Paris, France--France wants an independent inquiry into the deaths of scores of Palestinians during an aid delivery in the northern Gaza strip, Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne said Friday. "We will ask for explanations, and there will have to be an independent probe to determine what happened,"  Sejourne told the France Inter...

Rafah, Palestinian Territories - Surrounded by family and friends, clapping and cheering, Gaza woman Afnan Jibril beams a brilliant smile on her wedding day, determined to celebrate even as war rages. "We are a people that love life, despite death, murders and destruction," said her father, Mohamed Jibril. Relatives were gathered...

According to authorities in the central Ishikawa region hit by the 7.5-magnitude quake, the number of people unaccounted for fell to 103 from 195. The shock waves toppled buildings, sparked a major fire and triggered tsunami waves over a metre high. Thousands of rescuers have been drafted in from all...

A massive air attack targeted schools, a maternity hospital, shopping arcades, blocks of flats, and many other sites, according to Ukrainian officials. The assault triggered international condemnation and fresh promises of military support to Ukraine, which has been fighting off invading Russian troops since late February 2022.

Israeli prime minister said that in spite of the high toll in Gaza, the country had no choice but to keep fighting. He said the military campaign will continue with full force "until the end, until victory." Israel says it has lost some 154 troops in Gaza since it began...

The high civilian toll in the latest Israeli strikes on the besieged territory comes in spite of growing calls for restraint and for more aid to reach war-stricken Palestinians. But Israel showed little sign of modulating its "Operation Swords of Iron", which aims to rout Hamas as the US urged...

Speaking at an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps aerospace force centre in the capital Tehran, Khamenei said "the defeat of the Zionist regime in Gaza is a fact." Israel has relentlessly been pounding the Gaza Strip since Hamas's attack, killing more than 12,300 people in the narrow Palestinian territory, including more...

Dubai, UAE-- Turkey has suspended joint-energy projects with Israel over the latter's invasion and bombardment of the Gaza Strip, according to Turkish Minister of Energy Alparslan Bayraktar. The minister in a statement said: "It would be inappropriate to talk about the implementation of projects with Israel under such conditions. The...

Leading Arab opposition to Israel's planned invasion of the Gaza Strip, Saudi Arabia has denounced "any ground operations" due to the threat posed to Palestinian civilians. The kingdom's foreign ministry cautioned against the danger of continuing to "carry out these blatant and unjustified violations of international law against the brotherly...

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the US supports pauses in Israel's war against Hamas in order to let aid to flow into the Gaza Strip. He said the aid can include fuel needed for the restoration of electrical power, medical care, water purification and "so many...

The county sheriff's department asked people to lock down or close their business while "we investigate." The gunman is still at large. According to City Councilor Robert McCarthy, the death toll had climbed to 22 in the shooting spree at a bowling alley and also at least one other location,...

The UN health agency said in a statement that it strongly condemns Israel's repeated orders for the evacuation of 22 hospitals treating more than 2,000 people in northern Gaza. Israel has warned Palestinians to evacuate northern Gaza ahead of an expected ground offensive against Hamas, one week after the deadliest...

Following the devastating earthquake in Morocco on Saturday that killed more than 1,000 people so far, the UAE, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Algeria and Israel along with several other countries offered condolences, support, and assistance. UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan emphasized solidarity with Morocco and ordered critical relief delivery.

The clashes broke out after pro-Ankara rebels tried to infiltrate Kurdish-held northeast Syria, killing 23 people, a war monitor said. The spike in violence comes amid days of separate clashes in Kurdish-held parts of neighboring Deir Ezzor province after US-backed, Kurdish-led fighters detained the head of a local military body...

Baghdad, Iraq--A road accident killed 18 people, mostly Iranian pilgrims, north of the Iraqi capital Baghdad overnight, the state news agency INA reported Saturday. The "horrible accident" between Dujail and Samarra also injured 15 people, INA said, citing the toll from Khaled Burhan, director of health services in Salaheddine province....

Athens, Greece--Hundreds of firefighters in Greece struggled Thursday to gain the upper hand against major wildfires burning unchecked for a sixth day, leaving 20 dead. A dangerous blaze continued to burn on Mount Parnitha near Athens, in the largest forest adjoining the capital, threatening a national park for a second day....

