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  • U.S. and Egypt Put Improving Egypt’s Human Rights on the Agenda

    Within days of each other, the United States and Egypt announced moves this week that, for the first time in years, would put human rights on the agenda in Egypt, a country that has become notorious for jailing activists, targeting journalists and squashing free speech. On Tuesday, the State Department notified Congress that it was withholding $130 million in military aid until Egypt meets specific human rights benchmarks. Biden administration officials said it was the first time that a secretary of state had refused to issue a formal national security waiver to provide the aid.

  • Ex-U.S. intel operatives admit hacking American networks for UAE

    The three men admitted to hacking into computer networks in the United States and exporting sophisticated cyber intrusions tools without gaining required permission from the U.S. government, according to court papers released in U.S. federal court in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday.

  • Putin meets Assad, takes swipe at U.S. and Turkish forces in Syria

    President Vladimir Putin received Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad in Moscow for the first time since 2015 on Monday and criticized foreign forces that are in Syria without a U.N. mandate, the Kremlin said, in a rebuke of the United States and Turkey. Assad's most powerful ally in the decade-long Syrian conflict, Putin last received the Syrian leader in Russia in 2018 at his summer residence in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.

  • Iraq Makes a Sharp Cut to U.S. Oil Price, in Contrast to Saudi

    Iraq cut the price of its banner crude for U.S. customers sharply, a bold deviation from what Saudi Arabia chose to do with its own barrels just a few days ago. The nation’s Basrah Light barrels will be sold at a discount of $1.15 per barrel to a regional benchmark in October for buyers in the Americas, according to a price list from Iraq’s state oil marketing company. That compares with a slight premium -- 15 cents a barrel -- against the same marker for September.

  • Russia is building military influence in Africa, challenging U.S., France

    In the past two months alone, Russia has signed military cooperation agreements with Nigeria and Ethiopia, Africa’s two most populous nations. The U.S. has pledged to reignite its economic and commercial engagements in Africa, but a planned drawback of troops is giving way to extensive spending on operational bases and longer-term plans to sustain a strategic presence.

  • U.S. House Speaker Pelosi voices concern about alleged Saudi torture

    In an April statement, Geneva-based advocacy NGO MENA Rights Group said al-Sadhan was brought to trial for having run two satirical Twitter accounts and accused of funding terrorism, supporting or sympathizing with the Islamic State militant group, and preparing, storing and sending messages that "would prejudice public order and religious values."

  • U.S. pulls missile defenses in Saudi Arabia amid Yemen attacks

    Saudi Arabia maintains its own Patriot missile batteries and typically fires two missiles at an incoming target. That’s become an expensive proposition amid the Houthi campaign, as each Patriot missile costs more than $3 million. The kingdom also claims to intercept nearly every missile and drone launched at the kingdom, an incredibly high success rate previously questioned by experts.

  • Iranian, Qatari ministers meet amid Iran-U.S. tensions

    Iran's foreign minister met his visiting counterpart from U.S.-allied Qatar on Thursday, state media reported, as Tehran and Washington appear to be at an impasse over the fate of talks to revive a 2015 nuclear deal. Iran on Wednesday warned Western states against rebuking it at the International Atomic Energy Agency after the U.N. atomic watchdog's latest reports criticised the country, while U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said time was running out to revive the deal with world powers.

  • Despite Biden statement, Israel is a long way from U.S. visa waiver

    Bennett left Washington with a notable "deliverable": Biden had promised to work toward bringing Israel into the U.S. visa waiver program. Why it matters: Admission to the program has been an Israeli aspiration for decades. The issue resonates with many Israelis who may have family, friends or business connections in the U.S. but are intimidated by the visa process or put off by the costs.

  • Saudi prince: U.S. should not pull Patriot missiles from Saudi Arabia

    Saudi Arabia wants the U.S. to show that Washington is committed to the kingdom, and that means leaving American defense equipment in Saudi Arabia, Prince Turki Al-Faisal told CNBC. He was responding to a question on what the Middle East needs from the U.S. in the wake of the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan. “I think we need to be reassured about American commitment,” the prince, Saudi Arabia’s former intelligence chief, told CNBC’s Hadley Gamble last month.