Libya has signed a strategic partnership with international firms to expand and develop the Misurata Free Zone, a project the government says will attract about $2.7bn in foreign investment and help diversify the country’s oil-dependent economy.

Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah announced the agreements on Sunday, saying the expanded zone could generate operating revenues of around $500m a year.

“This project not only enhances Libya’s position among the region’s largest ports in terms of size and capacity, but it also relies on direct foreign investment within a comprehensive international partnership,” Dbeibah said in a post on X.

The Misurata Free Zone signed the deal with Terminal Investment Limited, which is expected to help turn the port into a competitive logistics hub linking Africa, Europe and the Middle East.

Libya has faced prolonged instability since the 2011 NATO-backed uprising, with rival administrations emerging in the east and west in 2014, complicating efforts to rebuild state institutions and revive the economy.

WANA (Jan 19) – Following the recent riot in Tehran, the Palestinian Ambassador to Iran, Mrs. Salam al-Zawawi, was injured in an attack on her residence.

This incident occurred on Thursday, January 8, 2026, coinciding with intense street tensions and violence in the Iranian capital.

The attackers, estimated to number around 200, stormed the ambassador’s residence, chanting aggressive slogans and throwing Molotov cocktails. They succeeded in entering the building.

In addition to Mrs. al-Zawawi, several members of the Palestinian embassy staff were also injured. Mrs. al-Zawawi, who suffered from asphyxiation, was immediately rushed to the hospital.

the home of Shia Islam doesn't need Western values—it needs sovereignty from the Empire that so desperately wants to destroy it.

Crossposted from https://lemmygrad.ml/post/10405618

https://x.com/i/status/2013009361698762758

They also removed Russia TV, the bolivian equivalent of Russia Today

If you haven't followed what happened in Bolivia recently : Evo Morales Ayma was ousted in 2019 under false western-backed accusations of cheating.
Instead of a civil war, his political party was allowed to present a candidate a year later(, a welcome surprise), which they won at the first round(, another welcomed surprise).
Evo Morales was forbidden to participate, so Luis Arce, his ex-economy minister, was elected in his stead but, for unknown reasons, he started acting against him afterwards, even attempting to murder Evo, perhaps because of foreign threats if he ever allowed Evo to be re-elected, or perhaps because he's been secretly a traitor for more than a decade, or for some other reasons.
Evo Morales continued to protest and Luis Arce ended up so low in the surveys that he didn't attempt to represent himself, despite continuing to forbid Evo Morales Ayma to participate, and Rodrigo Paz was elected last November. For the first time since 2005, bolivians hadn't elected a member of the MAS.

Rodrigo Paz is inversing the direction the country took, you may have heard of the massive protestations following the Supreme Decree 5503 last December, which changed many things and was abrogated a week ago.
However, he promulgated a few days later the Supreme Decree 5516 which "only" kept 31 articles out of the 121 ones, and i haven't checked exactly what it is.
(I saw suspicions of letting the bolivian raw materials be robbed by foreign companies, and neoliberal measures, among carrots such as an increase of the minimal wage, as i said i haven't given a serious look)

Here's Evo Morales twitter's account : https://x.com/evoespueblo
I found that example of Rodrigo Paz's policy interesting : he made union contributions voluntary(, they were mandatory until now), accusing syndicate leaders of misusing millions in forced dues

E.Morales also recently reminded us of the current persecution of the ex-vice-president of Ecuador, Jorge Glas.
What Lenín Moreno did to Rafael Correa and ecuadorians is another argument in favor of legalizing citizen-initiated recall elections.