Fighting raged from Monday night between the influential 444 Brigade and the Al-Radaa, two of the myriad of militias that have vied for power since the 2011 overthrow of longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi. In August last year, 32 people were killed in Tripoli in battles between divided Libya's two rival...

According to state media and the public prosecution, eight people including seven members of one family were killed in Cairo when a residential building collapsed. Civil defense workers pulled out nine people, among them an injured woman, while the eight others were dead, adding that five people got out in...

Manama, Bahrain - Bahrain has taken steps to ban from its markets the contaminated cough syrups made in India in response to recent reports of the death of many children who consumed them in some countries.   The National Health Regulatory Authority (NHRA) on Sunday confirmed that the Kingdom's markets are...

The EU environmental agency said that air pollution is responsible for causing more than 1,200 premature deaths a year in under 18's across Europe and raises the risk of chronic disease later in life. It said that in spite of recent improvements, "the level of key air pollutants remain stubbornly...

In one of the deadliest stampedes in a decade, more than 80 people died and hundreds were injured at a charity distribution event in Yemen, according to Houthi officials. The tragedy struck the Arabian Peninsula's poorest country a few days before Eid al-Fitr. A Houthi official said many women and...

Dubai, United Arab Emirates--A fire in a residential building in Dubai killed 16 people and injured nine others in the wealthy Gulf emirate, local media reported. The fire broke out at midday Saturday on the fourth floor of the building in the Al-Ras neighbourhood in the old part of the city....

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia--A bus ferrying pilgrims to the holy city of Mecca burst into flames after a collision on a bridge on Monday, killing 20 people and injuring more than two dozen others, Saudi state media reported. The incident in the southern province of Asir highlights persistent challenges to safely transporting...

TEHRAN, IRAN - A Tehran court Tuesday sentenced to death an Iranian-German dual national accused of being the leader of a "terrorist" group behind a deadly 2008 mosque bombing, the judiciary said. "The Tehran Revolutionary Court sentenced Jamshid Sharmahd, the leader of the Tondar terrorist group, to death on the...

The death toll from an attack blamed on the Islamic State group in Syria has risen to 68, a war monitor said, the deadliest attack in over a year. "A total of 61 civilians and seven soldiers have been killed in the attack," said Rami Abdel Rahman, who heads the...

Damascus, Syria--Syria's President Bashar al-Assad on Sunday thanked the United Arab Emirates for its emergency response and tens of millions pledged in aid to the quake-hit country, the presidency said. "The UAE was among the first countries that stood with Syria and sent huge relief and humanitarian aid and search and...

More than a hundred hours after two earthquakes killed more than 23,000 people, an Emirati rescue team has pulled alive two people from under the rubble in Turkey. One man believed to be in his 50s or 60s and an 11-year-old child were rescued in the Kahramanmaras province, close to...

Hours after the earthquake killed at least 1,000 people and caused massive level of destruction in Syria, the UAE has pledged humanitarian assistance worth around $13.6 million to the war-scarred country, according to state media. The quake struck near the Turkish city of Gaziantep on Monday, killing more than 1,651...

Iranian authorities have arrested three female journalists in the past two days, local media said, amid protests triggered by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini. Iran has been gripped by protests since the September 16 death of Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd, arrested for allegedly breaching the country's strict...

United Nations, United States--An estimated five million children under the age of five died in 2021, the United Nations said Tuesday, urging health care investment in underserved communities around the globe to avoid this "immense, intolerable and mostly preventable loss of life." "Every day, far too many parents are facing the trauma...

PARIS, FRANCE -  Iran on Saturday executed two men for killing a paramilitary force member during unprecedented protests sparked by the death in custody of a young woman. The latest hangings double the number of executions to four over the nationwide protests, which escalated since mid-September into calls for an end...

TEHRAN, IRAN  - Iran's top court has ordered the retrial of a third man reportedly sentenced to death over nationwide protests, the judiciary said Saturday. The Islamic republic has been rocked by protests since the September 16 death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd, after her arrest in...

TEHRAN, IRAN -  Iran's supreme court has ordered the retrial of two men, including a Kurdish rapper, who were reportedly sentenced to death over protests sparked by Mahsa Amini's death, the judiciary said Saturday. Protests have gripped Iran since the September 16 death of Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian of Kurdish origin,...

