Summary Station

Liz Truss's grasp on Downing Street was loosening by the minute on Thursday with her authority shot to pieces and commentators counting her remaining time as prime minister in days, possibly hours. A string of backbenchers called for her to step down, with one saying there must be "change today". Officials of the influential 1922 Committee, which is crucial to a prime minister's authority, will meet today to discuss her fate. It follows a day of chaos in Westminster on Wednesday in which: · Her Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, departed in acrimonious circumstances, becoming the second senior Cabinet member to be ditched in less than a week · She faced humiliation at Prime Ministers' Questions as she was laughed at by MPs as she came under fire from opposition leader Sir Keir Starmer, responding that she would not step down because she was "a fighter, not a quitter" Read More : https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/uk-news/2022/10/20/what-happens-next-f...

Oil prices surged on Thursday amid signs that the supply of crude will remain tight despite US efforts to release more oil into the market. Brent, the benchmark for two thirds of the world’s oil, was trading 1.47 per cent higher at $93.77 a barrel at 12.11pmm UAE time. West Texas Intermediate, the gauge that tracks US crude, was up 1.81 per cent at $87.10 a barrel. US crude oil stocks fell unexpectedly by 1.7 million barrels last week, data from the US Energy Information Agency, which tracks weekly changes in the number of barrels of commercial crude oil held, showed. On Wednesday, President Joe Biden announced plans to put 15 million barrels on the market, the final tranche of oil from a programme announced early this year to release 180 million barrels of crude from the country’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Mr Biden plans to replenish stocks when US crude begins to trade at about $70 a barrel. "With the recession fears already priced in, and with the US having played its ‘strat...

A gold coin from the Umayyad Caliphate could be sold for more than £1 million ($1.1m) when it goes under the hammer in the UK later this month. The Umayyad Caliphate ruled a large part of what is now the Middle East from 660 to 750. Although coins from the period are common, the Arabic phrase inscribed on the dinar is said to be rare. READ MORE : https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/uk-news/2022/10/19/gold-coin-from-umayyad-caliphate-could-fetch-more-than-1m-at-uk-auction/

Jewish West Bank settlers stormed through a Palestinian town in the occupied West Bank, the Israeli military said Thursday, throwing stones at Palestinian cars and using pepper spray on Israeli troops who were trying to disperse the settlers. The settler rampage late Wednesday comes days after a similar incident in the same area and as Israeli-Palestinian tensions are surging over Israeli raids in the West Bank and an uptick in shooting attacks by Palestinians. Also Thursday, Palestinian health officials said a 16-year-old Palestinian died after being wounded in clashes with Israeli troops late last month. The Palestinians called a general strike throughout the West Bank in response to the spiraling violence. The rampage took place near Huwara, a Palestinian town in the northern West Bank near the city of Nablus, where a group of disaffected youth has taken up arms against Israel and in frustration with the Palestinian leadership’s close security ties to it. Read More : https://www.ar...

Win ugly. The sign of a good team is getting the job done when performances elude you. And Newcastle United, game by game, are in danger of becoming a very good team. In a contest that lacked any semblance of quality for the most part, one moment of “Miggy magic” was enough for the Magpies to claim all three points on Tyneside. A caressed Miguel Almiron finish, right out of the top drawer even by his standards, left England No. 1 Jordan Pickford flailing and helpless, and the packed-to-the-rafters, raucous home following in raptures. It was also enough to see Newcastle climb to 18 points — a tally they failed to achieve until February during the previous season. “The performance was very good, in a different way to how we have been at times this season. It wasn’t free-flowing football, it was a very competitive game, a lot of fight in midfield, very physical. I am delighted with the character shown and how we defended as a team,” said Howe. Read More : https://www.arabnews.com/node/218...

Following a month of nationwide protests, sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while in the custody of Iran’s notorious morality police, there is growing belief that the militant clerical regime, in place since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, is living on borrowed time. Amini’s death on Sept. 16 ignited a tinderbox of pent-up frustrations in Iran over falling living standards and discrimination against women and ethnic minorities, leading to the biggest wave of mass protests since the Green Movement of 2009. A month on, the unrest has persisted, spreading to at least 80 cities despite a “ruthless” crackdown that has left more than 200 dead. Such is the scale, fury and determination of the protests there are now many Iran watchers and scholars of social movements beginning to talk openly about the possibility of regime change. It certainly would not be unprecedented for a nonviolent protest movement of this scale to succeed. According to research by Erica Chenoweth, a political ...

United Nations inspectors have been blocked from accessing an Australian detention facility during a first anti-torture mission to the country, authorities said Thursday, adding that the visitors lacked “prior approval.” UN inspectors — touring facilities under a voluntary agreement to prevent cruelty to detainees — were refused access to holding cells in a town outside the capital Canberra. “They were refused access to the cells as they did not have prior approval,” a New South Wales state government spokesman said. A government human rights watchdog condemned the lack of accountability on the part of local authorities. Australia ratified the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture (OPCAT) in 2017, committing the country to reforms safeguarding detainees and making facilities subject to inspection. Australia’s prisons, youth detention centers, and immigration compounds have been plagued by persistent allegations of human rights abuses, particularly against Aboriginal commu...

The top US military commander for the Middle East boarded a US ballistic missile submarine in the Arabian Sea on Wednesday, in a rare move highlighting US nuclear undersea capabilities during tense times with Iran and Russia. Gen Erik Kurilla was shuttled out to the USS West Virginia and was aboard for about eight hours, as the submarine rose to the surface in an undisclosed location in international waters. The West Virginia is one of the US Navy’s Ohio-class long-range submarines, known as boomers. Ohio-class submarines form one part of the US's nuclear triad — along with US Air Force strategic bombers and intercontinental ballistic missiles. They are equipped with Trident II D-5 missiles and considered a key strategic deterrent. The US seldom advertises the location of its nuclear-powered submarines and rarely has them patrolling in the Middle East. On Wednesday, US Central Command said Gen Kurilla met with Vice Admiral Brad Cooper, commander of the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet, on ...

In the shadow of the Qatar World Cup will be the stories of migrant workers from India who poured into the Gulf state to turn this unlikely desert destination into a global football hub and returned home to their families in villages from Bihar to Punjab and Telangana — in coffins. Exactly a month from now, as the football World Cup begins, all eyes will be on the glittering 60,000-seat Al Bayt stadium in Doha, an architectural marvel that, in its nomadic tent-like frame, pays tribute to Qatar’s past and future. Eight-hour work shifts. Two hours of overtime to “meet workload obligations”. Additional payment of 125 per cent for working extra hours on a regular day, and 150 per cent on weekends. Food, transport and accommodation provided by employers, along with a medical card. Twenty-one days of paid leave in the first two years, which would be doubled after that. And, after completing two years, an economy class return air ticket from Doha to the international airport closest to a work...

Using Iranian drones in Ukraine is "truly unacceptable", a senior US State Department official said, as Russia warned the UN Security Council not to investigate strikes in Kyiv reportedly carried out with Tehran-made unmanned aerial vehicles. Iranian drones being used in Ukraine is also “dangerous and something that that we need to work against", State Department Counsellor Derek Chollet told The National on Wednesday. Mr Chollet spoke as the Security Council gathered for a closed-door meeting where Russia warned the UN that it would have to reassess its "collaboration" with Secretary General Antonio Guterres if he sent inspectors to Ukraine to examine drone wreckage. Read More : https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/us-news/2022/10/20/iranian-drone-use-in-ukraine-truly-unacceptable-top-us-official-says/