(As for the argument that citizen-initiated recall elections would lead to presidents/'the executive branch' not daring to take difficult decisions, my answer is that it'd only force them to convice a majority of their population before acting, changing their way of governing by more dialogues/exchanges, and eventually referendums, e.g. 3 per year with ten items each. Just saying that taking decisions against the popular will or with its ignorance isn't the best/only way.
Of course, freedom of expression and a real pluralism would be required, as well as financing medias through democratic media vouchers, and by forbiding them to be bought by the ruling/capitalist/bourgeois/rentier/exploitative class/interests, being only owned by their journalists and eventually their readers)

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/7364527

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/20622

Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) and Central Trade Unions (CTUs) in India jointly organized the National Day of Resistance on Friday, January 16, to oppose the neoliberal assault on workers and farmers by the ultra-right-wing government in the country and to pledge to build a bigger movement against it in the coming days.

In the run-up to the day, thousands of farmers, workers, and progressives have been staging demonstrations in their villages, towns, and workplaces throughout the country against the government’s recent policy announcements, including:

• The imposition of four new labor codes
• The introduction of the electricity bill
• The repealing of the rural employment guarantee program (in place for the last two decades)

SKM is a national collective of farmers’ groups which led the 2020-21 agitation in Delhi against three farm laws. CTUs is made of all major trade union federations in the country, excluding the ultra-right-wing groups, as a platform to resist state’s anti-worker moves.

The protesters took a collective pledge to resist all pro-corporate anti-workers policies with full strength and launch an agitation until the government is forced to withdraw the new seed and electricity bills, four new labor codes, and its decision to repeal the rural guarantee act.

Farmers and workers in India have been protesting against the introduction of four new labor codes for the last few years.

Since their implementation in November, the CTUs along with SKM, organized a national strike and multiple protests, claiming the new codes threaten the collective bargaining of the workers and deprive them of most of the rights they won through decades of struggle.

Anti-people policies

The text of the pledge issued by the SKM claims that the Narendra Modi-led government in the country has betrayed the promises made at the time of December 2021 agreement which led to the withdrawal of the agitation, and introduced bills and policies such as the new Electricity Amendment Bill (EAB) 2025 which would gravely harm the interests of the farmers and workers in India.

Around half of India’s working population is still involved in agriculture, with most having no or very limited ownership of lands and are highly dependent on state subsidies for their survival.

SKM claims that the EAB 2025 introduces “higher and uniform tariffs for all, doing away cross subsidies to the weaker sections, including that for agriculture and imposing pre-paid smart meters.”

Similarly, the Seeds Bill 2025 introduces complete market control by corporations and multinational companies (MNCs) over the supply of seeds.

SKM underlines that “this will drastically change the cropping pattern, detrimental to subsistence farming and endanger the seed sovereignty and food security of the country.”

The withdrawal of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and its replacement with a weaker law called the VB GRAMG Act 2025, SKM argues, “takes away the right to work and job guarantee for at least 100 days”, and withdraws “work on demand” as was provided in the previous law.

Named after Mahatma Gandhi, the NREGA was enacted in 2005. It was a result of years of popular struggle waged by the left groups in the country for the right to work. It provided guaranteed employment in rural areas to millions of landless and small peasants.

Read more: Indian farmers protest new seed bill, calling it a threat to the country’s sovereignty

The new law “while drastically cutting down the allocations, contrary to the false claim of 125 days’ work per year, also puts an additional burden of 40% on the state governments” who are struggling to get money to fund their existing welfare schemes, practically making it impossible to effectively implement.

SKM notes that the four new labor codes which “take away the rights achieved through decades of struggles-rights to form unions, minimum living wages, secured employment, 8 hours’ work, social security and safety at the workplace” is “pushing the working class as the slaves of corporate capital” and it must be withdrawn.

Protecting India’s democracy and its secular ethos

The SKM pledge claims the united struggle of workers and peasants is also aimed at resisting the growing suppression of dissent under the Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, through the use of draconian laws, curbing of free speech and the destruction of rule of law.

“We note with serious concern the efforts of the RSS-BJP combine and their government destroying the secular fabric of our country and the unity of the people.”

RSS or Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh is a militia with the agenda of turning India into a theocratic state for the Hindus. It controls the BJP.

It is claimed that religious minorities have increasingly been targeted under the Modi government through the subversion of rule of law and promotion of majoritarianism.

“We understand that all these measures of serious attack on the lives and livelihood of the working people is an effort by the corporate communal government to come out of the serious crisis of neoliberal capitalism and serve the interests of the multinational and Indian corporate houses and the super rich of the country,” SKM proclaimed.

The SKM also accuses the government of “shamelessly surrendering to US imperialism, betraying the interest of the Indian agriculture and Industry”, claiming “the Free Trade Agreements are to open the Indian economy to the loot of Multi-National Corporations.”

Despite the opposition from the SKM and others, India signed a trade agreement with the UK last year. Talks for a similar agreement are underway with the US.

Sudip Dutta, president of the Centre for Indian Trade Union (CITU), one of the largest constituents of the CTUs, vowed that the workers and farmers in the country will not let the government impose its pro-corporate and anti-people policies.

Dutta announced that the National Day of Resistance would be followed by a national strike on February 12 to push for the collective demands of peasants, agricultural workers, and the industrial working class. He warned that even after this, if the government does not listen to their demands and withdraw anti-people policies, there will be greater and longer strikes in the coming days.

The post Workers and peasants in India mobilize in National Day of Resistance against neoliberalism appeared first on Peoples Dispatch.

From Peoples Dispatch via This RSS Feed.

"In the current situation and the chaos we are living in, the only ones who can offer guarantees are the United States or the coalition," he added in a rare interview from Hasakeh province, which is still under Kurdish control.

Hamo denied that the YPG was receiving support from Iran or Russia, while suggesting a hope that Israel would intervene on behalf of Syria's Kurds.

"Of course, we consider Israel a powerful state in the region with its own agenda. We hope that the same stance taken by other countries in the region towards certain minorities in Syria will be extended to the Kurds as well," Hamo said.

Asked if he was referring to Israel's stance towards the Druze minority last summer - when Israel carried out air strikes on the defence ministry, near the presidential palace in Damascus and on Syrian troops advancing on Druze cities - Hamo said, "of course."

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/57287888

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/7373467

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/20489

Operation Al-Aqsa Flood was never just an act of war. It cracked the facade of regional stability, exposed the fault lines of power, and accelerated the pull into four contending poles now reshaping West Asia.

Until recently, regional developments in West Asia could still be parsed through the old frameworks of isolated conflicts, bilateral rivalries, or proxy skirmishes. No longer.

Operation Al-Aqsa Flood on 7 October 2023 was a strategic rupture that reset the rules of deterrence, legitimacy, and the acceptable use of force. Since that day, West Asia has transformed into a single, hyper-connected battlespace where borders blur, fronts overlap, and crises no longer unfold in isolation.

Everything since 7 October has operated within a new strategic equation. Major powers have scrambled to adjust their priorities, allies and adversaries have redrawn their lines, and familiar arrangements have begun to fray.

The usual safeguards – diplomatic cover, economic pressure valves, even military deterrents – have eroded. The region is no longer a patchwork of separate flashpoints, but a volatile system where any single spark – a border incident, trade maneuver, or diplomatic shift – can trigger a chain reaction. What we are witnessing is the active remaking of the region’s balance of power, in real time

Four axes, no hegemon

At the heart of this transformation is the emergence of four distinct centers of power: Iran, Turkiye, Saudi Arabia, and the Israeli occupation state. Each commands influence across multiple domains, but none has been able to translate that into uncontested dominance. Instead, the region is pulled between four gravitational fields, each shaping alliances, conflicts, and narratives.

Iran and Saudi Arabia wield energy resources that extend their reach beyond West Asia. Iran also commands loyalty from Shia populations and maintains long-standing partnerships with resistance movements.

Turkiye and Iran are large, populous states with deep historical imperial roots, strategic geography, and expansive militaries. Saudi Arabia – and, to a lesser extent, Turkiye – also possess significant soft power, rooted in religious and cultural legitimacy. Israel, for its part, remains a military and technological leader, backed by a “special relationship” with Washington and an unconfirmed nuclear arsenal.

