From Oslo to annexation: Israel cements control of the West Bank

Israel’s cabinet on Sunday approved a process to restart land registration in the occupied West Bank for the first time since 1967, allowing the state to claim land from Palestinians unable to prove ownership.

A week earlier, on 8 February, the cabinet had ratified new measures extending the Israeli state’s administrative, legal, and enforcement authority across large areas of the West Bank that are currently under Palestinian Authority (PA) administration.

Oil Wars: Speeding The Transition to Renewable Energy

One simple observation since the US-Israel attack on Iran on February 28 is that solar panel prices have not risen, staying at around $300 for an off-the-shelf, 400-watt commercial panel (7 cents/W for an industrial solar cell). But oil prices have risen, reaching $116 per barrel in the first week of hostilities, a 65% increase from the pre-war mark of $70/barrel, raising energy prices for everyone including American consumers at the pump.

Unstitching gangs from Haiti’s political fabric

In Haiti, 5 915 people were killed in 2025 (compared to 5 601 in 2024). The national homicide rate got to 49.8 per 100 000 people, and Port-au-Prince, which is home to about a quarter of the population, reached nearly 140 per 100 000 people, ranking it among the most violent cities in the world.

Kosovo: Land, Demography & “Grey Economy”

Territory, people, and physical power (security forces like police and army) are the inevitable prerequisites for creating a state. The ethnic Albanians were, at the beginning, intruders into the autonomous province of South-West Serbia – Kosovo-Metochia (KosMet), who constituted a small minority there (in 1455, only 2%). The focal question became: How did they become the overwhelming majority today (95%+) at KosMet?

‘Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya’ and Claimed Attacks on Jewish Targets in Europe

One of the wider consequences of the U.S. and Israeli war against Iran has been a rise in reported attacks on perceived ‘Zionist’ and ‘American’ targets in Europe. These attacks- spanning from Greece to Britain- have been claimed on social media by a group called Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya (‘Islamic Movement of the People of the Right’). The concept of ‘Ashab al-Yamin’ (‘People of the Right’) is ultimately derived from the Qur’an and refers to the believers who will go to Paradise.

Which countries have strategic oil reserves – and how much?

Members of the International Energy Agency have agreed to release 400 million barrels of oil from strategic reserves.

Iran’s paralysis of the Strait of Hormuz has led to major disruption in global oil and gas supply and many countries have begun tapping into their strategic oil reserves to evade an economic crisis.

The Convicted Kosovar Bank Burglar With a Cameo in a Drake Video

Originally from Kosovo, Hamdi Lataj has listed his address in one of Toronto’s most exclusive condo towers, sits courtside at Raptors basketball games, and appears in a music video for the hip-hop superstar Drake.

The 62-year-old man of Albanian descent appears to live a life of luxury. But police and prosecution files from both Canada and the U.S. reveal Lataj’s troubled past.

Iran’s Mystery Gift to Trump

I think the picture sums it up… Iran is not going to negotiate with the Trump administration on Trump’s terms. Iran has set its terms and will not deviate from those. Here is a synthesis of the key demands from recent Iranian statements and reporting: