Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Tuesday began a two-day visit to Oman, which is mediating ongoing nuclear talks between Tehran and Washington.

The trade-dependent economies are looking to insulate themselves after US President Donald Trump blew up global trade norms by announcing a slew of tariffs targeting countries around the world this year.

The outline of the new potential deal was revealed as Israel ramped up its offensive in the Palestinian territory, and follows previous rounds of talks that have failed to reach a breakthrough.

Paris, France -- Under five percent of Gaza's farmland is useable due to war, further exacerbating the risk of famine in the devastated Palestinian territory, the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization said Monday. Israel has stepped up a renewed offensive to destroy Hamas in Gaza, drawing international condemnation as...

Damascus, Syria -- Syria's new authorities have agreed to help the United States locate and return Americans who went missing in the war-torn country, a US envoy said on Sunday. "The new Syrian government has agreed to assist the USA in locating and returning USA citizens or their remains," US...

Madrid will host 20 countries as well as international organizations with the aim of "stopping this war, which no longer has any goal", Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares told France Info radio. Humanitarian aid must enter Gaza "massively, unimpeded, neutrally, so that it is not Israel who decides who...

Baghdad, Iraq -- Iraq's water reserves are at their lowest in 80 years after a dry rainy season, a government official said Sunday, as its share from the Tigris and Euphrates rivers shrinks. Water is a major issue in the country of 46 million people undergoing a serious environmental crisis...

The Israeli military has stepped up its Gaza offensive in recent days in what it has described as a renewed push to destroy Hamas.

The interior ministry restructure includes reforms and creating "a modern civil security institution that adopts transparency and respects international human rights standards".

The latest campaign abolishes naturalization by marriage, which only applied to women, and revokes citizenship granted to wives since 1987. Official data shows 38,505 women were naturalized by marriage from 1993 to 2020.

The leaders of pro-Iran Palestinian factions close to former ruler Bashar al-Assad have left Syria under pressure from the new authorities, Palestinian sources said Friday, a key US demand for lifting sanctions.

"For nearly 80 days, Israel blocked the entry of life-saving international aid," Guterres said. "The entire population of Gaza is facing the risk of famine.

Authorities took down more than 300 servers worldwide, neutralized 650 domains and seized 3.5 million euros ($3.9 million) in cryptocurrency, they said. The coordinated crackdown has dealt "a direct blow to the ransomware kill chain", breaking it "at its source", said the European Union's criminal police agency.

Their solidarity came to the fore on Wednesday, when Austria and Germany broke ranks with European Union peers to argue against a review ordered by Brussels of an EU-Israel cooperation deal.

Damascus, Syria -- Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said Thursday in Damascus that his country would ramp up energy exports to Syria to help boost electricity supplies as its neighbor seeks to recover after years of war. "We want to triple our current electricity exports to meet Syria's electricity needs,...

Iran and the United States will hold the next round of talks on the Islamic republic's nuclear programme in Rome later this week, Tehran and mediator Oman said Wednesday.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas urged Israel to hold to account those responsible for the shooting near Jenin, a stronghold of Palestinian armed groups and a frequent target of Israeli raids.

EU countries agreed Tuesday to lift all their remaining economic sanctions on Syria in a bid to help the war-torn country recover after the ouster of Bashar al-Assad.

Israel has again warned the population of Gaza -- nearly entirely displaced since the war broke out over the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel by Hamas -- to move ahead of a new offensive, which comes after it has blockaded food and supplies for more than two months.

Foreign Secretary David Lammy accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government of "egregious actions and rhetoric" over its expansion of military operations in the Palestinian territory.

After more than two months of a total blockade, the World Health Organization issued a stark warning on the humanitarian crisis in the besieged Gaza Strip, saying "two million people are starving".

The announcement came hours after the military said it had begun "extensive ground operations" in a newly intensified campaign in Gaza, and as Israel and Hamas engaged in indirect talks on a deal to potentially halt the fighting.

Since a two-month ceasefire collapsed in March as Israel resumed its offensive, negotiations mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the United States have failed to reach a breakthrough.

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia -- A Saudi airline has resumed flights for Iranian hajj pilgrims to the kingdom for the first time in a decade, the latest sign of the warming ties between the countries. "Flynas resumed Iranian pilgrims flights from Imam Khomeini (airport) in Tehran on Saturday," a Saudi civil...

