* North Korea is setting up a post-Covid-19 gambit by staging missile launches while everyone is busy North Korea has been test-firing ballistic missiles on a scale that suggests 2020 will be its busiest year of testing.
* Israeli UAV strikes Hezbollah vehicle on Syria-Lebanon border: report An Israeli unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) attacked a vehicle belonging to Hezbollah in Syria near the border with Lebanon, according to reports from Lebanon on Wednesday afternoon.
* Sidelined in unity talks, religious right may be better off walking away The right-wing religious-Zionist Yamina party is watching the unity talks now underway between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Blue and White's Benny Gantz with growing frustration and fear.
* PA Calls Israel 'Agents of This Epidemic' A spokesperson for the Palestinian Authority (PA) accused Israel of as being "agents of this [COVID-19] epidemic" in April 13 remarks to reporters.
* How the Syrian war is lifted into Libya's Battle for Tripoli Russia has just airlifted into Libya the 350-strong Syrian rebel "Fifth Legion," once linked to Israel, to combat a second Syrian rebel unit, this one deployed by Turkey, in the battle for Tripoli.
* Mideast Debt, Unemployment to Spike in Coronavirus Recession: IMF Debt levels, unemployment and budget deficits will spike as the Middle East endures a coronavirus-led recession, piling pain on economies already hit by conflicts and an oil price slump, the IMF said Wednesday.
* Turkey: Erdogan's Post-Corona, Existential Economic Challenge Before the coronavirus, Turkey hoped its tourism revenues might reach as high as $45 billion this year.
* China Blasts Trump's Move to Pull WHO Funding, Pledges Support China criticized U.S. President Donald Trump's move to temporarily halt funding to the World Health Organization and pledged to support the global health body.
* Coronavirus Reveals the Lack of Unity at the EU and the UN The coronavirus crisis is rattling 19 highly indebted European nations and exposing a potentially fatal lack of communitarian spirit within the EU.
* Did Xi Jinping Deliberately Sicken the World? We often ascribe a basic level of humanity to even the cruelest leaders, but People's Republic of China leader Xi Jinping's actions have forced us to rethink this assumption.