Bangkok, Thailand -- Massive planned US duties on solar panels made in Southeast Asia could be a chance for the region to ramp up its own long-stalled energy transition, experts say. Earlier this month, Washington announced plans for hefty duties on solar panels made in Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia....

Rome, Italy --  The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) released a new Cereal Supply and Demand Brief on Friday, with revised estimates for 2024 and fresh insights on cropping conditions and prospects for 2025. FAO’s latest forecast for 2025 wheat production is pegged at 795 million...

Washington, United States - An Illinois man was sentenced to 53 years in prison on Friday for the murder of a six-year-old Palestinian-American boy in an attack deemed an anti-Muslim hate crime linked to the Israel-Hamas war. Joseph Czuba, 73, was convicted in February of fatally stabbing Wadea Al-Fayoumi and attacking...

Los Angeles, United States - A cat that fell alongside a couple into a 115-meter-high canyon was the only survivor of the incident in the western United States, an animal protection organization said Thursday. The feline "was found in a black soft-sided carrier that was dirty and torn, but seemed...

Dubai, United Arab Emirates -- The United Arab Emirates will lift a ban on its citizens travelling to Lebanon that was imposed during a diplomatic row in 2021, according to a joint statement on Thursday. The decision was announced a day after Lebanese President Joseph Aoun met with his UAE...

"The security services succeeded in preventing the transfer of a quantity of military equipment to the Sudanese Armed Forces following the arrest of members of a cell involved in unauthorized mediation, brokering and illicit trafficking of military equipment," UAE Attorney General Hamad Saif Al Shamsi said.

Doha, Qatar -- The Trump Organization signed on Wednesday its first development deal in Qatar to build a golf course and residential villas near the capital Doha, real estate firm Qatari Diar said. Eric Trump, executive vice president of the Trump Organization and the US president's son, attended the signing...

Kabul, Afghanistan - Since the start of the school year in March, Afghan boys have been required to wear new uniforms of turbans and long tunics, following an order to adopt outfits reflecting Taliban rule. The Taliban government's education ministry cites strengthening discipline, masking social inequalities and promoting what the...

Dubai, UAE: As 2025 unfolds, travel brands are facing a significant challenge: customer loyalty. Traditional rewards programmes, often based on points systems, struggle to meet the expectations of modern travelers who increasingly value personalised experiences over generic incentives. To stay competitive, brands must move away from price-based rewards like discounts, which can...

San Francisco, United States -- Social media behemoth Meta unveiled its first standalone AI assistant app on Tuesday as it tries to take on ChatGPT by giving users a direct path to its generative artificial intelligence models. "A billion people are using Meta AI across our apps now, so we...

Paris, France - Amnesty International on Tuesday accused Israel of committing a "live-streamed genocide" against Palestinians in Gaza by forcibly displacing most of the population and deliberately creating a humanitarian catastrophe. In its annual report, Amnesty charged that Israel had acted with "specific intent to destroy Palestinians in Gaza, thus...

Dubai, UAE - Gen Z travellers in the UAE are reshaping the future of tourism, prioritizing cultural immersion, sustainability, and digital convenience, according to new research by Wyndham Hotels & Resorts. The study, conducted by YouGov, found that nearly two-thirds (63%) of Gen Z respondents prefer accommodations that reflect local...

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia -- Saudi Arabia and Qatar announced on Sunday that they would settle Syria's debt to the World Bank totaling roughly $15 million, according to a statement published by the Saudi Press Agency. Both Gulf states have played a key role in the diplomatic outreach to Syria's new...

Cairo, Egypt - Hamas is open to an agreement to end the war in Gaza that would see all hostages released and secure a five-year truce, an official said Saturday ahead of talks with mediators. A Hamas delegation was in Cairo to discuss with Egyptian mediators ways out of the...

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...

Beijing, China - President Xi Jinping said China must "overcome" the challenges of developing core AI technologies including high-end chips, state media reported Saturday, as Beijing seeks to become a world leader in the rapidly developing industry. China aims to dominate the artificial intelligence sector, a goal complicated by the...

Washington, United States - The International Monetary Fund and World Bank's leaders said in a joint statement Thursday that they welcome efforts towards helping Syria "reintegrate with the international community." The statement, issued with Saudi Arabia's finance minister, came as Syria's central bank governor and finance minister attended the IMF...

