San Francisco, United States - Tech pioneer and former YouTube chief Susan Wojcicki, who played an instrumental role in the rise of Google, has died at the age of 56 after battling lung cancer, her husband announced Friday. Wojcicki, one of the most prominent women in Silicon Valley, spent nearly two...

Dawn prayers were shattered by the early morning triple air strike from Israeli warplanes, which gutted Al-Tabieen religious school and mosque in Gaza City. In the hellish aftermath, body parts were strewn around the rubble and charred, bloodied bodies slumped in the wreckage of the two-story complex.

A strong athlete, she played football with the boys in her village of Biban Mesbah, but beating them in matches brought on brawls where she fought back with punches. These fights ultimately led her to boxing, and on Friday one of the most contentious gold medals in recent memory.

Paris, France - An infographic of a rat with a preposterously large penis. Another showing human legs with way too many bones. An introduction that starts: "Certainly, here is a possible introduction for your topic". These are a few of the most egregious examples of artificial intelligence that have recently made...

From the autumn, Apple said developers in the EU "can communicate and promote offers for purchases" wherever they want, for example, via an alternative app marketplace. But in Thursday's announcement, Apple said the changes mean developers will have a new fee structure for customers linking out of an app for...

Washington, United States -- Flying can be a nerve-wracking experience for many people -- but a new study out Thursday finds commercial air travel keeps getting safer, with the risk of death halving every decade. The fatality rate fell to 1 per every 13.7 million passenger boardings globally in the 2018-2022...

Senior civil defense official Mohammad al-Mughayyir said 60 people were also wounded and more than 40 still missing in the strikes on Al-Zahra and Abdel Fattah Hamoud schools in Gaza City.

Sydney, Australia - Australian airline Qantas scrapped its non-stop Perth to London flight Thursday, saying the decision was taken as a "precaution" due to tensions in the Middle East. The flight, usually a non-stop 17-and-a-half hour journey, will now refuel in Singapore, allowing it to carry a full load of passengers...

Kuwait: -- The oil and gas sector in Arab countries attracted 610 projects implemented by 356 foreign and Arab companies, with a total investment cost of US$ 406 billion between January 2003 and May 2024. The Arab Investment and Export Credit Guarantee Corporation (Dhaman) stated in its first sectoral report...

A Turkish parliamentary delegation accompanied by the Turkish ambassador to the Netherlands filed a "declaration of intervention" at the ICJ's headquarters in The Hague, according to state television TRT which covered it live. Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Oncu Keceli said in a post on X that the "case brought before...

Cambridge, United Kingdom - Quantum computing promises society-changing breakthroughs in drug development and tackling climate change, and on an unassuming English high street, the race to unleash the latest tech revolution is gathering pace. The founder of Cambridge-based Riverlane, Steve Brierley, predicts that the technology will have its "Sputnik" breakthrough within...

Iran blames Haniyeh's death on Israel and has vowed to avenge him, while Hamas's Lebanese ally Hizbollah has also pledged to retaliate for his killing and that of its military commander Fuad Shukr in an Israeli strike in Beirut hours earlier.

Dhaka, Bangladesh -- Bangladesh Nobel winner Muhammad Yunus said Tuesday he is ready to head a caretaker government, a day after the military took control as mass protests forced longtime ruler Sheikh Hasina to flee. Microfinance pioneer Yunus, 84, is credited with lifting millions out of poverty -- earning the enmity...

Aqaba residents said Israeli troops arrived at dawn and surrounded the house of Amid Ghanam, leading to clashes between troops and young Palestinians.

Abu Dhabi, UAE -- The Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi) and Miral will host Loop CEE, a luxury travel fair, for the first time in the Middle East. Titled “Loop Beyond Borders”, the event will be held from 15th-17th September 2024 at Saadiyat Rotana...

 The volume of bilateral trade between the Sultanate of Oman and the People’s Republic of China has increased 8% in the first five months of 2024 to reach over US$15bn, compared to the corresponding period in 2023, Zawa reported. This was revealed by the Chargé d’Affaires in the Chinese Embassy...