The 69-year-old pontiff saw the challenges facing the worldwide Catholic Church up close in two decades as a missionary in the poor Andean nation of Peru, where he holds dual citizenship.

Days of clashes in the capital have pitted an armed group aligned with the Tripoli-based government against groups it has been seeking to dismantle. Libya is split between the UN-recognized government in Tripoli, led by Dbeibah, and a rival administration in the east controlled by the family of military strongman...

Washington, United States -- No corner of Earth is untouched. From Tibet to Antarctica, so-called "forever chemicals" have seeped into the blood of nearly every living creature. Tainting food, water and wildlife, these toxic substances have been linked to ailments ranging from birth defects to rare cancers. Yet if it...

Jerusalem, Undefined -- US President Donald Trump's decision to skip over Israel in his Middle East tour was just the latest sign of a shifting dynamic between the historic allies. From nuclear talks with Iran, a ceasefire deal in Yemen and the announcement of lifting sanctions on Syria, Trump has...

Washington, United States -- The World Bank on Friday said it would restart operation in Syria following a 14-year pause, after Saudi Arabia and Qatar had paid off the country's outstanding debts. The Bank's operation in Syria were halted when the civil war broke out in 2011, preventing the country...

Aid to Gaza has been cut off since March 2, a tactic Israel has said is intended to force concessions from Hamas, but the group insisted on Thursday that the restoration of humanitarian assistance to the war-ravaged territory was "the minimum requirement" for talks.

US President Donald Trump on Thursday closes a Middle East tour in the United Arab Emirates as he focuses squarely on seeking deals after billions of dollars of pledges from Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

In a joint statement Egypt and Qatar, who along with the US have mediated talks between Hamas and Israel, also welcomed the development as a "a gesture of goodwill and an encouraging step toward a return to the negotiating table".

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday proposed holding direct talks with Ukraine in Istanbul on May 15, hours after Kyiv and European leaders called for an unconditional 30-day ceasefire to start Monday.

More than 20 independent United Nations experts said the world faced a "stark decision" to "remain passive and witness the slaughter of innocents or take part in crafting a just resolution".

Israel drew international condemnation over its plans for an expanded Gaza offensive, as the country's far-right finance minister called Tuesday for the Palestinian territory to be "destroyed".

Pakistan's Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif accused Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi of launching the strikes to "shore up" his domestic popularity, but said that Islamabad had struck back.

Six months after Bashar al-Assad's fall, Turkey and Israel are both operating in Syria with starkly opposing agendas, stoking fears of a  confrontation unless they find a way to coexist.

Israel resumed major operations across Gaza on March 18 amid deadlock over how to proceed with a two-month ceasefire that had largely halted the war with Hamas, which was sparked by the militants' October 2023 attack.

A deadly shooting Monday at a Damascus club, days after another attack on the capital's nightlife, has sparked fears, adding to concerns that personal freedoms may be restricted under Syria's Islamist authorities.

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu warned of future retaliation, saying Israel had acted against Iran-backed Huthis before and “will act in the future,” while international airlines suspended flights to Israel.

The announcement comes after Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun met with his UAE counterpart Mohamed bin Zayed in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday, after which it was announced that the ban would be lifted.

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...

"We are breaking the bodies and the minds of the children of Gaza. We are starving the children of Gaza, because if we don't do something about it we are complicit in what is happening," WHO emergencies director Mike Ryan told reporters in Geneva.

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.

Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani expressed on Monday his government's willingness to build a "strategic partnership" with China, a key backer of ousted ruler Bashar al-Assad

Nairobi, Kenya -- A $500-million fund aimed at improving maternal and neonatal health in sub-Saharan Africa was launched Tuesday in Abu Dhabi at a time when Western countries are sharply cutting aid to Africa. The Beginnings Fund brings together philanthropists including the Gates Foundation and the Mohamed bin Zayed Foundation...

"As the complete blockade of assistance essential for survival enters its ninth week, there must be concerted international efforts to stop this humanitarian catastrophe from reaching a new, unseen level," Volker Turk said in a statement. Israel strictly controls all inflows of international aid vital for the 2.4 million Palestinians...

The United Nations expressed deep alarm on Monday at reports that US strikes on Yemen killed scores of people at a migrant detention centre in a stronghold of the Huthi rebels.

The meeting comes at a critical moment for the world economy after the International Monetary Fund this week slashed growth forecasts over the impact of the American leader's sweeping new tariffs. Foreign ministers from the 10-member trading bloc -- which includes current-chair Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa --...