Authorities were still counting ballots two days after Friday's vote for members of parliament and for the Assembly of Experts, which selects the Islamic republic's supreme leader. The official IRNA news agency put the turnout at around "41 percent" among 61 million eligible voters. No official figure had yet been announced.

Yemen's government also said earlier Saturday that the ship which was departed UAE and was bound for the Bulgarian port of Varna, had sunk. Since November, the Houthis have been carrying out attacks on ships linked to Israel in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, saying they are...

The Hamas official said that if Israel were to meet its demands -- which include a military withdrawal from Gaza and stepped-up humanitarian aid -- this would "pave the way for an agreement within the next 24-48 hours". The health ministry in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip said at least 90...

A paramedic was among those killed and children were wounded in the blast close to the Emirati Maternity Hospital, ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said in a statement. Israeli troops have carried out multiple operations in and around hospitals in the Gaza Strip since they launched their offensive in the Palestinian...

The voting Saturday in Missouri, Michigan and Idaho were hybrid internal elections with differing rules, in some cases reflecting rifts and tensions despite Trump's formidable sway. In Missouri, Trump swamped his main opponent, former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, winning every county caucus in the state, The New York Times...

Hours before Saturday night's scheduled launch, SpaceX posted on X that "elevated winds" forced the delay. It was the latest postponement for the launch, which initially was slated for February 22.

A senior US official told reporters that the framework agreement envisages a six-week cessation of hostilities, which could begin immediately if the Palestinian movement Hamas signs off on the release of the most vulnerable hostages it holds. The official said that the Israelis have "more or less accepted it."

Israel's top ally the United States said it began air-dropping aid into war-ravaged Gaza, as the Hamas-ruled territory's health ministry reported over a dozen child malnutrition deaths. The start of the US relief operation came hours after President Joe Biden, who has pushed Israel to allow more aid in, announced...

Palestinian Territories - A Hamas delegation was expected to fly to Cairo on Saturday for talks on a truce in Gaza, a source close to the group told AFP, as mediators scrambled to secure a deal. Egyptian, Qatari and US go-betweens have been shuttling between Israeli and Hamas negotiators, trying...

Tehran, Iran - Iran began counting ballots on Saturday after a vote for parliament and a key clerical body, with local media estimating a low turnout and conservatives expected to dominate. Friday's elections were the first since widespread protests triggered by the September 2022 death in police custody of Mahsa Amini,...

An Israeli strike on a car in south Lebanon killed three Hizbollah fighters, a security source said, the latest in almost five-months of escalating cross-border fire between the Iran-backed group and Israel. Since war erupted between Israel and Hamas on October 7, Hizbollah has been launching near-daily attacks from Lebanon...

Nairobi, Kenya - African Union chief Moussa Faki Mahamat on Saturday accused Israel of "the mass killing of Palestinians" and urged an international probe after dozens died following a rush on an aid convoy in war-torn Gaza. "Mahamat strongly condemns an attack by Israeli forces that killed and wounded more than...

Global attention turned to the dire humanitarian conditions in Gaza on Thursday, when the health ministry said more than 100 people were killed after desperate Palestinians rushed an aid convoy. Israel's retaliatory offensive to eliminate Hamas has now killed at least 30,228, mostly women and children, according to the ministry's...

The Iran-backed Houthis, who control much of war-torn Yemen, have been attacking shipping in the Red Sea since November in a campaign they say is in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza amid the Israel-Hamas war. US forces struck and destroyed a Houthi surface-to-air missile in Yemen on Friday after deciding...

BRUSSELS, BELGIUM - The EU on Friday used new regulatory powers to query Meta about ad-free subscriptions to Facebook and Instagram as well as claims some voices are suppressed online in a phenomenon known as "shadow banning". The European Commission made a request for information under the mammoth content moderation law known...

Hamas said that seven more hostages seized during its unprecedented attack on southern Israel on October 7 had died because of Israeli military operations in Gaza. Meanwhile, four more children have died of "malnutrition and dehydration" in war-torn Gaza, the Hamas-ruled territory's health ministry said, the latest such reported deaths...

London, UK- Controversial left-wing firebrand George Galloway was elected to the UK parliament on Friday after tapping into anger over the Israel-Hamas war in a chaotic by-election marred by anti-Semitism allegations. Galloway, 69, first became an MP in 1987 and will return to the House of Commons for the first time...

The UN and other humanitarian actors have not yet declared a state of famine in Gaza, despite worsening conditions in the Palestinian territory. However, "once a famine is declared, it is too late for too many people", said Jens Laerke, spokesman for the UN humanitarian agency OCHA.

Global condemnation flowed after Israeli forces in war-ravaged Gaza opened fire as Palestinian civilians scrambled for food aid during a chaotic incident which the Hamas-run territory's health ministry said killed over 100 people. The Israeli military said a "stampede" occurred when thousands of desperate Gazans surrounded a convoy of 38...

The WTO -- the only international body dealing with the rules of trade between nations -- is under pressure to secure some wins at MC13 to prove its relevance. Its 12th ministerial conference in Geneva in 2022 was hailed as a landmark success following deals on fisheries and a commitment...

Abu Dhabi, UAE-- The UAE and Russia have held talks to enhance the parliamentary cooperation between the two countries. In this connection, a remote meeting was held between Dr. Ali Rashid Al Nuaimi, Chairman of the Defence, Interior and Foreign Affairs Committee of the Federal National Council (FNC), and Grigory...

