The Muslim World
Iranian president meets Palestinian officials in Syria | AP News
A Palestinian official says Iran’s president has met with senior Palestinian officials in Damascus and expressed his country’s support to them. Damascus-based Palestinian official Khaled Abdul-Majid told The Associated Press that the delegation briefed Iran’s Ebrahim Raisi Thursday on the situation in the West Bank, Jerusalem and Gaza Strip. Iran has been a main backer of some Palestinian factions, supplying them with weapons and money. Raisi began a two-day visit to Syria during which the two countries signed a series of long-term cooperation agreements on oil and other sectors to bolster economic ties between the two allies.
Shelling in Sudanese capital disrupts aid delivery efforts | AP News
CAIRO (AP) — Heavy shelling in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum on Thursday disrupted efforts to deliver badly needed aid to trapped civilians , after yet another fragile and frequently violated truce ran out, residents said.
Report: Taliban interfering with NGO work in Afghanistan | AP News
A U.S. report says a Taliban fighter fired his rifle into the air during a food distribution event recently in Afghanistan, citing it as an example of their harassment of nongovernmental groups working in the country. The Taliban have barred Afghan women from working at NGOs and the U.N. in Afghanistan, allegedly because they were not wearing the hijab, or Islamic headscarf, correctly, or observing gender segregation rules. Wednesday's report said the firing incident was one example of recent confrontations between the Taliban and NGOs. Others include Taliban requests for information on personnel and budgets and demands for more involvement in NGO's decision-making.
Arab ministers to meet over Syria's return to Arab league | AP News
Officials say diplomats from Arab nations are planning an emergency meeting in Cairo over the weekend about fighting in Sudan and Syria's potential return to the Arab League. A spokesman for the Arab League confirmed Sunday’s meeting. It comes as some Arab countries have been opening up relations with Syrian President Bashar Assad. Syria’s membership in the 22-member Arab League was suspended in the early days of the war 12 years ago and Arab countries later imposed economic sanctions. In recent years, Assad consolidated control over most of the country with help from his main allies, Russia and Iran.
Exclusive: Turkish raid prompted ISIS leader to detonate suicide vest | Reuters
Abu Hussein al-Qurashi was the third ISIS leader to die during a raid since 2019.
Finance and Economy
Governments are living in a fiscal fantasyland | The Economist
The world over, they are failing to confront the dire state of their finances
India meets with China, Russia before Central Asia forum | AP News
India’s foreign minister has held talks with counterparts from China and Russia ahead of a meeting of a Central Asian security forum. Foreign ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization began arriving Thursday in host India’s tourist hotspot Goa, where they're expected to discuss deepening economic and security cooperation Friday. Pakistan, India’s archrival, is also a member of the forum. Its foreign minister is making the first visit by a high-ranking Pakistani official to India in nearly a decade. Russia and China founded the grouping in 2001 as a counterweight to U.S. alliances across East Asia to the Indian Ocean.
Quds Matters
Israeli airstrikes on Gaza kill Palestinian as violence ebbs | AP News
Palestinian health officials say that Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip have killed a 58-year-old man and wounded five others. But the latest spasm of violence between Israel and Palestinian militants in the enclave appeared to ebb on Wednesday. Israeli fighter jets struck targets in Gaza in response to salvos of rockets launched by Palestinian militants at Israeli territory on Tuesday. But after sunrise, the violence seemed to subside as both sides signaled they wanted to avoid a wider conflict. The exchange erupted when a prominent Palestinian detainee died in Israeli custody after an 87-day hunger strike.