The Jordan Times: Climate-stressed Iraq says will plant 5 million trees

Originally posted on Levant's Agora:
By AFP. Iraq’s prime minister on Sunday announced a campaign to combat the severe impacts of climate change on the water-scarce country, including by planting five million palms and trees.? Oil-rich but war-battered Iraq suffers from extreme summer heat, frequent droughts, desertification and regular dust storms, problems that are…

Rebuildsyria.cz: Kingdom of Saudi Arabia-Iran Treaty – A Flash for “Better Times”?

Originally posted on Levant's Agora:
By Ondřej Krátký. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (hereafter KSA) has concluded an agreement with Iran, which, according to a joint statement, should mean the end of hostilities between the two states. Since it happened with the significant contribution of China, it is tempting to interpret the whole thing…

Powerful earthquake devastates Turkey and Syria

The biggest disaster Turkey experienced in the last century after the 1939 Erzincan earthquake, hit Turkey, Syria and Iraq.

The forgotten Syria

With the war in Ukraine, it looks like the press has no attention any more to another country, located on the east coast of the Mediterranean Sea in southwestern Asia, where Russia also provided a lot of atrocities. Syria has become oblivious. In 1970 Syria came under the authoritarian rule of Alawite Pres. Hafez al-Assad,

The Global Investigative Journalism Network: 2022’s Best Investigative Stories from the Arab World

Originally posted on Levant's Agora:
By Majdoleen Hasan and Chafiq Sroor. Being an investigative journalist in the Middle East and North Africa was immensely challenging in 2022, thanks to the dramatic decline in press freedom in places once considered safer for journalists such as North Africa, the lack of human and financial resources, and…

The Century Foundation: Corruption Is Strangling Iraq

Originally posted on Levant's Agora:
By Sajad Jiyad.  It sounds like a Hollywood script: a network of thieves forge documents to withdraw $2.5 billion in cash from an idle government account. The money disappears into shadowy real estate purchases and foreign banks. A ringleader is apprehended as he is about to board his private…

The Jordan Times: The dangerous repercussion of the failure of renewed truce in Yemen

Originally posted on Levant's Agora:
By Amer Al Sabaileh. After a six-month truce, the Yemeni government and the Houthis failed to extend the nationwide ceasefire. The current situation might well lead Yemen towards another chapter of violent escalation within its protracted civil war. An escalation that cannot be viewed in isolation from the surrounding…

2022 towards its end

It seems like 2022 is only a few months away, but 11 months have already passed. In those months, the world faced some hot moments, with an upcoming Third World War lurking behind the door. Fortunately, most politicians were smart enough to keep away from red buttons and not jump in too quickly on the

New York Times view for 2022 August 29 – September 04

By Amelia Nierenberg Writer, Briefings August 29 We’re covering artillery strikes near a nuclear plant in Ukraine and a political scandal in Finland. Shelling around the Zaporizhzhia power plant has raised fears of a catastrophic nuclear accident.David Guttenfelder for The New York Times Attacks near Ukraine nuclear plant intensify Russian artillery strikes continued near the

The Telegraph looking at the third week of August 2022

August 15 By Danny Boyle  The heatwave is set to be broken by thunderstorms, but they are unlikely to help shrinking water supplies. And, as A-level students await their results, we explain why they might be disappointed. Prepare to be disappointed with A-levels, pupils told A-level students are receiving their results this week – and