, 2020. Farmajo sent Prime Minister Roble to Puntland to persuade President Deni to accept the government's plan, and to appoint election commissions. This attempt, which was the last attempt of the Federal Government to seek the approval of the appointed election commissions, ended in failure, and Deni openly rejected Farmajo's offer. The Prime Minister of the Federal Republic of Somalia, Mohamed H Roble, has arrived in Garowe, the capital of Puntland State of Somalia. Roble's plans were to discuss Deni with the disputed electoral commissions. The Prime Minister, Mr. Roble, has called on the President of Puntland to appoint the required members of the Electoral Commission. However, President Deni linked the appointment of the commission to two conditions: resolving the Gedo issue, which the federal government and the Jubbaland administration are at loggerheads over. President Deni also wants a review of the controversial election commission appoi...

    Minneapolis City Council voted early on Thursday to cut and shift at least $8 million from police budget for next year. This money will be used for other city service sectors in order to transform and improve city’s public safety.   The council had tried but unfortunately failed to dismantle the police departments in wake of Black Lives Matter movement triggered by George Floyd’s death by police officials of Minneapolis police department, choking him to death.   The controversial budget cut was unanimously approved as part of 2021 budget for Minneapolis.   Jacob Frey, mayor of Minneapolis had threatened of vetoing the budget, calling it an irresponsible act as city is amid surge of violence and multiple departures of police officers since Floyd’s custodial death. The incident had stirred the foundation of country’s police department and law enforcements.   But the change in statement by council was welcomed by Frey, that could have led t...

  French Prime Minister Jean Castex said on Wednesday that the law which strengthens the principles of the Republique, and presented on Wednesday, is not "against religion," but targets "the pernicious thought that bears the name of extremist Islam." According to Agence France Press, after the cabinet meeting, Castex reaffirmed that this law is not a text against religions, or Islam in particular. He stressed that "on the contrary, it is a law of freedom, a law of protection and a law of emancipation in the face of religious fundamentalism." The law came after a series of bloody attacks in response to cartoons featuring the Prophet Muhammad published by Charlie Hebdo. The newspaper was already the target of an attack in 2015.    

  Tensions between Iran and the United States have escalated, and the United States has always taken action against Iran. Iran's Revolutionary Guards have repeatedly fired missiles at ships at the Strait of Hormuz many times. Iran has always feared that warplanes coming from US ships could attack key facilities such as nuclear facilities and military bases. This has fueled rivalry between the two countries. Iran appears to be looking for a way to attack US navy warships in the event of a war in the region. Ballistic missiles travel the path of arcing to speed up, sometimes even out of the atmosphere before descending towards their targets at unimaginable speeds, which 10 times faster than the speed of sound. Iran, which sees itself as a regional power, intends to attack US aircraft carriers in the Gulf of Hormuz and the Indian Ocean. The U.S. Navy has repeatedly traveled to the Gulf of Hormuz, the main checkpoint for oil shipments. However, Iran has repeatedly announced that it...

  Monday, December 7, 2020. Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias has accused Turkey of launching military operations in foreign countries, seizing parts of neighboring countries. He also stressed that Ankara could continue without sanctions and that Turkey's ambitions in the region would not be tolerated. Dendias called on Turkey to prove that Athens wants good neighborly relations with Ankara. "We are open to constructive dialogue with Turkey," he said. The European Union (EU) and Greece have been angered by Turkey's gas exploration in the Mediterranean and the coast of Greece and Cyprus this year, sparking a major dispute between Turkey and Greece. The Greek warning comes in the wake of Turkey's energy exploration allegations. Greece has accused its Turkish counterpart of wanting to gradually occupy neighboring countries by launching unnecessary military operations at this time. Their disagreement escalated in early August when Turkey sent a reconnaissance s...

  A ton of reports have suggested earlier that Qatar has been funding anti-Israel groups and encouraging Palestinian terror in the conflicted zone. But despite a lot of regional pressure, Doha is continuing to support such extreme sentiments towards a community.   Qatar had always stood against Israel and gone to great lengths to do anything to harm the Jewish state. It was only last month when the Department of the Education revealed that the Arab country had made undisclosed donations to Cornell, Georgetown, Harvard, Yale and several other universities.   But what was noticeable difference in these donations was its irregularity. The irregularity was further highlighted by Institute for study of Global Anti-Semitism and Policy, who stepped into the process on motivation from the federal government who also already taken a lot of these irregularities in the donations.   The study was conducted to highlight the source of campus anti -Israel activism and analyses the ...

  Wednesday, December 2, 2020.The Union of Somali Presidential Candidates has strongly condemned the decision of the Somali government expelled the Kenyan ambassador. A statement from the presidential candidates have expressed concern related the decision taken by the government and explained that it was not a diplomatic move. "Government is undermining Kenya-Somalia relations for election related campaigns” Candidates 'Union argued. The government has scared candidates' meetings in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, and has taken diplomatic action by expelling Kenya's ambassador to Somalia and called Somalia's ambassador to Kenya as well. The move by Farmajo's government appears to be cowardly, linking the election to foreign policy, which has been criticized by academics, politicians and opposition leaders, who have warned against mixing the election campaign with foreign policy. Candidates say the government's decision to cut ties with Kenya is not in the ...