Dubai, UAE: The Arabian Travel Market, which will take place from Apr 28 to May 1 at the Dubai World Trade Centre, will bring together professionals and leaders from all travel sectors and verticals including leisure, business events (MICE), luxury and corporate travel sectors. At a press conference, RX Global,...

Beirut, Lebanon -- Lebanon's parliament on Thursday approved amendments to banking secrecy legislation, a key reform demanded by the International Monetary Fund, as Lebanese officials hold meetings with global finance institutions in Washington. A statement from speaker Nabih Berri's office said parliament passed amendments to "the law related to banking...

M'HAMID EL GHIZLANE, Morocco - It may be the gateway to the vast Sahara desert, but that does not mean it's free of that modern scourge of the environment -- the rubbish humanity discards. In southern Morocco, volunteers are hunting for waste embedded in the sand, and they do not...

Paris, France - The Cannes film festival said Wednesday that the screening of a documentary about Gaza photojournalist Fatima Hassouna at the event next month would honour her work after the "horror" of her death in an Israeli air strike last week. "Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk"...

New York, United States -- Boeing's CEO confirmed Wednesday that China had stopped accepting new aircraft due to the US-China trade war, as the company's shares surged following a smaller than expected loss. In a televised interview with CNBC, Boeing Chief Executive Kelly Ortberg said Chinese customers had "stopped taking...

Washington, United States -- The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday slashed its forecast for global growth this year, citing the effect of US President Donald Trump's new tariff policies on the world economy. The IMF's projections, which incorporate some but not all tariff measures introduced this year, see the global...

Vatican City, Holy See - Cardinals will meet Tuesday to decide the date for Pope Francis's funeral, starting a process that will culminate in the election of a new Catholic leader within three weeks. Francis, the head of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics, died at his home in the Vatican...

Geneva, Switzerland -- The World Economic Forum said on Monday that its founder Klaus Schwab has stepped down from the board, turning a page in the history of the organization that hosts the annual meeting of wealthy, famous and influential global elites at the luxury Swiss ski resort of Davos....

Jenin, Palestinian Territories - On deserted university grounds in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian children run outside nearly empty buildings, their playground after being driven from their homes by a major Israeli "counter-terrorism" operation. Between a stadium and flower fields where goats now graze, the children play to escape boredom....

Beirut, Lebanon -- Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said Sunday that disarming Hezbollah group was a "delicate" matter whose implementation required the right circumstances, warning that forcing the issue could lead the country to ruin. His remarks came as Lebanon's health ministry said two people were killed in Israeli strikes in...

New York, United States -- Commercial plane prices, already lifted in recent years due to pandemic supply chain shocks, are poised to climb further as Boeing and Airbus are buffeted by trade tariffs. "Compared with 2018, prices for commercial jets have risen by around 30 percent," an aviation expert told...

Washington, United States - The US Supreme Court, in a dramatic nighttime intervention Saturday, paused President Donald Trump's unprecedented use of an obscure law to deport Venezuelan migrants without due process. The emergency ruling, delivered in two terse paragraphs, noted that two of the most conservative of the nine justices...

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday announced a surprise Easter truce in Ukraine, set to last until midnight on Sunday in what would be the most significant pause in the fighting throughout the three-year conflict.

At the crack of the starter's gun, and as a Chinese pop song "I Believe" blared out from loudspeakers on repeat, the robots queued up one by one and took their first tentative steps.

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia -- Saudi Arabia’s merchandise imports increased 8 percent year-on-year (YoY) to SAR 72.6 billion ($19.34 billion) in January, according to data issued by the General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT). Meanwhile, merchandise imports fell by 8 percent, or nearly SAR 6.4 billion, month-on-month (MoM). Machinery and mechanical appliances,...

Jerusalem, Undefined -- By seizing large swathes of the Gaza Strip, Israel is redrawing the map of the Palestinian territory, one of the most densely populated places on Earth, making it increasingly "unlivable". On Wednesday, Defence Minister Israel Katz said the military has transformed vast areas representing 30 percent of...

Washington, United States - A US judge on Thursday ruled that Google illegally wielded monopoly power in the online ad technology market, in a legal blow that could rattle the tech giant's revenue engine. The federal government and more than a dozen US states filed the antitrust suit against Alphabet-owned...

