by Rashad Abu Dawood

I am not a football fan, but I have been watching the FIFA World Cup in Qatar with extreme joy, unmatched by anything else in this sad time for the Arab world. While others watched skilful players and teams, I watched history happening before our eyes at the first such global tournament to be held in an Arab and Muslim country.

by Dr Ramzy Baroud

Though brief, the exchange between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Indonesia on 16 November has become a social media sensation. Xi, assertive if not domineering, lectured the visibly apprehensive Trudeau about the etiquette of diplomacy. This exchange can be considered another watershed moment in China's relationship with the West.

by Thomson Reuters Foundation

Every morning at sunrise, Iraqi fisherman, Ahmad Hassan Lelo, emerges from his shack on the banks of the Tigris River in the heart of Baghdad, and every morning his heart breaks at the sight before him.

The once mighty river that meandered past his home is a shadow of its former self. Its flowing waters – depleted by a devastating drought and dams, and polluted by sewage and industrial waste – have become muddy and listless.

by Anadolu Agency

In November 2017, at the dawn of his first term, French President Emmanuel Macron made a commitment, in front of 800 students in the West African country of Burkina Faso.

Macron's promise still carries very particular importance today, since it aimed to return works looted from Africa during the colonial period.

"African heritage must be exhibited in Africa," said Macron, adding: "I cannot accept that a large part of the cultural heritage of several African countries remains in France."

by Ibrahim Nawar

The Ukraine war has cast a shadow over the arms race in the Middle East and ignited it. The Iranian weapons supplies to Russia, the Turkish and Israeli weapons to Ukraine, and Germany's request from Israel to provide it with a system of Arrow-3 strategic missiles, show the beginning of a shift in the balance of military industries and the arms trade market in favour of non-Arab countries in the Middle East.

by Amelia Smith

Call logs released by France have revealed that French and British authorities ignored calls for help several times when a boat carrying asylum seekers ran into difficulty whilst crossing the English Channel late last year.

by Yvonne Ridley

When is a war not a war? Well, it depends on who is calling and firing the shots. As a young journalist, the first war I ever covered, albeit intermittently, was in Northern Ireland. I was told to refer to Operation Banner euphemistically as "The Troubles" because the UK government did not want the outside world to know that it was embroiled in a full-scale civil war.

by Dr Adnan Abu Amer

Despite Israel's efforts to strengthen its ties with countries around the world, it has recently been involved in several political crises. These have uncovered a big diplomatic failure, given that the countries it's clashing with were some of its close political allies.

by Elif Selin Calik

To produce energy takes ages, but setting up new diplomatic ties, changes day by day. Even 24 hours are too many to follow all these changes in the 21st Century's energy wars. Literally, we have seen this in 2020 during the energy price war between Mohammed Bin Salman and Vladimir Putin, as Russia-Saudi Arabia squabbled over oil strategy during the pandemic.

by Dr Ramzy Baroud

The moment that Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba was ousted by his former military colleague, Captain Ibrahim Traore, pro-coup crowds filled the streets. Some burned French flags; others carried Russian flags. This scene alone represents the current tussle underway throughout the African continent.

by Muhammad Hussein

If any month in 2022 succeeded in further uniting far-right extremists in Europe, Israel and India in a herd mentality, it would be September, when the English city of Leicester witnessed clashes between young Hindu and Muslim men following a series of attacks against the Muslim community by hundreds of violent Hindutva individuals.

by Hazem Ayyad

Amir Hossein Zamani Nia, Iran's OPEC governor, announced when he left a meeting with representatives of the 13 member states of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and their ten allies – known as OPEC+ – the decision to reduce oil production by two million barrels per day for November.