David Shadrach

How Ziad Ahmad Itani fell into Mossad's honey trap NEWS Inside Israel's Mossad: Efraim Halevy on UpFront by Ali Younes REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK The Egyptian spy who saved Israel SIGN UP Ziad Ahmad Itani performs on stage in Beirut in 2013 [File: AFP] Before he was arrested as a suspected Israeli spy, Ziad Ahmad Itani was a successful artist, journalist and playwright. His personal and professional trajectory did not suggest that he would end up working for the Mossad, Israel's notorious external spy agency. While Itani's case may be different, it is not isolated. He was arrested on November 24 and charged with spying for Israel on Lebanese journalists, intellectuals, and government ministers. The Lebanese State's Security, the official agency in charge of handling cases of espionage, confirmed the charges against Itani of working for Israel, which Lebanon considers an enemy state. The statement said that damming evidence was found in Itani's Beirut apartment, includ...

Zimbabwe's Mnangagwa gives key cabinet jobs to military figures Zimbabwe's new president Emmerson Mnangagwa has named his cabinet, appointing senior military figures to high-profile positions. Mr Mnangagwa has made Sibusiso Moyo, the general who appeared on state TV after the recent military takeover, the new foreign minister. The head of Zimbabwe's air force, Perence Shiri, was named the minister of agriculture and land affairs. Mr Mnangagwa was sworn in last week after Robert Mugabe agreed to resign. The man who ruled Zimbabwe for 37 years stepped down after the military intervened following the sacking of Mr Mnangagwa as vice-president. While the new president has chosen to keep many of Mr Mugabe's former cabinet ministers in office, Mr Mnangagwa has also awarded positions to military leaders who have previously supported him. Aside from Mr Moyo and Mr Shiri, leaders of the powerful war veterans' association, who pushed for Mr Mugabe to go after the military inte...

Zimbabwe's Mnangagwa gives key cabinet jobs to military figures Zimbabwe's new president Emmerson Mnangagwa has named his cabinet, appointing senior military figures to high-profile positions. Mr Mnangagwa has made Sibusiso Moyo, the general who appeared on state TV after the recent military takeover, the new foreign minister. The head of Zimbabwe's air force, Perence Shiri, was named the minister of agriculture and land affairs. Mr Mnangagwa was sworn in last week after Robert Mugabe agreed to resign. The man who ruled Zimbabwe for 37 years stepped down after the military intervened following the sacking of Mr Mnangagwa as vice-president. While the new president has chosen to keep many of Mr Mugabe's former cabinet ministers in office, Mr Mnangagwa has also awarded positions to military leaders who have previously supported him. Aside from Mr Moyo and Mr Shiri, leaders of the powerful war veterans' association, who pushed for Mr Mugabe to go after the military inte...

Gunmen attack Peshawar's University of Agriculture NEWS SIGN UP Gunmen opened fire at a university in Peshawar, a northern city in Pakistan , wounding several people. The army was called in to clear the gunmen from the University of Agriculture on Friday. There were at least three attackers, all of whom have now been killed, according to the army. Salahuddin Mehsud, inspector general of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police, told Al Jazeera that the gunmen entered the premises by auto-rickshaw wearing full face veils. Advertisement At least five people were wounded. Several people reportedly jumped from buildings to save their lives, sustaining fractures. Friday is a public holiday in Pakistan, meaning the university would have been less busy than on a working day. All of the roads to the university were blocked as the operation to clear the fighters took place, and emergency services were on the scene.

Trump to replace Tillerson with Mike Pompeo: Reports NEWS / STATE DEPARTMENT United States State Department Donald Trump Islamophobia Politics SIGN UP Tillerson is a former executive for the energy company Exxon [Win McNamee/Getty Images] US President Donald Trump has addressed US news media reports on the imminent departure of Rex Tillerson as secretary of state without clearly confirming or denying them. The rumours, which had been present for months, grew louder when the New York Times newspaper reported, citing senior administration officials, on Thursday that Trump intended to replace Tillerson with Mike Pompeo, the CIA chief, in the coming months. "He's here. Rex is here," Trump said in the Oval Office of the White House on Thursday. In a statement, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, said: "As the president just said, 'Rex is here.' "There are no personnel announcements at this time. "Secretary Tillerson continues to lea...

I know it's a human thing to look back at the things in life that we sometimes, if not always regret. Whether it's doing drugs, to getting to know someone, to date someone, to be with someone, we all have regrets, we're not perfect. So many people look back at life, at their regrets, saying how they regret doing this, or talking to that person, or getting to know that girl/guy, I used to be one of those people, heck i still am, it's a battle, for anyone. So, look forward, move forward, and think about what's coming, and not what left. Many of us are still young and have so much to look forward to in life, and whether you can't see something good happen in the near future, it doesn't mean it won't. Each step we take, we slightly or dramatically change our future, each word we speak, we influence the people around us, the setting around us. Remember, if we look back whilst we're walking, we'll crash or bump into things we could see coming if ...

Chinese couple had 200 roaches in airport hand luggage By News from Elsewhere... ...as found by BBC Monitoring Customs officials at a Chinese airport had a nasty surprise when they opened a couple's luggage and discovered it contained hundreds of live cockroaches, it's reported. According to the Beijing Youth Daily , security at southern Guangdong's Baiyun International Airport noticed movement in an elderly couple's luggage when they placed their bags through an x-ray machine on 25 November. "There was a white plastic bag with lots of black items moving inside," security guard Xu Yuyu told Kankan News. "One of the staff opened their luggage and a roach crawled out of it. She almost cried," Ms Xu added. When asked why they were transporting the cockroaches, the husband told officials that they were an ointment for his wife's skin. He did not specify what her condition was, but Ms Yu says officials were told: "They were part of an old folk re...

A Chinese man has been fined after he was captured on surveillance footage painting new road signs in a bid to make his daily commute easier. The Modern Express reports that a 28-year-old man surnamed Cai, was fined 1,000 yuan (£112; $151) in the eastern city of Lianyungang, Jiangsu province. He was captured on camera on 27 September with a can of white paint painting new arrows onto the road to redirect traffic, and told police it was the result of frustrations over the long delays on his daily bus journey to work. "I saw that the straight lane was always packed with cars, while the lane that turns left has a lot of space," he told the police. "I thought changing the signs would make my commute smoother." Traffic police told Modern Express that they thought Mr Cai's behaviour was "very dangerous" and could have resulted in a collision. They have since deployed workers to repaint the road. This is not the first time that someone in China has used their...

Saudi women scholars call out prince's reform agenda NEWS / MOHAMMED BIN SALMAN Saudi women were fighting for the right to drive since 1990 OPINION Muslim feminism beyond driving by Rafia Zakaria OPINION Saudi women drivers take the wheel on June 17 by Hala Al- Dosari Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman Middle East Human Rights SIGN UP A woman gives a thumb up as she sits behind the wheel of a car in Riyadh in September [EPA] Leading female scholars from Saudi Arabia have described moves to ease restrictions on women as government spin aimed at an international audience to bolster support for efforts to liberalise its ailing economy. The Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is seeking to appeal to western governments as a reformist while cracking down on the very women inside the country who have been campaigning for an end to systematic discrimination, they say. Rights groups welcome a decision to end a ban on women driving in Saudi Arabia, but have called for more comprehensive ch...