None of these powers, however, holds all the cards. Their simultaneous rise has prevented the emergence of a regional hegemon. Instead, they check each other’s advances in an unstable balance shaped by history, ideology, and ambition.

From thecradle.co via This RSS Feed.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/41879316

from +972’s Sunday Recap
+972 Magazine [published in #Israel]
Jan.18, 2026

From Jerusalem to Haifa, bus drivers and ticket inspectors are facing an unprecedented surge in attacks — be it from ultra-Orthodox youth or soccer hooligans — forcing many to choose between livelihood and safety. Charlotte Ritz-Jack wrote about the Palestinian bus drivers on the front lines of Israeli racial violence, and the Palestinian-Jewish union coming to their defense.

Also:

• On Iran’s protests, Israeli hypocrisy knows no limits
• The calculated erasure of Ras Ein Al-Auja
• On Iran’s protests, Israeli hypocrisy knows no limits
• Israel’s Somaliland gambit reflects a doctrine of endless escalation
• ‘Steadfastness’ without substance: How Hamas narrates the Gaza war today
• ‘Here we can be free’: The community revolutionizing Palestinian club culture

The Syrian government and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Sunday agreed to an immediate ceasefire across all fronts, Syrian state media reported, following days of clashes as the army reclaimed large swathes of the country’s northeast.

Speaking in Damascus, President Ahmed al-Sharaa said remaining disputes with the SDF would be resolved through dialogue.

He stressed that Syria remains a single, unified state and said special security arrangements would be put in place in areas granted particular status.

Sharaa said he was due to meet the head of the SDF, Mazloum Abdi, but bad weather delayed the talks, which have now been pushed back to Monday.

Jan 18 (Reuters) - Syrian troops fighting U.S.-backed Kurdish-led forces seized the Omar oil field, the country’s largest, and the Conoco gas field in the eastern Deir Zor province as allied Arab tribal forces advanced in the oil-rich area along the border with Iraq, officials and security sources said on Sunday.

The takeover of the oil fields that lie east of the Euphrates River — a main source of revenue for the Kurdish-led forces — was a major blow to the group.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/57193593

archive.org
ghostarchive.org
archive.today

https://archive.ph/8oFWY

BAGHDAD, Jan 17 (Reuters) - U.S. forces have withdrawn from Iraq's Ain al-Asad Airbase, which housed U.S.-led forces in Western Iraq, and the Iraqi army has assumed full control, the Iraqi defence ministry said on Saturday.

In 2024, Washington and Baghdad reached an understanding on plans for the withdrawal of U.S.-led coalition forces from Iraq and a move towards a bilateral security relationship.

An Iraqi army colonel confirmed the U.S. forces withdrawal from the base, saying there were a few soldiers remaining due to some logistical issues. He did not give further details for security reasons.

It was not immediately clear when the withdrawal started, but the initial plan stipulated that hundreds of troops would leave by September 2025, with the rest departing by the end of 2026.

More than two months ago, Israel and Hamas signed a cease-fire agreement that offered Palestinians in Gaza a hope of respite after a punishing two-year Israeli bombardment that left much of their enclave in ruins. The destruction has continued.

Israel has demolished more than 2,500 buildings in Gaza since the cease-fire began, according to a New York Times analysis of satellite imagery from Planet Labs. It says it is destroying tunnels and booby-trapped homes.

This is what Israel’s actions look like. A nighttime video from Oct. 30, when the cease-fire was in effect, shows what appears to be a large-scale controlled demolition in a part of Shejaiya, a neighborhood in Gaza City, that is under Israeli military control.

As part of the cease-fire agreement reached earlier that month, the Israeli military withdrew its forces beyond an agreed-upon boundary inside Gaza, represented on maps published by Israel as a yellow line. That left Israel in control of about half of the enclave.

