The United Nations said it was planning for an outflow of 860,000 people from conflict-torn Sudan, adding that $445 million would be needed to support them just through October. The UN refugee agency said in a statement that it had presented its appeal to donor countries earlier in the day.

PARIS, FRANCE -  Some 258 million people needed emergency food aid last year because of conflict, economic shocks and climate disasters, a UN report said Wednesday, a sharp rise from 193 million the previous year. "More than a quarter of a billion people are now facing acute levels of hunger, and...

With projectiles crashing into residential buildings, supplies running short and daily life increasingly untenable for civilians, foreign nations have scrambled to evacuate their nationals by air, road and sea. But millions of Sudanese are still trapped in the country, where aid workers are among the dead and the UN said...

The US is "showing that one cannot engage in this sort of awful behavior of using human beings as pawns, as bargaining chips, without paying consequences," said a senior US official. Both agencies have already been hit with punitive measures by the US State and Treasury Departments in the past.

Foreign nations pushed with evacuations of their citizens from Sudan which, the UN chief warned, is "on the edge of the abyss" after 10 days of brutal fighting between rival forces. As army and paramilitary troops again clashed in Khartoum and across the country, Sudanese have sheltered in their homes...

Geneva, Switzerland -- Researchers from around the world have embarked on an effort to try to build a system allowing humanity to anticipate violent conflicts before they erupt -- and thus potentially prevent them. They will examine dramatic advances in artificial intelligence and how the decisions taken by the world's...

Calling on warring parties in Sudan to immediately cease hostilities, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned that any further escalation of the conflict between the army and paramilitary forces, led by rival generals, "could be devastating for the country and the region. Guterres' envoy to Khartoum said at least 185...

In the past about 10,000 worshippers would fill the church, with many more crowding outside, before the flame was flown to Orthodox communities internationally. This year's ceremony also comes after deadly attacks and clashes in Israel, east Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank, and cross-border fire several days ago between...

Houthi political leader Mohamed Ali al-Houthi said the talks were conducted in a "positive atmosphere", with plans for another round. On Saturday, before the Saudi visit, a Yemeni government source said the Saudis and Houthis had agreed in principle on a six-month truce to pave the way for three months...

Tensions have soared between Israel and Palestinians during what is both the Jewish Passover and the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, prompting international calls for restraint. On Thursday, the Israeli army said more than 30 rockets had been fired from Lebanese territory into Israel in the largest escalation on the...

Israeli forces have carried out a number of deadly raids in the The raid came two days after a peak in violence that saw two killed in confrontations with Israeli forces, amid fears of escalation in the conflict during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. In a Monday statement, the...

The two sisters of Somali origin clandestinely left Norway for Syria in late 2013, aged 16 and 19, to join a popular uprising against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, as they would later explain in an e-mail exchange. Norwegian writer Asne Seierstad recounted their experiences in a book.

Lawmakers were scheduled to vote this week on a central part of the proposals, which would change the way judges are appointed. That has now been put off. A parliamentary committee has already amended the draft law to make it more acceptable to opponents.

JERUSALEM -Israel's attorney general on Friday accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of "illegal" public intervention on the government's divisive judicial reform program, citing his ongoing corruption trial. After largely staying on the sidelines of the discussions, Netanyahu said in a televised address on Thursday he was "entering the arena" and...

Washington, United States--Syria's economy is expected to contract 2.3% more than it otherwise would have due to the impact of last month's deadly earthquakes, the World Bank said on Monday. The earthquake and its aftershocks killed more than 50,000 people in Turkey and Syria, and displaced millions more. "The recent earthquake...

A multi-plural world that embraces diversity and contradictions is crucial for peaceful coexistence free of conflicts, Prof Subramanian Rangan of INSEAD tells TRENDS.

The pushback was "predictable", said Khaled al-Montasser, a professor of international relations at the University of Tripoli, as elections would see members of both chambers potentially lose their seats and privileges. Despite the rivalry between them, both view the UN initiative as "interference in their sovereign decision-making power and an...

The Palestinian health ministry said six men had been killed, one aged 49 and the rest in their 20s, in clashes that the army said included soldiers launching shoulder-fired rockets amid ferocious gunfire. On Tuesday, Jordan foreign ministry spokesman Sinan Majali condemned what he called Israeli "aggression", warning it "will...

The Security Council has an obligation to find ways to "provide protection" for Palestinian civilians, the Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations pleaded Tuesday after Israeli settlers attacked a town in the occupied West Bank. "We believe that the Security Council has a responsibility to shoulder, especially with regard to...

The form and rules around elections have been key sticking points in Libya's faltering peace process since the last major round of fighting in the North African country, torn apart by a decade of war. The envoy, Senegalese diplomat Abdoulaye Bathily, had on Monday told the United Nations Security Council...

The Israeli army said the raid targeted militant suspects "in a hideout apartment" accused of shootings in the West Bank. It added troops came under fire but suffered no casualties. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said "the situation in the occupied Palestinian territory is at its most combustible in years",...

Lawmakers voted by 63 to 47 to give more weight to the government in the committee that selects judges, and to deny courts the right to rule on legislation they deem in conflict with so-called Basic Laws, Israel's quasi constitution. Tens of thousands had protested on the streets of Jerusalem...

On Sunday the Pentagon said that it does not yet know what the other three objects -- one shot down Friday over Alaska, one Saturday over Canada's Yukon territory, and the most recent one Sunday over Lake Huron -- are. But it said that the object downed Sunday had been...

Damascus denies the use of chemical weapons and insists it has handed over its stockpiles under a 2013 agreement, prompted by a suspected sarin gas attack that killed 1,400 in the Damascus suburb of Ghouta. But the Council members said Syria is "still in breach of its obligations" under the...

