Al-Sharaa
WORLD
Syria’s New State Looks Alarmingly Rural
Post-Assad Syria is not settling into a new national centre. It is hardening into a patchwork of rural power bases, clan ties, and competing local loyalties.
WORLD
Lebanon Ceasefire: New Deal Ploughs the Same Furrow
Trump brokers a truce in Lebanon, leaving a ten-day window to test the old structural deadlock that has defined the Blue Line for generations.
WORLD
Abu Dhabi Recalibrates Relations with Syria’s New Leadership
UAE backs Syria’s new leadership with reconstruction aid as al-Sharaa visits Abu Dhabi, signaling shifting Gulf dynamics post-Assad.
EUROPE
All Roads Lead to Mecca: Syria’s New Patron
Syria’s new interim president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, visited Mecca after arriving in Riyadh yesterday in a trip that indicates the future order of regional power in Syria.
WORLD
Al-Sharaa Seeks Support in Meeting with Christian Clerics
Syria's new leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, met with Christian clerics in Damascus to reassure the country's dwindling Christian community, amid growing concerns over religious tolerance and the influence of radical militias following his rise to power.
Popular
Warsaw’s Pump Relief Leaves Security Unbought
A vanished Venezuelan cargo, a severed Saudi pipeline and a revived windfall levy expose the limits of Warsaw's control over its own petrol pumps.
India Demographic Dividend Starts to Fade as Glaciers Melt
India built its growth story on abundant people and abundant water, and both assumptions are now proving less permanent than expected.
Uneven Protection: Religious Freedom in Belgium
A country can guarantee religious freedom by law and still let how visibly someone practises it decide whether they get a job or a seat at the table.
Venice Rewards Israeli Gaza Documentary Amid Domestic Backlash
An award can celebrate a film's craft without settling what its allegations actually prove, a distinction Venice has now put under real pressure.
Celtic Pact: Is a Post-UK Future Inevitable?
The pact signed in Cardiff dares Westminster to defend a fragile union which Trump's transactional treatment of old allies has left looking suddenly negotiable.
