Bridges in the Gulf: wealthy states mediate crisis after crisis
Dubai, United Arab Emirates - When US and Iranian negotiators meet in Oman on Saturday they will be just the...Geostrategy
Israel seizes Gaza territory as Macron signals imminent French recognition of Palestinian statehood
French President Emmanuel Macron meanwhile said that France plans to recognise a Palestinian state in the "coming months", a move...Geostrategy
UAE is a reliable trade partner: Iranian foreign minister
Tehran, Iran-- Terming the UAE as a reliable trade partner, Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian said bilateral between the...The Iranian foreign minister made the remarks during a meeting with Khalifa Shaheen Al Marar, Minister of State of the UAE
Abdollahian said that ties between the two countries are strengthening at both the government and private sector levels
Iraq’s Christians turn to TV to save dying language
Syriac-speaking communities in Iraq and Syria have declined over the years, owing to decades of conflict driving many to seek...Syriac has traditionally been the language spoken by Christians in Iraq and neighbouring Syria, mostly in homes but also in some schools and during church services
Syriac is also taught at around 265 schools across Iraq, according to Imad Salem Jajjo, responsible for Syriac education within the education ministry
Royal fever sweeps Jordan ahead of crown prince Hussein’s wedding
On the big day for the Hashemite kingdom, a key Western ally, the royal red motorcade, reserved for special occasions,...The eldest son of King Abdullah II will marry Saudi fiancee Rajwa Al Saif at the grand royal wedding with regional monarchs, US First Lady Jill Biden is also among the guests
Photos of Saif's henna bridal party took the internet by storm last week as she donned a white gown with an Arabic poetry verse embroidered: "When I see you, life becomes sweet"
Extension of Kurdish parliament unconstitutional, says Iraq supreme court
Iraq's supreme court ruled as unconstitutional the extended mandate of autonomous Kurdistan's parliament, rendering invalid votes taken by the chamber...The president of the top federal court in Baghdad, found unconstitutional the year-long extension of the chamber's mandate.
As a result, decisions taken by the Kurdistan parliament since October 2022 "are constitutionally invalid", the judge said.
Moscow issues 1.5m passports in occupied Ukraine territories
Russia has for years been issuing passports to people living in the eastern Donbas areas held by pro-Moscow separatists since...People from the occupied regions told AFP this month that they had been pressured into taking up a Russian passport.
The EU has said it will not recognize Russian passports issued by Moscow in the "illegally-occupied" regions of Ukraine.
Putin slams Ukraine as Moscow hit by multiple drone attacks
As drones struck in and around Moscow, Russian drones targeted Kyiv for a third straight day while Ukraine gears up...The Russian defense ministry said that eight drones were used in the attack, adding that five of them were downed and three disabled.
Putin said Moscow's air defense had worked in a satisfactory manner, noting that the attacks were Kyiv's "response" to a Russian strike on Ukraine's army intelligence headquarters.
Meeting discusses growth of new economic sectors in UAE
ABU DHABI, UAE - The Economic Integration Committee held its second meeting this year and discussed a range of key...The Committee also discussed strengthening of the Anti-Money Laundering/ Combating the Financing of Terrorism ( AML/CFT) efforts.
The meeting discussed cooperation between the federal and local authorities concerned with the implementation of various economy-related laws.
Global action needed to reduce ‘extinction risk’ from AI, say experts
A one-line statement signed by dozens of specialists, including Sam Altman whose firm OpenAI created the ChatGPT bot, said tackling...ChatGPT has demonstrated an ability to generate essays, poems and conversations from the briefest of prompts -- and sparking billions of dollars in investments.
Critics and insiders have raised the alarm over everything from biased algorithms to the possibility of massive job losses as AI-powered automation seeps into daily life.
Iran ‘resolves’ one of UN nuclear watchdog’s concerns
Iranian media reports came just days before the board of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency is due to...The IAEA's concerns about the sites are one of the remaining obstacles to the revival of the 2015 nuclear deal, which was left in tatters by the withdrawal of the US in 2018.
The Marivan site in Abadeh county in the southern province of Fars is the first of the three sites to be addressed under a work plan agreed by Iran and the IAEA in March last year.
Saudi national freed from captors in ‘special operation’ by Lebanese army
Beirut, Lebanon--A Saudi national who had been kidnapped in Beirut has been freed in a "special operation" by the Lebanese army...The army said that Saudi national Mashari al-Mutairi was freed from kidnappers in special operation by the army on the Syrian border
The Saudi national was kidnapped by unidentified assailants dressed as security personnel in a four-wheel drive vehicle on the Beirut seafront