Biden called King Abdullah II of Jordan, which helped down Iranian drones and missiles in an earlier showdown in April, while Blinken called top officials in Qatar and Egypt, the key intermediaries seeking a ceasefire in the 10-month Israel-Hamas war.

US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were briefed on the attack, the White House said. "They discussed the steps we are taking to defend our forces and respond to any attack against our personnel in a manner and place of our choosing," it said in a statement.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told his counterparts from the G7 nations that any attack could happen within 24 to 48 hours, as early as Monday

Cryptocurrencies reeled from a bout of risk aversion in global markets on Monday, at one point sending Bitcoin down more than 10% and saddling second-ranked Ether with the steepest fall since 2021, Yahoo Finance reported. Bitcoin traded 8.5% lower at $54,100 as of 10:40 a.m. in Singapore, adding to a...

The political head of Palestinian group Hamas was killed early on Wednesday in Tehran, where he had attended the inauguration of Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian. Iran and the Hamas, which Tehran supports, vowed to retaliate and blamed the strike on Israel, which has declined to comment.

Held on the shores of Lake Maggiore, in the Italian-speaking Ticino region of southern Switzerland, films are screened in Locarno's central square -- a feature of Swiss national life depicted on the country's 20-franc banknotes. The open-air Piazza Grande holds up to 8,000 moviegoers.

Rome, Italy -- G7 foreign ministers met by videoconference Sunday to discuss the Middle East and expressed "strong concern" over the threat of escalation, Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said. "Together with our partners, we have expressed strong concern about recent events that threaten to determine a regionalization of the crisis,...

Several airlines including Lufthansa and Air France have delayed or suspended flights to Lebanon, and countries have issued urgent calls for foreign nationals to leave in recent days. France did so Sunday, warning of "a highly volatile" situation, while the US embassy in Lebanon a day earlier urged its citizens...

Geneva, Switzerland - The United Nations Satellite Centre (UNOSAT) has identified 46,223 destroyed structures, 18,478 severely damaged structures, 55,954 moderately damaged structures, and 35,754 possibly damaged structures, totalling 156,409 structures in the Gaza Strip. The large-scale infrastructure damage is the result of continuous Israeli attacks on the Strip, which have...

Israel on Saturday again traded fire with Hezbollah, carried out a deadly raid in the occupied West Bank, and struck a school compound in Gaza City in an attack that the Hamas-ruled territory's civil defence agency said killed at least 17 people.

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia - Wego, the leading travel app and largest online travel marketplace in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), has reported a significant increase in travel interest to India in the first half of 2024. Data from January to June 2024 shows a 40.71% year-on-year rise in...

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has also ordered additional ballistic missile defense-capable cruisers and destroyers to the Middle East and areas under US European Command, as well as a new fighter squadron to the Middle East. Israel killed Hizbollah commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut on Tuesday.

Haniyeh was laid to rest in Lusail, north of the capital Doha, following funeral prayers at the Gulf emirate's largest mosque attended by thousands of people. he burial was restricted to a small number of people including one of Haniyeh's daughters, Sara, who shared a video on social media showing her...

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced the Kingdom’s bid to host the 2034 FIFA World Cup. He said this bid reflects Saudi Arabia’s transformation and progress as part of the national transformation plan, Vision 2030, Asharq Al-Awsat reported today. The Crown Prince stated that the bid focuses on developing...

The company to cut approximately $20 billion in expenses this year.

Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, addressing the funeral of the Lebanese group's top military commander, said Israel and "those who are behind it must await our inevitable response" to Fuad Shukr's and Haniyeh's killings within hours of each other. "You do not know what red lines you crossed," Nasrallah said, addressing...

Baghdad, Iraq -- Iraq signed an agreement with British energy giant British Petroleum on Thursday to develop four oil and gas fields in the northern province of Kirkuk. A memorandum of understanding was signed by Iraq's Oil Minister Hayan Abdel Ghani and BP's CEO Murray Auchincloss, Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani's media...