  Aisha Al-Qahtani, a Qatari resident who escaped her country for a better and a safer life in Britain sums up her native land’s treatment towards women in a line - “To be a woman in Qatar is criminal ’. Her statement is not hard to believe especially after how Qatar treated various female passengers forcing them for intimate medical check-up without their consent to find out who was the mother of an abandoned child found in the airport bin. The issue caused global outrage exposing Doha’s insensitive dealing of the matter. But what surprised many was Qatar’s lack of regret for its actions.   Today marked two months to the episode of Qatari barbarity, which left many female passengers shaken, who were travelling on Qatar airways flight 908 to Sydney on October 2. Despite “grossly disturbing” and “ offensive” treatment of women, Qatar did not reach out to the victims who went through the “sexual assault” to offer them an apology, let alone the compensation. Besides, the coun...

  Turkey has long been accused of hiding the true coronavirus figures and recent months have seen the country change it easy of reporting the virus counts. Experts feared that this will result in a surge of cases in the country if Ankara continues to have a loose approach and their concerns seem to be true. A report in the Associated press tells that the country has been witnessing an alarming surge of cases of covid-19. This issue was raised by the opposition and medical groups when they realized that Turkey has not been taking any measures to control the virus spread and in fact it is choosing to hide the actual data. The biggest concern due to this surge is that the medical system of Turkey is quickly exhausting. This week, there was a change made in the way Turkey has been reporting its coronavirus cases. The President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government earlier used to just reveal the number of patients being treated for symptoms but now it has started reporting positive cas...

Saturday, November 28, 2020. A powerful explosion took place in Mogadishu last night, especially on the road between the airport and the KM4 junction. The blast reportedly took place in the Gelato Divino area, a restaurant opposite the Sahal Terminal. Various reports have emerged of the blast, with a man wearing a suicide vest blew himself up at the restaurant. The scene of the blast is a crowded area, as well as near the first airport security checkpoint. Seven people, all teenagers, have been confirmed dead. The dead included journalists and prominent youths in the city, and a number of others were injured in the blast. There were also numerous injuries and extensive damage at the scene of the blast . A man wearing a suicide vest blew himself up outside a restaurant where many young people were sitting. Witnesses said the bomber was on foot and detonated himself outside the restaurant. The government has not yet commented on the blast, and there has been an increase in ...

  Thursday, November 26, 2020. Somalia politics has entered a difficult period in which the parties have been unable to resolve disputes over electoral commissions. The opposition has strongly rejected Farmajo's ambitions, and it appears that Farmajo's group is now in a political trap that is difficult to get out of. The Council of Candidates was formed to include former ministers, senior politicians, parliamentarians and the Speaker of the Upper House. The whole council has suppressed the political greed of the current president Mr. Farmajo and his violation of the law by the electoral commissions. All Somalis and stakeholders are keeping an eye on the issues and the overall outcome that is expected to change the unpredictable direction of the country, instead eliminating other political movements and monitoring activities. All politicians, political pundits and other heavyweights have become attendees to the Jazeera hotel and others are following the news minute by minut...

  Certain decision taken by the ruling party of Turkey and the president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has not only received criticism from all around the world but also from its senior most party members. According to media reports, Senior Turkish officials have criticized many decisions taken by the ruling AKP party as the differences between the two breakaway parties grow. These parties, which hold the deciding factor in the system, are DEVA and Future. Future party is one of the key participants in the matter despite it being a new player in the game. The party was formed in 2019 by former Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu. The cracks in the Turkish government are out in the open as this week itself, the former deputy prime minister and Presidential High Advisory Board member, Bulent Arinc resigned from the position due a dispute with Erdogan. Erdogan has been time and again blamed for his authoritarian approach even within the senior officials which results in the ...

  As the power shift in the United States is in process, countries are figuring out their relationships with America after democrat leader Joe Biden takes over the White House. Iran too is not far. During the Trump administration, the two countries did not see eye to eye and that led to a lot of complications and the relations became a lot more complex. Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenie has warned against any hopes of 'opening’ against the west after the President of the country Hassan Rouhani gave a slight hint of his willingness to cooperate with Biden in power. On this the supreme leader passed comments through a television broadcast saying, “We can't trust foreigners and hope for an opening on their part. We tried to lift sanctions once and negotiated for several years, but to no avail," he said, directly painting fingers at the 2015 failed nuclear deal between Iran and America. While campaigning during the election, the president-elect Biden had p...

  Sunday, November 22, 2020. Opposition candidates have been meeting in Mogadishu for two days to discuss the upcoming elections. Former Somali information minister and current presidential candidate Dahir Mohamud Guelleh has given details about the 2021 Somali presidential candidates' consultative meeting that opened in Mogadishu yesterday. The conference will be to three days, and will be current Somalia election  process to continue demanding their candidates. The meeting comes at a time when the government and opposition leaders are at loggerheads over the government's appointment of a new election commission. Opposition groups accused the government included members of the army, intelligence and civil servant and the opposition leaders rejected all these members to be in the in the election commission any more. Speaking at the end of the first phase of the conference this afternoon, Dahir Guelleh said that the candidates for the presidency of Somalia who gathered...

  Qatar authorities have released a statement saying that they have identified the parents of the baby found near a garbage tin in an Airport in Qatar. The matter received a lot of attention worldwide because the Qatari authorities were accused of sexually assaulting women belonging from different nationalities and especially triggered people in Australia. More than a dozens of women were invasively searched in the airport where the Qatari authorities found an abandoned baby and targeted women from around 10 flights and examined them without their consent to identify if they were the ones to leave the baby behind.   On Monday, a statement released by the Qatari prosecutor read that an unspecified number of Qatar airport staff and authorities were detained for carrying out these examinations. These authorities can be charged with sentences up to three years in prison. As for the identity of the mother, the prosecutor revealed that she has been charged with attempt to murd...