US shoots down four Houthi drones in Red Sea
In November, the Houthis launched a campaign of drone and missile strikes against vessels in the Red Sea, an area...Geostrategy
UN expert faces threats after Israel Gaza ‘genocide’ remarks
Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the rights situation in the Palestinian territories, said this week there were reasonable...Geostrategy
Swiss banks hold cash ’embezzled’ by Lebanese central bank chief: Report
Lebanese central bank chief Riad Salameh is accused of embezzling millions of dollars. He faces faces investigations related to suspicions...A Lebanese judge on Thursday filed new charges against Salameh, his brother Raja and his former assistant Marianne Hoayek for embezzlement of public funds and money laundering.
Twelve Swiss banks have received a large part of the money he is alleged to have embezzled, estimated at up to $500 million, SonntagsZeitung reported on Sunday.
Iran sets free Spanish woman in custody since November
Madrid, Spain - Iran has released a Spanish woman who had been detained in the country since November, Spain's foreign minister...Ana Baneira, was 24 years old when she was arrested, the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) revealed at the time.
The circumstances of her detention were never confirmed by Iranian authorities, however it took place as the country was rocked by protests.
Iraq’s Tigris, Euphrates rivers plummet as water crisis looms
NASIRIYAH, IRAQ - Iraq's Tigris and Euphrates rivers have witnessed a sharp decrease in their levels in the south of the...In Nasiriyah, capital of the southern province of Dhi Qar, an AFP photographer saw the river bed of the mighty Euphrates dry in patches.
The water ministry blamed the situation in some southern provinces on "the low quantity of water reaching Iraq from neighboring Turkey".
NATO taking part in war by arming Ukraine, says Putin
Putin was speaking on the sidelines of a patriotic concert in Moscow on Thursday on the eve of the first..."They are sending tens of billions of dollars in weapons to Ukraine. This really is participation," Putin said.
He said Western countries had "a single aim -- to break up the former Soviet Union and its main part --the Russian federation".
Excess, storage issues behind food waste in GCC
Globally, around 14 percent of food produced is lost between harvest and retail, while an estimated 17 percent of total...When food is lost or wasted, all the resources that were used to produce this food - including water, land, energy, labor and capital - go to waste.
The UN says the disposal of food loss and waste in landfills, leads to greenhouse gas emissions, contributing to climate change.
Jordan, UAE, Egypt, Bahrain announce joint industrial projects totaling $2bn
Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain announced the signing of 12 agreements and partnerships worth over US$2 billion...The projects are expected to generate 13,000 direct and indirect job opportunities and add US$1.6 billion to the GDPs of the four countries.
Jordan Minister Yousef Shamali opened the meetings by praising the partnership as a model of a coordinated Arab effort.
Nations closer to global guidelines on disease outbreaks, says WHO
NEW YORK, US - Governments agreed on a way forward to update disease outbreak regulations ahead of meetings to draft...A total of 307 amendments to the WHO International Health Regulations came in response to challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Governments had focused on making their countries, and the international community, better prepared for future emergencies.
Trade restarts as key Afghan border crossing with Pakistan reopens
The crossing was closed last Sunday by Afghan authorities, who objected to what they said were new documentation rules restricting...Torkham border crossing was reopened at 6 am on Saturday, Afghan customs official Muslim Khaksar said at the site in Afghanistan's eastern Nangarhar province
On Saturday, people attending to patients were allowed to enter Pakistan after showing their Afghan identity cards, the Pakistani customs official said
Palestinian home to be razed showing Israeli punishment policy
The entrances to the home of Fatima Alqam, her husband Moussa and four children were sealed within days after her...Khayri Alqam shared the name of his grandfather, who was killed in 1998, allegedly by an Israeli extremist.
Last month the cabinet announced that the family home of a 13-year-old boy who shot and wounded two Israelis in the Silwan neighbourhood of east Jerusalem would also be sealed.
Iran still seeking to kill former US president Donald Trump: general
Three years after former US president Donald Trump ordered the killing of top Guards' commander Qasem Soleimani, an Iranian genera...Donald Trump had ordered the strike in response to a number of attacks on US interests in Iraq that his administration blamed on Iran
Iran retaliated by firing missiles at a US airbase in Iraq that housed US troops, but none were killed