A weekly selection of opinions and analyses from the Arab media around the world. By THE MEDIA LINE FEBRUARY 15, 2025 00:08 US PRESIDENT Donald Trump meets Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Bethlehem, 2017. (photo credit: PPO via Getty Images) Trumpism: Risks and opportunities Asharq Al-Awsat, London, February 6 For more stories from The Media Line go to themedialine.org Many assert that the words of Donald Trump, the returning American president, are mere bluster. In my view, Trump could be anything – either an empty sound bomb or a truly destructive force. We are on the brink of four potentially extraordinary years that could either morph into our worst fears, leaving Palestinians without a land, or realize the dream of a Palestinian state. His policies might ignite a dangerous regional
Category Archives: WORLD NEWS
Feb
West’s Swastika-adorned shirts were Censori’s ‘final straw,’ sources say. By SHIR PERETS FEBRUARY 14, 2025 00:56 KANYE WEST and Bianca Censori pose at the red carpet during the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles last week. The writer argues: In his latest plunge into the abyss, ‘Jews were better as slaves,’ West has merely vocalized what has been lurking beneath the surface. (photo credit: Daniel Cole/Reuters) Kanye West and Bianca Censori broke up after two years of marriage, following West selling shirts with Swastikas on them, the New York Post reported on Thursday. “She’s had enough,” an anonymous source told the New York Post. “The Swastika shirt was the last straw. She told him that’s not who she is and that she can’t be associated with that.” West allegedly responded that
Feb
A 22-year-old air passenger from Bangkok has been arrested in Hong Kong on suspicion of bringing in 8kg (17.6lbs) of the key component of the emerging drug know as “space oil”, worth an estimated HK$8.4 million (US$1.07 million). The case was reported on Thursday, a day before etomidate will be classified as a dangerous drug. The government is set to gazette the change and enforce it immediately on Friday. Etomidate and its three analogues – metomidate, propoxate and isopropoxate – will also be listed in the gazette as dangerous drugs. Currently, etomidate, an anaesthetic, is regulated as a Part 1 poison that can only be prescribed by a doctor. The traveller arrived from Bangkok on Thursday, and during customs clearance, a batch of suspected “space oil drug” in powdered form
Feb
Chinese internet search giant Baidu will make its Ernie Bot service free to use from April 1, providing wider access to the company’s own artificial intelligence (AI) models, as competition in this nascent field heats up with the rise of innovative newcomers like DeepSeek . Beijing -based Baidu said users of Ernie Bot’s desktop and mobile versions will gain free access to its Ernie large language models (LLMs) on the back of “continued upgrades and inference cost reductions”, the company said in a statement on Thursday. The Ernie Bot platform on Thursday launched a function called Deep Search, which has enhanced capabilities in thinking, planning and providing expert-level response across multiple scenarios. This feature will also be available for free from April 1. Baidu co-founder, chairman and chief executive Robin
Feb
Defense Minister Israel Katz has wasted no time leaving his stamp on the cabinet office, viewed as the most powerful in the government. By YONAH JEREMY BOB FEBRUARY 13, 2025 17:41 Updated: FEBRUARY 13, 2025 17:49 Defense Minister Israel Katz attends a Foreign Affairs and Defense committee discussion at the Knesset, in Jerusalem, on January 22, 2025 (photo credit: YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90) Looking back at Defense Minister Israel Katz’s first 100 days, he cannot be as easily dismissed as many in the media have tried to do. Unlike some new Likud ministers who had little substantive experience or accomplishments and whose main resume was tweeting publicly for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and against all of his perceived opponents, Katz, age 70, has had serious jobs. He has been foreign minister twice
Feb
The emergence of high-profile figures in the Philippines tied to crime-linked offshore gaming hubs (Pogos) may result in a “complicated web of syndicate rings” that may hinder government crackdown efforts, observers warn. Philippine opposition senator Risa Hontiveros, who heads the Senate committee on Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality that investigated alleged human trafficking and scam operations connected to Pogos, said on February 5 there remained “evil elements” from the banned gambling firms and stressed the need to stay vigilant. The Senate panel also recommended filing criminal charges against those that Hontiveros called “Pogo personalities”. These included town mayor Lisandro Calugay of Sual in Pangasinan, who allegedly helped former mayor Alice Guo , an alleged Chinese spy, escape the country; Chinese businessman Tony Yang, whom Hontiveros called the “architect
Feb
Manila’s plan to acquire submarines and additional missiles to counter Beijing’s military might in the South China Sea has been praised by observers as a strategic long-term measure, despite the high costs and questions about the country’s readiness to maintain such technology. One analyst said the move was long overdue, since the Philippines discovered last year that its rival had used drones in mapping out the seabed in the disputed waters. On Wednesday, citing an “increase in China’s illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive activities” General Romeo Brawner Jnr, Armed Forces of the Philippines chief, announced the country’s desire to procure two submarines and additional BrahMos missiles in response to China’s military build-up in the West Philippine Sea, Manila’s name for the South China Sea within its exclusive economic zone. Last
Feb