Iran may have abolished its feared morality police, but many of its citizens based in Iraq doubt reports that Tehran has put an end to a force associated with months of protests in the Islamic Republic. It was in the custody of the morality police that Mahsa Amini died in...

Taking offense at France's unanimous vote by lawmakers earlier this week, condemning infringement of liberties and women's rights, Iran's foreign ministry summoned the French ambassador. Iran has been gripped by protests since September over the death in custody of Mahsa Amini after her arrest.

More than 400 migrant workers died in labor accidents in Qatar in the build up to the World Cup, according to the head of country's delivery and legacy organizing committee. The official revealed this during a British television interview when asked how many workers had died doing work for the...

In a rare display of anger against the Chinese government, scores of protestors took to the streets of Shanghai early Sunday calling for an end to lockdowns. China has been facing wide criticism over its zero-Covid policy. A fire spurred an outpouring of anger in Xinjiang region as many blamed...

Jerusalem— At least one person was killed and 14 wounded in two separate explosions targeting bus stops in Jerusalem Wednesday, security and medical officials said, with Israel's public security minister calling them "attacks." An explosion at a bus stop at the western exit from Jerusalem killed a man and wounded...

Carrying out a second attack in a week, Iran has launched a fresh wave of strikes against Kurdish opposition groups based in Iraqi Kurdistan on Sunday. Tehran accuses the groups of instigating unrest in Iran, which has been rocked by two months of protests set off by the death of...

Iranian security forces have killed at least 326 people in a crackdown on nationwide protests since Mahsa Amini's death in custody, Iran Human Rights said. Iran has been gripped by protests over the death of Amini on September 16, three days after her arrest for an alleged breach of the...

Ramallah, Palestinian Territories— Israeli forces shot dead an 18-year-old Palestinian on Saturday near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry said. Musaab Nafal died "from severe wounds sustained by occupation (Israeli) bullets near the village of Sinjil", the ministry said in a statement. The Israeli army said soldiers...

At least nine people were killed and many wounded when a gas tanker blew up in Baghdad on Saturday night in what is being termed as an accident. The explosion was so powerful that it could be heard across much of Iraq's capital. The tanker was in a car park...

With dozens dead in demonstrations all across the country during the last several weeks, Iran now says that "riots" over the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody have reached their final days. Amini was arrested for allegedly violating the country's strict dress code for women.

Iran vowed an "immediate" response to the European Union as it prepares new sanctions on the Islamic republic after over a month of protests sparked by Mahsa Amini's death. EU foreign ministers met to adopt sanctions on Iran after Amini was detained for allegedly breaching Iran's strict dress code for...

Tunis, Tunisia— Tunisian mourners clashed with security forces on Friday after the death of a young man from injuries sustained during a police chase a month ago. Protestors threw rocks at security forces after Malek Sellimi's funeral in the working-class neighborhood of Upper Omran on the edges of Tunis, according to...

While Iran is struggling to contain rising wave of protests over the death of Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini in morality police custody, its forces are now involved in gun battles in the Southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchestan. At least 19 people including a Revolutionary Guards colonel were killed on Friday.

Amini died after spending three days in a coma after her arrest by Iran's morality police, a unit responsible for enforcing the Islamic republic's strict dress code for women. Activists said she suffered a blow to the head in custody but this has not been confirmed by the Iranian authorities,...

Nearly three months after the border tragedy in which two dozen migrants died, a Moroccan appeals court has sentenced 12 Sudanese migrants to three years in jail over violence. Some 2,000 people, many of them Sudanese, stormed the frontier on June 24 in an attempt to reach Spanish territory.

Amini, a Kurd, had been detained for allegedly wearing a hijab headscarf in an "improper" way, and died at a Tehran hospital after having spent three days in a coma. Public anger has flared over her death, and at least six protesters have been killed in nationwide demonstrations, according to...

Turkey struck back in northern Syria after its forces were shelled from near Kobane in the latest deadly escalation that killed three people wearing Syrian army uniform and wounded several other fighters. The raids by Turkish army hit outposts operated by the Syrian army and Kurdish-led forces.