London, United Kingdom - Thousands of students protested in London and other UK cities on Tuesday, defying a plea from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer to skip demonstrations on the second anniversary of Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel. Chanting "Free Palestine", students from several London universities walked out of...

Netanyahu, who said his speech was being partially broadcast on Israeli military loudspeakers in Gaza, vowed to "finish the job" against Hamas even as President Donald Trump said he thought he had sealed a deal on a ceasefire.

Crowds of people rallied in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, waving flags and holding posters of president Mahmud Abbas to celebrate the wave of recognition by Western powers of a Palestinian state.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed not to allow a Palestinian state and far-right members of his cabinet have threatened to annex the West Bank to make statehood impossible.

Here is an overview of diplomatic recognition of the state, which was unilaterally proclaimed by the Palestinian leadership in exile in 1988.

London, United Kingdom - US President Donald Trump arrives in the UK late Tuesday for a state visit with his wife, Melania -- a rare privilege made at the invitation of King Charles III. These pomp-filled visits are organised at the recommendation of the British government to strengthen diplomatic, trade...

Several countries, including France and Britain, have pledged to recognize a Palestinian state during the UN General Assembly later this month.

The move would reimpose sweeping UN sanctions lifted under the 2015 agreement unless Iran agrees to curb its uranium enrichment and restore cooperation with IAEA inspectors.

In a statement, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei described the claims as "baseless", calling them "an attempt to divert public attention from the most pressing issue of the day, the genocide in occupied Palestine".

US President Donald Trump's second state visit to the United Kingdom will be between September 17 to 19, Buckingham Palace announced Monday.

In 2011, Britain was among the first countries to acknowledge rebel groups as the official Syrian government after then-president Bashar al-Assad's crushing of pro-democracy protests plunged the country into civil war.

Britain's top diplomat David Lammy held top-level talks in Ankara Monday that touched on developments in the Middle East and stronger bilateral trade ties on his first visit to Turkey.

Britain is deploying assets, including fighter jets, to the Middle East amid tensions between Iran and Israel, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Saturday heading to Canada for G7 talks.

Muscat, Oman - The United States and Iran went into detail about a potential nuclear deal Saturday at their third consecutive round of talks, hoping to strike an accord that would ease regional tensions. US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi again led the talks, which...

Witkoff, a businessman friend of Trump who has become his globe-trotting negotiator, last met Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Saturday in Rome, where they reported progress and called for talks among technical teams.

London's Heathrow Airport said it would resume "some flights" later Friday after a fire at a power station grounded planes at Europe's busiest air hub, causing travel chaos for thousands of people around the world.

London, United Kingdom - The British government said Wednesday that it has agreed to a partnership with Qatar that will see the Gulf state invest 1 billion pounds ($1.3 billion) in climate technologies. "The partnership is expected to create thousands of highly skilled jobs over its lifetime and will see the...

Iran is set to meet with Britain, France and Germany for talks on its nuclear program on Friday after the three governments joined with the United States to have Tehran censured by the UN atomic watchdog.

ran's foreign ministry Tuesday slammed as unjustified the new sanctions by the European Union and Britain against Tehran over its support for Russia's war on Ukraine.

While international pressure on Israel for ceasefire in Lebanon and Gaza intensifies, Netanyahu refuses to slow down military operations. Lebanese authorities say 1,540 people have been killed and 5,410 wounded in the ongoing hostilities over the past 11 months.

Biden had said the first phase of the proposed roadmap would include a "full and complete ceasefire" lasting six weeks, with Israeli forces withdrawing from "all populated areas of Gaza" and some hostages freed in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

Assange had been detained in the high-security Belmarsh prison in London since April 2019. He was arrested after spending seven years in Ecuador's London embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he faced accusations of sexual assault that were eventually dropped.

Geneva, Switzerland -A Swiss court handed jail sentences to four members of Britain's richest family on Friday, branding them "selfish" for exploiting Indian staff at their Geneva mansion. The Hindujas were acquitted of human trafficking, but convicted on other charges in a stunning verdict for the family, whose fortune is estimated...

The Houthis, who are at war with a Saudi-led coalition after ousting the government from Sanaa in 2014, have launched scores of drone and missile attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden since November. They have said they are harassing the vital trade route in support...

The British defence ministry said in a statement that its planes launched strikes in "a joint operation with US forces against Houthi military facilities to degrade their ability to persist with their attacks on international shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden".

Tehran, Iran - Iran on Saturday again threatened retaliation for the deaths of seven Revolutionary Guards in a strike on Damascus, with the army chief saying his country's enemies will "regret" the killings. Tehran has vowed to avenge Monday's air strike on the Syrian capital it blamed on its arch-enemy Israel,...

World Central Kitchen -- one of two NGOs spearheading efforts to deliver aid by boat -- said a "targeted Israeli strike" on Monday killed Australian, British, Palestinian, Polish and US-Canadian staff. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged a "swift, impartial investigation" into the airstrike and said Israel needed to...

