Israeli PM says civilians can leave crowded Rafah before invasion
Israel has repeatedly threatened a ground offensive against Hamas in Rafah, where people shelter in tents crammed up against the...Geostrategy
Afghanistan bus-oil tanker collision kills 21, injures 38
Kabul, Afghanistan--Twenty-one people were killed and 38 injured on Sunday in southern Afghanistan's Helmand province when a bus collided with an...Geostrategy
Ukraine invasion places sharp new focus on calls for UN reform
Experts say the chances of reforms will remain slim so long as the permanent members refuse to accept any dilution...UN members look for major reforms, including the veto power
South African President said that Security Council need to 'democratized'
Iraq warns of threat from Syrian camp for displaced people
The Al-Hol camp for displaced people in Syria is a jihadist threat and should be dismantled, a senior Iraqi security..."Each day that passes with the camp still there, hate grows and terrorism thrives," Iraq's national security adviser, Qassem al-Araji, told an international conference
The overcrowded camp is controlled by the autonomous Kurdish administration and lies less than 10 kilometres (six miles) from the Iraqi border
US to keep Quds Force of Iran on terror list
The United States insisted Friday on keeping the elite Quds Force of Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps on its designated list...The Guards as a whole, as well as the Quds Force in particular, were blacklisted under former US President Donald Trump
Tehran is demanding that the Guards be removed from the blacklist which has sparked outrage from some US politicians
Ukraine calls for ‘global response’ as train station attack kills 52
Russia denied being behind the missile strike, which came even as European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and EU...A missile strike killed 52 people at a train station in eastern Ukraine where civilians had gathered to flee the area fearing a Russian offensive
The regional government said there were five children among the deceased, while Zelensky reported at least 300 were wounded
US-led forces shoot down armed drone in Iraq
The US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group in Iraq said it shot down Friday an armed drone that targeted..."US air defense systems shot down an armed unmanned aerial system entering Al Asad Air Base" early Friday morning, the coalition said in a statement
In early January, coalition forces in Iraq said they shot down two armed drones targeting the Ain Al-Asad base
Vaccine supply outstrips demand, inequity remains
Many richer nations are now approaching oversupply. European Union and G7 countries had a surplus of 497 million doses at...More than 13 billion doses have been produced since the pandemic, 11 billion of which have been administered.
Countries like South Africa and India have long called for the WTO to suspend intellectual property rights for vaccines and anti-Covid treatments, so they can boost production.
Iran buries second cleric killed in shrine stabbing attack
Iran on Friday buried a second Shiite Muslim cleric killed in a suspected jihadist attack at a revered shrine in...Sadegh Darai, a middle-ranking cleric, died Thursday from wounds sustained in the stabbing attack earlier this week in Mashhad, Iran's second-largest city
Another cleric, Mohammad Aslani, also died in the knife attack, while a third, Mohsen Pakdaman, is in a stable condition in hospital
EU approves Russia coal embargo, proposes more arms to Ukraine
The European Union on Thursday said it had approved an embargo on Russian coal and the closing of the bloc's...That package also includes a 10 billion euro ($10.9 billion) ban on exports to Russia, including high-tech goods, and the freezing of several Russian banks' assets
The EU also backed a proposal to boost its funding of arms supplies to Ukraine by 500 million euros, taking it to a total of 1.5 billion euros
Spain’s Sanchez visits Morocco as tensions ease
The move came after Madrid reversed decades of neutrality on the Western Sahara conflict in a U-turn that has angered...Morocco lays claim to the Western Sahara as an integral part of it and sees it as a sensitive issue of security and national pride
The desert territory boasts rich Atlantic fishing waters, phosphate resources and a route to lucrative markets in West Africa
Yemen president cedes powers to council as ceasefire holds
Houthi spokesman Mohammed Abdulsalam dismissed the move by President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi as ‘a desperate attempt to rearrange the ranks...A United Nations-brokered truce that started on Saturday has offered a glimmer of hope in the conflict amid the humanitarian crisis
The truce came as peace talks were unfolding in Riyadh without the participation of the Houthis, who refused talks on ‘enemy’ territory
