Iran invites IAEA chief for talks before showdown with West
U.N. nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi will fly to Tehran this weekend for talks that may ease a standoff between Iran and the West just as it risks escalating ...
Lebanese leaders agree on government to address crisis
Lebanese leaders agreed a new government on Friday after a year of political feuding over cabinet seats that has exacerbated a devastating economic collapse, opening the way to a possible ...
Abu Dhabi wealth fund to focus on tech, climate change after COVID-19
Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), the United Arab Emirates’ biggest sovereign wealth fund, sees technology and climate change as key investment areas for its post-COVID-19 strategy, it said in its 2020 ...
India, Russia warn against terror groups operating from Afghanistan
India and Russia believe that foreign militant groups operating from Afghanistan pose a threat to central Asia and to India and agreed to deepen anti-terrorism cooperation at a meeting of ...
Akhundzada: Shadowy Taliban supreme leader whose son was suicide bomber
In one of the only known photographs of Taliban supreme leader Haibatullah Akhundzada, he stares directly at the camera – an expressionless face between a white turban and a long, grey ...
Taliban name new Afghan govt, interior minister on US sanctions list
The Taliban named Mullah Hasan Akhund, an associate of the movement’s late founder Mullah Omar, as the head of Afghanistan’s new government on Tuesday, with Mullah Abdul Ghani ...
Turkey and UAE rein in dispute that fuelled conflict and hurt economy
A truce between bitter regional rivals Turkey and the United Arab Emirates has calmed tensions that fuelled conflicts including Libya’s war, officials and diplomats say, after years of animosity ...
Six Palestinian militants escape from high-security Israeli prison
Six Palestinian militants broke out of a maximum security Israeli prison on Monday in a Hollywood-style escape that left their jailors peering through a hole in the floor of a ...
Six Palestinian militants escape from high-security Israeli prison
Six Palestinian militants broke out of a high-security Israeli prison on Monday in what Prime Minister Naftali Bennett called a grave incident.
Israeli police and the military had started a ...
Afghanistan: Kabul main money exchange reopens; long lines form outside
The main money exchange market in Kabul, capital of Afghanistan, reopened on Saturday (September. 4), 10 days after Taliban takeover, as a banking crisis still exists in the Asian country, a local ...
Israel to reopen for small foreign tour groups
By Steven Scheer
Israel will allow small foreign tour groups from selective countries to visit from Sept. 19 under a pilot programme to kick-start tourism, the government said on Sunday.
Tour ...
Taliban say they have entered capital of holdout Afghan region
The Taliban said on Sunday their forces had fought their way into the provincial capital of the Panjshir valley, their latest claim of progress in fighting against opposition forces holding ...
Qatar to operate daily aid flights to Afghanistan
Qatar has flown humanitarian aid into Kabul and said it will operate daily aid flights to Afghanistan over the next few days, providing much-needed supplies following a hiatus in much ...
Pope hopes many countries take Afghan refugees and young are educated
Pope Francis said on Sunday that he was praying that many countries take Afghan refugees and, in an apparent reference to the Taliban’s past restrictions on schooling for women, ...
Russia denies it has discussed participation in G7 meeting -Ifax
Russia on Sunday denied it has discussed participation in an online G7 ministerial meeting about Afghanistan, Interfax news agency reported, citing Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.
China and Russia ...
US backs plan to bring badly-needed gas to Lebanon from Syria
The US has backed a plan to bring desperately needed gas to Lebanon from Syria.
Syria said on Saturday that it welcomed Lebanon’s request to import Egyptian gas for ...
Syria says Israeli air strikes target areas near Damascus
Israel carried out air strikes on targets near Damascus early on Friday, triggering Syrian air defences but causing no casualties, Syrian state media reported, the second such attack in just ...
Egypt’s GDP growth at 7.7 per cent in fourth quarter
Egypt’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew 7.7 per cent in the March to June quarter compared to a 1.7 per cent contraction in the same quarter last year, the cabinet said ...
Lebanon could see a new government within days as Mikati proposes draft
Lebanon stands a strong chance of welcoming a new government in the upcoming hours, after a year without one.
The proposed government would reduce in part the influence of the ...
Lebanon in free fall, must not become ‘horror story’, US senator warns
Lebanon is in free fall and must not become a “horror story”, a US senator said during a visit to Beirut on Wednesday, voicing hope that a government would be ...
Israel opposes Biden plan to reopen US Palestinian mission in Jerusalem
Israel said on Wednesday that a U.S. plan to reopen its consulate in Jerusalem that has traditionally been a base for diplomatic outreach to Palestinians is a “bad idea” ...
Lebanon’s experts warn of increase in violence amidst social decay
Experts fear that Lebanon’s social stability will further deteriorate and violence increase in the near future in light of the shortage of basic commodities in the country and the ...
Before Afghan collapse, Biden pressed Ghani to ‘change perception’
In the last call between U.S. President Joe Biden and his Afghanistan counterpart before the Taliban seized control of the country, the leaders discussed military aid, political strategy and ...
You can be German even if your name is not ‘Klaus’ or ‘Erika’ -Merkel
Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Tuesday migrants who settle in Germany are German even if they have foreign-sounding names, making a subtle dig at a widespread habit among white Germans ...