While the U.S. President has mostly focused on his real estate vision of a new “Riviera” along the coastal enclave, there are also untapped off-shore gas fields that Trump may be after.
Category: FOCUS
The war in Ukraine has reached a stalemate, and a ceasefire appears increasingly likely. Painful compromises with the aggressor may be inevitable. But what comes next?
This week, U.S. President Donald Trump doubled down on his accusations against Ukraine. It looks as though Kyiv may have to rely solely on European military aid. But France’s president, along with the British prime minister, have made urgent plans to visit Trump.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s vile proposal to take over Gaza has led to a shift in discourse Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan. This moment could mark a new beginning, with Arab regimes aligning their politics with those of their peoples. That is the only safeguard against Trump’s blackmail and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ambitions.
Vladimir Putin says he is “ready” to talk with Volodymyr Zelensky. But it’s a feigned openness to dupe Trump, since he continues to question the legitimacy of the Ukrainian president and does not alter one iota his demands for a kind of capitulation by Kyiv and a reversal of Baltic entry into the Atlantic Alliance.
President Donald Trump’s proposal for the United States to take over Gaza and resettle the 2.1 million Palestinians living there has pushed Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to delay his trip to the White House. But Trump holds some big cards that Cairo knows it will have to face.
Europe’s back is against the wall — Putin’s wall. The meeting in Paris of European leaders who are ready to defend Ukraine in the face of U.S. withdrawal was an opportunity for Europe to rebuild itself to preserve its interests and its honor.
With many of Gaza’s banks and ATMs destroyed, Palestinians are turning to money brokers to obtain cash — and paying commission fees of up to 30% . While the practice is criminalized under the Palestinian law, many say agencies in Gaza are not taking action against the brokers, allowing their businesses to flourish.
In the span of just a few hours last week, Donald Trump turned Putin’s Russia from a pariah state to a partner. For French political analyst Dominique Moïsi, the “useful idiot” role that Trump is playing does however raise a fundamental question for Europe about its own global autonomy in the future.
Ukraine isn’t backing down after the Trump-Putin exchange. It’s fighting to ensure that any negotiated plan includes strong security guarantees to prevent another Russian attack — and that Europe, sidelined by Trump, has a seat at the table.
U.S President Donald Trump appears to be pushing forward his pledge for a quick peace in Ukraine, following his surprise call Wednesday with Russian President Vladimir Putin. But what would a ceasefire look like? And how doe we get there?
Donald Trump spoke with Vladimir Putin for 90 minutes and announced “immediate” negotiations on Ukraine. But will Ukraine be a topic of discussion or an active participant in these talks? Will Europe have a seat at the table? And what security guarantees will remain for a Ukraine left diminished by the outcome?
While the U.S. President has mostly focused on his real estate vision of a new “Riviera” along the coastal enclave, there are also untapped off-shore gas fields that Trump may be after.
Displaced Palestinians have been returning to northern Gaza following the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal. Yet no official or international body has provided these refugees with temporary shelters, drinking water or humanitarian aid, despite these provisions being part of the ceasefire agreement. The poor conditions are pushing many to return to the South in a “reverse displacement.”
Following President Trump’s shocking proposal for the U.S. to redevelop Gaza, leaders in Cairo are seriously considering canceling the 1979 Egypt-Israel peace treaty. An Egyptian official has said that the U.S. plan, which would displace the Palestinian people, would will push the entire Middle East into a military confrontation whose scope and repercussions are unknown.
Donald Trump made ever more clearly Monday that he is serious about relocating Palestinians permanently outside Gaza. It’s a plan that the entire Arab world categorically rejects, and puts the U.S. back on the hook for resolving the thorniest of Middle East conflicts.
In a major move for sovereignty, the three Baltic states have cut their electricity supply from Russia and connected to the European grid. A collateral casualty of this shift is the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, now cut off from Russia and forced to generate its own power.
A Palestinian journalist in Gaza chronicles his long road back to the north, walking along with hundreds of thousands of displaced people returning to their homes. He, like most others, arrived at his family house reduced to rubble. What do you do then? What do you tell the kids?
Donald Trump touts the delusion of turning Gaza into the Riviera of the Middle East. Hamas would seem satisfied to continue to lord over a land turned to rubble after the folly of its Oct. 7 massacre. Where does that leave two million Gazans?
With many of Gaza’s banks and ATMs destroyed, Palestinians are turning to money brokers to obtain cash — and paying commission fees of up to 30% . While the practice is criminalized under the Palestinian law, many say agencies in Gaza are not taking action against the brokers, allowing their businesses to flourish.