The Federal Reserve kept its key interest rate at 5.25% to 5.5%, citing “some further progress” toward its 2% inflation goal. At his press conference, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said a rate cut in September is “on the table,” provided the inflation data continues to be encouraging, CNBC reports. The...

Jerusalem, Undefined - The killing of Palestinian militant group Hamas's political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran could embolden hardliners in the Islamist movement and risks retaliations against Israel, analysts say. Almost 10 months into the latest Gaza war, with no ceasefire deal in sight, here is what to expect. Who will...

The meeting has been requested by Iran and supported by representatives of Russia, China and Algeria, said a spokesman for the Russian presidency, which holds the rotating leadership of the council. Separately, UN chief Antonio Guterres denounced the attacks on Tehran as well as Beirut as a "dangerous escalation".

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said Wednesday the killing of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh was a "cowardly act" and urged Palestinians to remain united against Israel. "President Mahmud Abbas of the State of Palestine strongly condemned the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, deeming it a cowardly act and a serious...

"Fuad Shukr was the commander responsible for the Majdal Shams massacre, in which 12 children were murdered after Hizbollah fired an Iranian Falaq-1 rocket directly at a soccer field in northern Israel on Saturday evening," military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said in a separate video statement.

Dubai, UAE - Dubai has reinforced its position as a global tourism leader by welcoming a record 9.31 million international overnight visitors in the first half of 2024, marking a 9 percent increase from the 8.55 million visitors during the same period in 2023. The achievement is aligned with the...

Under the MoU, both parties will coordinate events aimed at strengthening ties between exporting companies from Dubai and Chile and supporting the expansion of these companies in both markets by creating promising business opportunities.

Revenue dropped 8 percent to $98 billion in the same period.

"Since the beginning of the Israeli ground invasion of the eastern part of Khan Yunis province, the civil defence and medical teams have recovered approximately 300 bodies of martyrs, many of them decomposed," Gaza's civil defense agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP.

The next steps include official visits by FIFA and a comprehensive evaluation of the bid.

The Israeli military said Monday nine soldiers were being held in a case of suspected abuse of a Palestinian detainee at a facility holding Palestinians arrested from Gaza during the war. Israeli civilians protested outside a military base where the nine soldiers were being held, while several others -- also...

Dubai, Saudi Arabia - Dubai Financial Market (DFM) today announced its consolidated financial results for the period ended June 30, 2024, with net profit before tax growing to AED 195.4 million (USD 53.2 million), marking a significant 74 percent increase over the same period in 2023. The first half of...

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia -- The Saudi Red Sea Authority (SRSA), in collaboration with the Ministry of Tourism, has implemented two pioneering initiatives that focused on training human resources in working in luxury coastal resorts and travel agencies according to the best international practices.One of the initiatives targeted 1,059 trainees working...

Beirut, Lebanon -- Air France and the German airline group Lufthansa said Monday they were suspending flights to Beirut after Israel threatened reprisals for a deadly rocket strike launched from Lebanon. Lufthansa services would be halted up to and including August 5 due to "current developments in the Middle East", a...

Amman, Jordan - Jordan's Umm al-Jimal village has been added to UNESCO's World Heritage List, in a move hailed on Sunday by the country's tourism and antiquities minister as a "great achievement". UNESCO, which is hosting a meeting of its World Heritage Committee in New Delhi, said on X on Friday...

In a message read by the director of Khamenei's office, he said: "I endorse the vote (for) the wise, honest, popular and scholarly Mr Pezeshkian, and I am appointing him as the president of the Islamic Republic of Iran". The new reformist president is due to be sworn in before...

Washington, United States -- It's the case of the vanishing startup: some of Silicon Valley's most promising names in the fast-developing generative AI space are being gobbled up by or tied to the hip of US tech giants. Short on funds, in the past few months promising companies like Inflection AI...