LONDON — Hamas said in a statement Thursday it would release the next group of hostages as planned in accordance with its ceasefire agreement with Israel, adding that Egyptian and Qatari mediators had confirmed they will work to “remove obstacles and close gaps.” The next hostage-prisoner exchange is set to take place Saturday, as previously agreed in the current ceasefire deal. There was no immediate comment from Israeli officials. MORE: Netanyahu warns ‘ceasefire will be terminated’ if Hamas doesn’t free hostages This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Guy Hedgecoe Business reporter Reporting from Segovia, central Spain Getty Images Spain attracts the second highest number of overseas visitors after France It’s a chilly mid-winter afternoon in Segovia, in central Spain, and tourists are gathered at the foot of the city’s Roman aqueduct, gazing up at its famous arches and taking selfies. Many of the visitors are Spanish, but there are also people from other European countries, Asians and Latin Americans, all drawn by Segovia’s historic charm, gastronomy and dramatic location just beyond the mountains north of Madrid. “There was a moment during Covid when I thought ‘maybe tourism will never, ever be like it was before’,” says Elena Mirón, a local guide dressed in a fuchsia-coloured beret who is about to lead a group across the city. “But
Feb
A Hong Kong biotech start-up is working with a number of university partners to conduct global clinical trials that could lead to a better way of delivering drugs for prevalent eye diseases. Alephoson Biopharmaceuticals, established in 2019, has developed a technology to combine a proprietary cell-penetration peptide (CPP) compound with biologic medication that is currently used to treat age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and diabetes-related macular edema (DME). If planned clinical trials are successful, this could result in the commercialisation of a medication that can be administered via eyedrops instead of an injection into the cavity at the back of the eye, according to Benjamin Lee, a founder and CEO of Alephoson, which is based in the Hong Kong Science and Technology Park . “As a research-and-development-focused company, we are forging
Feb
We are the State of the Start-Up Nation and need to act like it. Will that be easy? No. But if there’s any country in the world that can make chaos work efficiently, it is Israel. By ZVIKA KLEIN FEBRUARY 7, 2025 05:54 WOULDN’T IT be great if every prime minister had an advisery group comprising the top Jewish and Israeli businessmen and women? Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu takes Elon Musk on a tour of Kibbutz Kfar Aza in November 2023. (photo credit: Amos Ben-Gershom-GPO/Handout via Getty Images) It would appear as though no day goes by without another scandal or story hitting the headlines involving Elon Musk – the candid, colorful billionaire who has become the right-hand man to US President Donald Trump since the campaign trail. He disrupted the
Feb
The woman had six fingers on her left hand, a characteristic that in ancient cultures was often interpreted as a sign of distinction and spiritual authority. By JERUSALEM POST STAFF FEBRUARY 6, 2025 09:20 Excavation near Jerusalem finds 9,000-years-old six-fingered Neolithic shaman woman. (photo credit: Israel Antiquities Authority) A recent study published in the journal Atiqot described a tomb found at the Motza archaeological site in the hills of Jerusalem, dating back to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B period. The excavations at Motza, conducted between 2018 and 2020, uncovered one of the largest concentrations of settlements from this period in the area. The research was carried out before the construction of Highway 16, the third access road to Jerusalem from the west. The tomb contained the remains of a woman who
Feb
Reuters The charred shell of Grenfell Tower was covered with protective white wrapping soon after the 2017 fire The government has decided to demolish Grenfell Tower, Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner told a meeting with bereaved relatives and survivors, the BBC understands. Seventy two people died when the tower block in west London caught fire in June 2017. The decision follows several years of debate over the future of the 24-storey tower, with some hoping it would remain in place as a lasting reminder of the tragedy and others wanting it replaced with a new memorial. A formal announcement by the government is expected to be made on Friday. Kimia Zabihyan, representing the group Grenfell Next of Kin which acts for some of the bereaved families, told the BBC she
Feb
Thailand has pulled the plug on electricity and internet access to Myanmar border areas bristling with scam factories, in a belated effort to disrupt fraud operations being carried out by illegally sending logistics and people across the border. Bangkok has faced diplomatic blowback for failing to help eradicate these syndicates, which are mostly clustered around the Myawaddy area of Myanmar, particularly since the high-profile rescue of Chinese actor Wang Xing last month from a scam park close to the Thai border in Tak province. The incident triggered outrage across social media in China and prompted holidaymakers from Thailand’s most important tourism market to cancel their plans to travel to the kingdom. Attention has focused on Thailand being used as a transit hub by criminal syndicates to lure and transport unsuspecting
Feb
The Former Refugees Repatriation Association Namibia is demanding the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to release funds meant to repatriate over 43 387 refugees. Association president Mathues Nangolo says they want the same compensation the UNHCR gave to the Caprivi secessionists who were repatriated from Botswana to Namibia. “The Namibian refugees who were at Dukwe Refugee camp and were repatriated by the UNHCR from Botswana were given all kinds of assistance, they were resettled,” he says. He was speaking at a meeting between the association and UN resident co-ordinator Hopolang Phororo in Windhoek on Wednesday. Spokesperson Mathues Stefanus alleged the UNHCR has failed to implement its resettlement and rehabilitation programmes in Namibia under United Nations Resolution 435 of 1978. “What happened to the resettlement and rehabilitation budget of