Soldiers, rescuers and residents of Aleppo's Bustan al-Qasr neighborhood used pickaxes and shovels to free survivors trapped under the debris of collapsed buildings.

The army stressed it was not rocket or other fire that posed a threat to Israelis. "It was not a projectile launch. Full routine continues on the Israeli home front," it said in a statement.

Israeli troops killed a Palestinian driver in West Bank, officials on both sides said, with the army saying the car had hit a soldier's leg before speeding off. Nassim Naif Salman Abu Fouda, 26, died from "a bullet wound to the head fired by the occupation (Israeli) soldiers in Hebron,"...

Hunger rates in Syria have escalated to record highs after more than ten years of brutal conflict, according to the World Food Program. The UN agency believes that years of economic crisis and damage to vital infrastructure from war have put some 2.9 million at risk of sliding into hunger.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni arrived in the Libyan capital Tripoli for talks on energy and migration, Libyan state media said. Meloni's trip - her second to a North African country this week - is the first by a European leader to war-battered Libya since her predecessor Mario Draghi's visit...

An assailant shot and wounded two people in east Jerusalem, Israeli medics said, hours after a Palestinian gunman killed seven outside a synagogue in one of the deadliest such attacks in years. Police said the suspect was "neutralized" following the latest gun attack in the Silwan neighborhood, just outside Jerusalem's...

"Our collective message is that we want to call for calm, for reflection, for calm in the process so that we can return to functioning talks between Sweden, Finland and Turkey on our common NATO membership," Kristersson told a press conference, adding that he wanted a return to "dialogue." Ankara...

The UN drugs agency noted that an increase in cases of human trafficking had been observed in Bangladesh and the Philippines after devastating cyclones and typhoons displaced millions.

ALEPPO, SYRIA - A building collapsed Sunday in Syria's war-damaged second city of Aleppo, killing 16 people including children, authorities and media reported. Much of Aleppo was destroyed during Syria's conflict that began nearly 12 years ago and left many of the remaining structures in a decrepit state. "The number of...

The ministry announced the "martyrdom of Jawad Farid Bawaqna, 57, killed by a bullet in the chest, and Adham Mohammed Bassem Jabareen 28, after he was shot in the upper abdomen by the Israeli occupation army during its aggression on Jenin".

There is a need to find a route to ending the Russia-Ukraine conflict, otherwise global uncertainty would continue. "This is complex question, but we will have to talk about how we find a pathway to ending the conflict," adds Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud in Davos.

Over 93 percent of cybersecurity experts and 86 percent of business leaders believe “a far-reaching, catastrophic cyber event is likely in the next two years” and there is a critical skills gap that is threatening societies and key infrastructure.

The rivalry between the North African neighbors deepened further when Morocco denounced "provocative" acts and "transgressions" at the opening of a regional football tournament in Algeria. The two countries are engaged in a bitter dispute over the disputed territory of Western Sahara, where the Algerian-backed Polisario movement seeks an independence...

Israel's new firebrand National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir ordered the police commander on Sunday to authorize officers to remove Palestinian flags flying in public spaces. "I have instructed the Israeli police to enforce the ban on flying a PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization) flag in public spaces, a sign of identification...

Turkey, too, has appointed an ambassador to Israel. A presidential decree in November named Sakir Ozkan Torunlar to the post, Turkish media reported at the time.

After repeated denials about its drones being used by Russia against Ukraine in the conflict, Iran's top general has said that Western claims show the 'effectiveness' of Tehran's unmanned aerial vehicles. Ukraine and its Western allies have accused Russia of using Iranian-made drones to carry out attacks.

Nablus has seen frequent clashes between Israeli troops and Palestinian militants in recent months, as the army has stepped up operations in Palestinian towns and cities in response to a wave of deadly attacks on Israeli targets earlier this year.

Iraq has been caught for years in a delicate balancing act between its two main allies, the United States and Iran, and Baghdad only recently arrived at a fragile compromise government after a year of political stalemate. The conference was a test for Iraq's new Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani,...

Some manuscripts date from the early Abbasid era, while some seventh-century calligraphy boards in Kufic script were written on parchment "even before the manufacture of paper."

Riot police confronted the crowd in the central Habboubi Square with "brutal" force and "fired live ammunition", said demonstrator Mohammed al-Iraqi, who spoke to AFP at a morgue where dozens of relatives and friends of the two fatalities gathered. Hussein Riyad, a spokesman for the Dhi Qar provincial health ministry,...

The King of Morocco Mohammed VI has reaffirmed its position on the Western Sahara dispute to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in a meeting in the Moroccan city of Fez. The king said the regional dispute should be settled "within the framework of sovereignty and territorial integrity of the kingdom."

Asia-Pacific leaders added their voices to international pressure on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, issuing a summit statement saying "most" of them condemned the war. The 21 members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum issued a joint declaration in Bangkok criticizing the conflict and the global economic turmoil it...

Outgoing Prime Minister Yair Lapid said Israeli soldiers "will not be interrogated" by the US' Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) over the killing of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh. The veteran Al Jazeera reporter was shot and killed while covering an Israeli army raid in the occupied West Bank on...

The epicenter of the October 2019 anti-government protest movement, Tehrir square is now transformed and boasts a renovated park section.

According to the Observatory, the rocket fire came the day after five Syrian forces members died in shelling by a group affiliated with HTS.

Blinken voiced "his deep concern over the situation in the West Bank, including heightened tensions, violence and loss of both Israeli and Palestinian lives, and underscored the need for all parties to urgently de-escalate the situation." The West Bank has seen near-daily army raids and an increase in clashes and...