What’s Donald Trump aiming for with his flood of provocative statements? Part distraction, part negotiating ploy, it’s all meant to allow the marketer-in-chief to always claim victory.
Donald Trump suggested that U.S. aid to Ukraine could be secured through the country’s rare earth deposits — those precious metals over which China holds a global monopoly. In reality, the idea was first pitched by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who knew exactly what kind of argument would resonate with Trump.
Hundreds of people from Russia’s theater world have left the country since its invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022. At the end of 2023, theater researcher Mikhail Kaluzhsky began trying to map and identify key trends of Russia’s theater-in-exile. He shares what is happening with the Russian theater scene in the capital of Georgia and what potential futures he sees for Russian theater professionals in exile.
Talks for the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire — and with it, the release of hostages and prisoners — kick off today as the Israeli prime minister arrives in Washington. His meeting with Donald Trump tomorrow could be a turning point, deciding between peace or war in the months ahead.
Trump’s suggestion that Egypt and Jordan take Palestinians in Gaza is the ultimate nightmare scenario for Cairo and Amman, but the U.S. president looks prepared to use his leverage to get a deal the Israelis would prefer.
Food is more than nourishment; it carries the stories of a people — their land and families, struggles and joys. For Palestinians, cuisine holds a profound connection to their heritage, but the trendy rise of Israeli food is putting that at risk.
How Germany, like other countries in the West, can avoid sweeping judgments and take a clear-eyed approach to a complex reality.
In his first extensive interview since the ceasefire, longtime influential Hamas leader Mousa Abu Marzouk said the group is running Gazan affairs, despite Israel’s attempt to unseat it. Still, Abu Marzouk said Hamas is seeking a future Palestinian unity leadership that it doesn’t necessarily have to run on its own.
A recent video of a woman being tortured in Libyan refugee camps is further proof that agreements signed by the EU and Italy with Libyan and Tunisian authorities are doing more harm than good. But the work of associations like Refugees in Libya shows that there is still some hope for the future, writes Don Mattia Ferrari, a Catholic priest who works closely with these NGOs.
The White House has showcased images of deported migrants in shackles. This deliberate display of humiliation is part of a broader strategy that combines cruelty with political messaging, undermining both personal dignity and democratic values, writes Caterina Soffici for Italian daily La Stampa.
Palestinians in Gaza complain that they don’t receive enough aid to feed their children even after a surge of aid trucks entering the strip as part of the Hamas-Israel cease-fire deal.
Having your own car means unlimited freedom. Right? A study shows that yes, it can increase life satisfaction. But freedom is a myth, and dependency on your vehicle will reduce overall happiness.
Since 2021, Poland has been facing a humanitarian and migration crisis along its border with Belarus. In the meantime, several collectives of volunteers have sprung up, providing aid to migrants stuck between the two borders, such as food, water, and emergency blankets. Now, facing a harsher Pan-European border policy, and security pressure at home, some of these volunteers may be prosecuted for their efforts.
The Indian middle class has a stake in the West’s future and must pick a side in its culture wars. The BJP should catch-up on MAGA’s long-term implications.
Trump’s politics of mass deportation have long been associated with migrants coming from Latin America and the Caribbean. However, as the first roundups begin in Chicago, home to the largest Polish community in the U.S., Warsaw-based looks at thousands of Polish immigrants who have been there for decades without proper documentation.
Donald Trump’s proposal to send Palestinians from Gaza to Egypt and Jordan has been embraced by the Israeli far-right but rejected by Palestinians and the countries involved. It amounts to illegal ethnic cleansing and revives an ugly history of Nakba. But it today’s world, it might even happen.
As a candidate, Donald Trump promised to end the war in Ukraine within his first 24 hours in office — a deadline the US president has now missed. Even so, negotiations to end the three-year conflict are expected to accelerate. What are Russia, Ukraine and the United States’ current positions? And what do experts think will happen?
The Gaza ceasefire between Israel and Hamas has gone into effect and the complex prisoner exchange has started. Yet the road is still too long before it is possible to discuss who is the victor and who is the vanquished. Many factors — in Gaza, Israel and in the new Trump White House — could still revive the conflict.
The recent Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal means that displaced Palestinians could return to their homes in the Gaza Strip in the coming weeks. When exactly will they return? And what will they find there? Palestinian writer Feda Ziyadh, who is among the 2.3 million displaced by the war, considers these questions — which four generations of her family has had to ask.
As the ceasefire settles in Gaza, the Israeli army has launched a large-scale operation in Jenin, in the West Bank. This move reignites tensions already fueled by the violent actions of settlers and serves as a reminder that no political solution is tied to the agreement reached in Gaza.