MOSCOW, RUSSIA - Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will take part in the 13th Middle East Conference of the Valdai Discussion Club to be held on February 13-14, the club told TASS. “About 50 foreign and Russian experts and current political figures from 16 countries, including Algeria, the UK, Egypt,...

MANAMA, BAHRAIN – Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi has said that the hosting of the 19th Manama Dialogue here reinforces the country's leading role in analyzing key political, defense and security issues in the Middle East and beyond. The conference brings together global senior...

TEHRAN, IRAN - Iran on Monday said time was running short to reach a political solution in the Israel-Gaza conflict, warning of the "possibility of expanding the scope of war and conflict to other fronts". Israel declared war on the Palestinian group Hamas a day after waves of its fighters broke...

Iraq's prime minister inaugurated construction work on what is slated to become the first railway line connecting the country to neighboring Iran. The "Basra-Chalamja connection project" will link the major port city of Basra in southern Iraq to Iran's vast railway network through the Chalamja border crossing, a transport ministry...

Around 100 protesters rallied in Tunisia's capital to demand freedom for detained critics of President Kais Saied who has ruled largely by decree for the past two years. The demonstrators, including detainees' relatives, gathered outside the Court of Appeal in Tunis to protest the continued detention of 20 high-profile political,...

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said Rome backed efforts to secure an IMF bailout for Tunisia and support to tackle its growing migrant problem. She was speaking after talks in Tunis with President Kais Saied whose country is going through a dire financial crisis, political tensions. Tunisia is also a...

Seeing no way out of a political crisis that has prevented the country from having an effective government, Kuwait's emir has dissolved parliament on Monday and called a new general election. The wealthy Gulf state, the only nation in the region to have an elected government, remains mired in political...

PARIS, FRANCE  -  COP28 President-Designate Dr. Sultan Al Jaber met French President Emmanuel Macron and outlined his vision on the need to reform multilateral financial institutions to unlock capital for clean technologies and adaptation efforts. During his meeting with Macron, Dr. Al Jaber emphasized the need for ambitious reforms across...

AMMAN, JORDAN -  Chairman of the Jordan Senate's Committee for Arab, International Affairs and Expatriates Hani Mulki, on Sunday discussed with Vice President of French Senate, Helene Conway, the region's key political and economic developments. The two leaders also discussed political changes in the surrounding countries following Arab Spring. Mulki,...

TEHRAN, IRAN - One of Iran's main opposition figures, Mir Hossein Mousavi, has called for the "fundamental transformation" of a political system he said was facing a crisis of legitimacy amid protests triggered by Mahsa Amini's death. "Iran and Iranians need and are ready for a fundamental transformation whose outline is...

Families of victims killed in the 2020 Beirut blast rallied to support the judge probing the disaster, after he was charged by Lebanon's top prosecutor in the case. Security was tight at the palace of justice in Beirut, where dozens of family members of the victims gathered to support the...

PARIS, FRANCE - Thirty women political prisoners in Iran, including a Franco-Iranian academic and the daughter of a former president, on Sunday demanded an end to the executions of protesters in the country. "We, the political and ideological prisoners in the women's ward of Evin Prison, demand an end to the...

Algiers, Algeria— Jordan's King Abdullah and Algeria President Abdelmadjid Tebboune have stressed the importance of bolstering ties between the two countries in a meeting in Algiers on Sunday. The talks between the two leaders covered the deep-rooted bilateral ties between Jordan and Algeria and the latest regional and international developments....

AMMAN, JORDAN - Jordan's King Abdullah received Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Amman on Thursday and stressed the importance of stabilizing Syria, especially the southern part. King Abdullah noted the need to activate efforts to reach a political solution to the crisis in Syria, safeguarding its unity and territorial...

Following the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, many experts believe that Washington is shifting its attention and resources to the "priority theatre" of the Indo-Pacific. But as the world recovers from the Covid-19 pandemic, the GCC countries are expected to play a more significant role in the ongoing Asianization of the global...

The Gulf countries rely heavily on assistance from Asia, particularly China, to modernise their economies and diversify away from oil.

Seeking to debunk the impression that it was somehow behind the rise in oil prices in the US, Saudi Arabia has said that it did not politicize oil or oil decisions and that it looked at oil as a commodity important to the global economy in which the kingdom had...

Parliament said in a brief statement on Monday that votes on the resignation of the assembly's speaker, Mohammed al-Halbussi, and the appointment of a first deputy speaker would top the agenda.

Brandishing banners and Iraqi flags, the non-partisan protesters streamed into west Baghdad's al-Nusoor square, demanding a complete political overhaul. Demonstrators shouted the Arab Spring slogan: "The people want the fall of the regime."

Less than a year after the last polls, Iraq President Barham Saleh has encouraged early elections to settle a political crisis that has escalated into deadly clashes, killing dozens and wounding hundreds more. It has been a key demand of Moqtada Sadr whose supporters clashed with security forces starting on...

The two rival administrations competing for control of Libya have exchanged blame for the flare-up in violence killing 23 people as fears mount that a political crisis could touch off a major new armed conflict. Small arms fire and explosions rocked several districts of the capital overnight and into Sunday.

"Political, economic, and energy supplies" were the main topics of our discussions, said the Qatari Foreign Minister.

Libya's Tripoli-based Presidential Council on Tuesday announced a plan to extract the country from its latest political crisis and hold elections. "In response to the legitimate demands of the Libyan people and their desire for change, the Presidential Council... agreed on a ge neral framework for a working plan to...

The Davos summit of global political and business elites returns Monday after a Covid-induced two-year break to face another momentous crisis: Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Russia invaded Ukraine in February, in part to thwart Kyiv's tilt towards integration with the EU and NATO.

Lebanese expatriates in 48 countries including France and the United Arab Emirates voted Sunday ahead of the May 15 parliamentary elections, state media reported.

Oil is the lifeblood of the North African country trying to move past a decade of conflict since the fall of dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011. But since mid-April Libya's two major export terminals and several oil fields have been held hostage to the country's latest political schism.

King Abdullah stressed that maintaining calm requires Israel to respect the historical and legal status quo in Al Aqsa Mosque.

The Libyan people want to end a decade of violence and elect a government, showing "zero appetite" for further conflict despite a renewed political standoff, the UN's top in-country official told AFP.

Iran has been engaged in negotiations to revive the accord with Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia directly and the United States indirectly since April 2021.

Libyan authorities reopened the war-torn country's skies for domestic flights on Tuesday, an aviation official said, two weeks after they were grounded amid a tense political standoff.

A record number of irregular migrants under 18 years old reached Italy from Tunisia last year, more than quadrupling in four years, a rights group said Wednesday. Tunisia has become a major conduit for migrants seeking to reach European shores, particularly the Italian island of Lampedusa, just 130 kilometers (80...

The United Arab Emirates said it flew 30 tonnes of aid and medical supplies to Poland for transportation to war-torn Ukraine Monday, to help relieve the "deteriorating humanitarian situation" after Russia's invasion.

Anwar Gargash, UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and adviser to President Khalifa Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, made these comments after the UAE abstained to vote on Friday on a draft United Nations Security Council resolution deploring Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

Three members of the United Arab Emirates' Federal National Council visited Israel's parliament Monday, becoming the first Emirati delegation there since the US-brokered normalization of ties in 2020.

Turkey's main airport stirred back to life on Wednesday and Greece's under-fire prime minister issued a formal apology as the east Mediterranean neighbors faced the political fallout of a paralyzing blizzard.

University expenses are now beyond the reach of most Lebanese students, with their country in the throes of a financial, political and health crisis that has ravaged its economy.

Leaders from around the MENA region are arriving in Baghdad for a summit meant to lower tensions in the region. The meeting is a chance for Iraq to showcase its recent efforts to be a neutral mediator.

Locating origins of the pandemic began important for establishing the origins of all future animal-human spillover events, WHO said.

The kingdom backs efforts to reach a comprehensive political solution to end the crisis in the war-scarred country It reiterated its commitment to help the government in Yemen   Saudi Arabia has said that while it endorses all efforts at reaching a political settlement to end the crisis in Yemen,...

The term of the board overseeing the fund expired two months ago This dispute is also delaying investment and economic reforms Kuwait’s has a mega sovereign fund worth some $600 billion, but lately it has been losing its shine as it has become a victim of vicious political confrontation between...