Madrid, Spain - Spain's government has acquired a three-percent stake in telecoms giant Telefonica following concerns over a Saudi firm taking a piece of a company that Madrid considers strategically important. Spanish state-owned holding company SEPI said in a filing with the stock market regulator late Monday that the move was...

Australia, Canada and Sweden, which were among those states, announced earlier this month they were resuming aid. Ten percent of the Finnish funding will be allocated to risk management, the minister said.

ONS chief economist Grant Fitzner said "food prices were the main driver of the fall, with prices almost unchanged this year, compared to a large rise last year". On a monthly basis, CPI rose 0.6 percent last month compared with a rise of 1.1 percent in February 2023, the ONS...

Britain and the United States have already imposed sanctions on a small number of Israeli settlers accused of committing human rights abuses against Palestinians in the West Bank.

The Houthis claimed responsibility for the attack on the Pinocchio in a statement early Tuesday, maintaining the missile strike "was accurate". The British maritime security agency UKMTO had previously said a ship in the area "reported a sound of an explosion" in its vicinity southwest of the Yemeni port of...

Bitcoin hit a fresh record above $72,000 on Monday as demand for the cryptocurrency picks up amid optimism that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates this year. That comes after US authorities gave the green light this year to exchange-traded funds pegged to bitcoin's spot price, persuading some mainstream...

Canada has reviewed the investigation's interim report and "we were reassured by the contents," Minister of International Development said. He also announced that Ottawa will partner with Jordan and the World Food Program to conduct airdrops in Gaza to deliver desperately needed food and other essentials.

Beirut, Lebanon - Gunmen thought to be linked to the Islamic State group in Syria killed 18 people searching for truffles in the desert Wednesday, a war monitor said. More than 50 people remained missing after the attack that saw heavy clashes with pro-government forces, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights...

The head of the UNRWA is set to defend his organization's work at the General Assembly, after crippling backlash over accusations that some employees were involved in Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel. Philippe Lazzarini warned in a letter to the General Assembly's president that his agency is at a...

Meta had previously announced it would not renew content deals with news publishers in the United States, Britain, France and Germany. The social media giant had been pushed into paying for news by governments hoping to level the media playing field and support struggling news firms.

Jim Ratcliffe is the co-owner of the Manchester United.

"The weakness of yesterday's US retail sales release have given market doves a new lease of life and allowed them to refocus on the likelihood of an early Fed rate cut," Rabobank analyst Jane Foley told AFP.

Group revenue dipped 0.8 percent to 59.6 billion euros.

"The presence of US forces in our region has no justification," Raisi said in a Tehran ceremony ahead of the 45th anniversary of Iran's Islamic revolution on February 12.

McDonald's cited war in the Middle East as a drag.

MADRID, SPAIN -  Spain said on Monday that it would give an additional US$$3.8 million (3.5 million euros) in aid to the UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA, which is facing a cash crunch after several nations suspended their funding. Over a dozen countries, including major donors the United States, Germany, Britain...

"We urge fellow donor countries to reflect on the wider consequences of cutting their funding to UNRWA," Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said in a statement to AFP. "UNRWA is a vital lifeline for 1.5 million refugees in Gaza," he said, adding that "to avoid collectively punishing millions of...

US and Britain have carried out two rounds of joint strikes aimed at reducing the Houthis' ability to target shipping, while the US has also launched unilateral air raids on the Iran-backed rebels' missiles. Washington is seeking to put diplomatic and financial pressure on the Houthis, redesignating them as a...

Davos, Switzerland - The United States wants a "de-escalation" in the Middle East despite its strikes on Houthi positions in Yemen, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said on Tuesday. "We seek to stop the spread of conflict and to create the conditions for de-escalation," Sullivan said at the World Economic Forum...

Tehran, Iran - Iran urged on Monday the United States and Britain to "stop the war against Yemen" following their recent strikes on targets of the Tehran-backed Houthi rebels. US and British forces have hit scores of targets in Yemen after weeks of Houthi attacks on vessels in the Red Sea,...

Britain, the United States and eight allies said the strikes aimed to "de-escalate tensions". But Iran and other governments condemned the Western action or warned that unrest could worsen. The UN Security Council was due to hold an emergency meeting on the strikes on Friday, days after adopting a resolution...

The UN Security Council will hold an emergency meeting over the strikes carried out by the United States and Britain against Houthi rebels in Yemen, the chamber's presidency said. France, which holds the rotating presidency for the month of January, said the emergency meeting had been requested by Russia.

China, which has a broad definition of state secrets, has publicized several other alleged spying cases in recent months. In May, authorities sentenced 78-year-old American citizen John Shing-wan Leung to life in prison for espionage, though Beijing has not provided substantial details of his case.