The recent UN World Urbanisation Prospects report indicated that two-thirds of the world population will live in urban areas by 2050.  As of now, half of the world’s seven billion people already live in urban areas with the number of megacities on the increase al

US President Barack Obama has offered to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza with a view to reactivating the November 2012 truce between the two sides, but without spelling out the basis for this initiative.  What’s more the US president seems to be pu

The Israeli government, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, embarked on a massive new round of bombardment by air and sea against the helpless inhabitants of the Gaza Strip. Instead of de-escalating tensions after a week of violence that took the lives of many innocent peo

It was a reassuring meeting that the government had with senators to brief them on the recent local and regional developments.  During the meeting at the Senate on Monday, Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour and Interior Minister Hussein Majali assured members of the Upper House

The Lower House of Parliament has started its deliberations over the draft public-private partnership law to promote the next stage in the country’s economic development.  At the opening session of the debate on Sunday, Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour stressed the impo

The Ministry of Water and Irrigation is already sounding the alarm about pressure on the country’s water resources, especially in the northern region which is suffering from an acute water shortage due to hosting hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees. The northern gover

When Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour presided over a meeting on Saturday of the Higher Committee for funding small- and medium-sized enterprises in various regions of the country, he was sending a clear message that his government is well aware that there has been much talk about

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki has ruled out giving way to another Shiite candidate for his post and insists on running for a third term. Maliki must be putting the results of the last parliamentary elections that gave his party the highest number of seats in the legislatu

The abduction and killing in cold blood of an innocent Palestinian youth from Shuafat by Israeli settlers, condemned worldwide, is another odious act by extremists eager to shed blood under any pretext. This time, it is said to be in revenge for the killing of three young Israel