Most of the demolitions since the cease-fire began have been in those Israeli-controlled areas.

But dozens of buildings have been destroyed beyond the yellow line in areas effectively under Hamas control, where the Israeli military had agreed to halt its operations.

US president Donald Trump has named former UK prime minister Tony Blair and US secretary of state, Marco Rubio as members of his so-called "board of peace," a body which he says will oversee the governance and reconstruction of Gaza.

With Trump serving as chair, the seven-strong board will also include US special envoy Steve Witkoff, World Bank president Ajay Banga, and the president's son-in-law Jared Kushner.

Who would have thought that playing nice with other countries would be beneficial.

Ryan Grim
Jan 17, 2026

Her account does not claim to be comprehensive; no single account could be. She is not part of a professional activist network, but she was visiting Iran in order to spend time with family. The interview presents a first-hand perspective of a person directly involved with the protests—from someone who is opposed to the government there, but is also opposed to the bombing of Iran and is not a supporter of the U.S. or Israel, countries that have played a role in the unrest and have made no secret of their designs toward Iran. The New York Times has reported that “a ragtag network of activists, developers and engineers pierced Iran’s digital barricades” and with the help of the National Endowment for Democracy, a CIA-adjacent American funding mechanism, managed to build a transnational network that smuggled some 50,000 Starlink devices into Iran, which is about $40,000,000 of hardware for that “ragtag” band.

As waves of deadly demonstrations and counter-demonstrations hit Iran, MintPress examines the CIA-backed NGOs helping to stir the outrage and foment more violence.

One of these groups is Human Rights Activists In Iran, frequently referred to as HRA or HRAI in the media. The group, and its media arm, the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) have become the go-to group of experts for Western media, and are the source of many of the most inflammatory claims and shockingly high casualty figures reported in the press. In the past week alone, their assertions have provided much of the basis for stories in CNN, The Wall Street Journal, NPR, ABC News, Sky News, and The New York Post, among others. And in a passionate plea for leftists to support the protests, Owen Jones wrote in The Guardian Tuesday that HRAI are a “respected” group whose death toll proclamations are “probably significant underestimates.”

Yet what none of these reports mention is that Human Rights Activists In Iran is bankrolled by the Central Intelligence Agency, through its cutout organization, the National Endowment for Democracy (NED).

Another NGO widely cited in recent media reports on the protests is the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center for Human Rights in Iran (ABCHRI). The group has been quoted widely, including by The Washington Post, PBS, and ABC News. Like with the HRAI, these reports also fail to disclose the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center’s proximity to the U.S. national security state.

Although it does not mention it in its funding disclaimer, the center is supported by the NED. Last year, the NED described the center as a “partner” organization, and awarded its director, Roya Boroumand, their 2024 Goler T. Butcher medal for democracy promotion.

Torrential rains have killed more than 100 people across Southern Africa, forcing mass evacuations and rescue operations as authorities warn that more destructive weather may still be to come.

Weeks of heavy rainfall have battered South Africa, Mozambique and Zimbabwe, overwhelming rivers and infrastructure and leaving entire communities cut off. Weather services across the region have issued further alerts, raising fears of additional flooding.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/41805052

Ramzy Baroud
Jan 16, 2026

Beginning in October 2023, Israel launched an unprecedented campaign of violence across the West Bank. This included large-scale military raids in cities and refugee camps, the routine use of airstrikes—previously rare in the West Bank—the widespread deployment of armored vehicles, and a surge in settler violence carried out with the backing or direct participation of the Israeli army.

The death toll rose sharply, with hundreds of Palestinians killed in a matter of months, including children. Entire refugee camps, such as Jenin, Nur Shams, and Tulkarm, were subjected to systematic destruction: Roads were torn up, homes demolished, water and electricity networks destroyed, and medical access severely restricted. Israeli forces repeatedly laid siege to communities, preventing the movement of ambulances, journalists, and humanitarian workers.