Jeddah, Saudi Arabia - This weekend's Saudi Arabian Grand Prix is the final leg of the first 'triple header' of the season. From Suzuka in Japan, to the desert of Bahrain, Formula One now pitches up on the shores of the Red Sea in Jeddah.AFP Sport looks at five talking...

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia -- Total bank credit granted to the public and private sectors in Saudi Arabia reached its highest level at over SAR 3.042 trillion by the end of February 2025, according to the monthly statistical bulletin issued by the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) for that month. This marks...

Geneva, Switzerland -- Years of negotiations culminated early Wednesday with countries agreeing the text of a landmark accord on how to tackle future pandemics, aimed at avoiding the mistakes made during the Covid-19 crisis. After more than three years of talks and one last marathon session, weary delegates at the...

Cambridge, United States - President Donald Trump escalated his war against elite US universities Tuesday with a threat to strip Harvard's tax-exempt status if the country's most famous educational establishment refuses to submit to wide-ranging government oversight. Harvard stands out for defying Trump, in contrast to several other universities and...

Paris, France -- French group Hermes overtook LVMH as the world's most valuable luxury company on Tuesday after shares in the Louis Vuitton maker tumbled following weaker-than-expected quarterly sales. The market capitalization of Hermes reached 248.6 billion euros ($280.5 billion) at the close of trading in Paris, topping LVMH's 244.4...

Paris, France -- Global oil demand will be lower than previously forecast this year as rising trade tensions weigh on the economic outlook, the International Energy Agency said Tuesday. While US imports of oil, gas and refined products have been exempted from President Donald Trump's tariffs, his other levies have...

Beirut, Lebanon - The once unthinkable disarmament of Hezbollah could finally be within reach, as the United States pushes Lebanon to act and applies pressure to the group's backer Iran over its nuclear programme, analysts said. Hezbollah was left badly weakened by more than a year of hostilities with Israel,...

Ajman, UAE --  Real estate transactions in Ajman reached AED 2.06 billion ($560 million) in March 2025, marking a significant increase of over 41 percent compared to the same period in 2024. Omar bin Omair Al Muhairi, Director-General of the Ajman's Department of Land and Real Estate Regulation, said the...

Jakarta, Indonesia -- Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto said Qatar is set to invest $2 billion in his country's new sovereign wealth fund as he looks to boost economic growth. Prabowo is on a five-nation tour of the Middle East, visiting the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Egypt, Qatar and Jordan to...

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia -- The Communications, Space, and Technology Commission (CST) has said that the Saudi space economy reached $8.7 billion last year, including all value-added activities and industries from space technologies and services. The size of the space market reached $1.9 billion, according to the KSA Space Market 2025...

Damascus, Syria -- Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, whose war-devastated country seeks Gulf financial support, traveled to the United Arab Emirates on Sunday for his first visit since Bashar al-Assad's overthrow, state media said. Nearly a week after rebels toppled Assad in December, UAE presidential adviser Anwar Gargash said his...

The network went on air in 2004, when US officials were complaining about coverage of the Iraq war from Qatar-backed Al-Jazeera -- which two decades later maintains a dominant role in Arabic-language media. Alhurra says it reaches more than 30 million people each week across 22 countries.

Washington, United States -- The Trump administration has exempted a raft of consumer electronics from its punishing import tariffs -- offering relief to US tech firms and partially dialling down a trade war with China. A notice late Friday by the US Customs and Border Protection office said smartphones, laptops,...

Ankara, Turkey -Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Israel on Friday of sowing divisions in Syria in a bid to "dynamite" the "revolution" that toppled dictator Bashar al-Assad. Turkey is a key backer of Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, whose Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) led the rebel coalition...

Washington, United States - Donald Trump had his first annual medical checkup Friday since returning to power, putting focus on the fitness of the 78-year-old who is the oldest US president ever elected and has been accused of dodging questions about his health. Republican Trump has repeatedly boasted about his...

Washington, United States - Doctors have had to remove the pig kidney implanted in an American woman after her body rejected it, but her four months living with the animal's organ set a record, the hospital that performed the operation said Friday. Towana Looney, a woman in her fifties from...