Brazil's Finance Minister Fernando Haddad told a news conference in Sao Paulo that it was "impossible" to reach a final joint statement. The minister said the impasse was over the ongoing conflicts without explicitly mentioning Russia's invasion of Ukraine or Israel's ongoing military campaign in the besieged Gaza Strip.

ABU DHABI, UAE – World trade ministers were locked in disagreement Thursday on fisheries subsidies, agriculture and digital customs duties as a major WTO conference was extended beyond its scheduled deadline. With no signs of a breakthrough at the World Trade Organization's 13th ministerial conference (MC13) in Abu Dhabi, officials pushed...

LONDON, UK – Europe's aviation industry is extending its bounceback from the Covid pandemic, as British Airways owner IAG and Franco-Dutch rival Air France-KLM posted bumper 2023 profits on Thursday. The sector is flying at cruising altitude on pent-up demand after emerging from the dark days of Covid, which grounded planes...

Iran announced the launch of a remote sensing and imaging satellite into orbit from Russia, according to state media. The launch of "Pars-I" with the Russian Soyuz-2.1b launcher was broadcast live by state television in Iran. The satellite was launched "from Russia's Vostochny launch base", some 8,000 kilometers east of...

Arbil, Iraq - A Turkish drone strike in northwestern Iraq killed two members of a group affiliated to Turkey's outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) Thursday, said Kurdish authorities. The fighters were members of the Sinjar Resistance Units, a group founded among the district's Yazidi community in response to occupation by the...

"It's over 25,000," US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told lawmakers when asked during a House Armed Services Committee hearing for the figure on women and children killed. The United States has backed Israel since the unprecedented Hamas attack in October that resulted in the deaths of around 1,160 people.

More than 750 others were injured after Israeli soldiers opened fire on civilians gathered at an aid distribution point in the Palestinian territory. The death toll from the "massacre" in Gaza City "rose to 104 martyrs and 760 injuries due to the bullets of the occupation forces that targeted a...

The company said it was 92% booked for the first quarter of 2024.

Lebanon's Hizbollah, a Hamas ally, has exchanged near-daily fire with the Israeli army since war erupted between Israel and the Gaza-based Palestinian fighting group in October, while Palestinian groups in Lebanon have also occasionally claimed attacks. The exchanges have killed at least 286 people on the Lebanese side, most of...

According to Syria's defense ministry, Israeli fighter jets carried out strikes "from the direction of the occupied Syrian Golan", targeting a number of sites in the Damascus countryside. The ministry added that the country's air defenses responded to the attack, shooting down most of the missiles.

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates -- A US-led push to reform the World Trade Organization's embattled dispute settlement system sparked divisions at a WTO meeting Wednesday, with India accusing Washington of bringing the trade body to a "standstill". A working session on dispute settlement reform was held on the third day...

In a joint statement, the two bodies said the partnership marked "a significant shared commitment to enhancing global tennis". The statement did not give details of the amount of the investment which will see PIF become the official naming partner of the ATP rankings.

In a powerful speech at the first-ever Web Summit Qatar conference, while calling for an immediate end to the war on Gaza, as well as an end to the obstruction of desperately needed aid delivery, she asked: "Why is the killing of some condemned, while the killing of others justified?...

In January, Israel's cabinet approved an additional 55 billion shekels ($15 billion) to meet the cost of the war, while the mobilization of reservists and the displacement of communities on the borders with Gaza and Lebanon have disrupted the economy. Confronted with the conflict, Arab countries that have normalized relations...

Tunis, Tunisia--Tunisian President Kais Saied on Monday stressed the need to reach an approach that contributes to enhancing the security of Arab societies, according to a statement released by the Tunisian presidency. While hosting participants of the 41st session of the Arab Interior Ministers Council launched in Tunis on Monday,...

Doha, Qatar - Qatar is "hopeful" of a Gaza war ceasefire and is pushing for an agreement before Ramadan, its foreign ministry spokesperson said on Tuesday. The gas-rich Gulf state, which hosts Hamas's political bureau, has been a key mediator in negotiations involving the Palestinian fighters, Israel, the United States and...

Tubas, Palestinian Territories - Israeli troops killed three Palestinians in an overnight raid in a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry said on Tuesday. It was the latest in a surge of violence in the restive Palestinian territory since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in...

RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA - President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his accompanying delegation arrived here on Tuesday. The Ukrainian President was on a visit to Saudi Arabia. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, who is also the prime minister of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, received President Zelenskyy...

Moscow, Russia -- Moscow is maintaining close contact with officials from the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Russia’s upcoming presidential election, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said Tuesday. Bogdanov, who serves as Russian special presidential envoy for the Middle East and Africa, told TASS,...

ABU DHABI, UAE – The Ministry of Finance on Tuesday announced the issuance of Cabinet Decision No. 10 of 2024 and this will come into effect on March 1 2024. The Cabinet Decision No. 10 of 2024 amended the schedule of violations and administrative penalties of Cabinet Decision No. 75...

Beirut, Lebanon--Lebanon's Hizbollah said it launched a salvo of rockets at an Israeli air control base on Tuesday in retaliation for deadly Israeli strikes on east Lebanon. Hamas ally Hezbollah has exchanged near-daily fire with the Israeli army since the Gaza war erupted in October, but strikes have been largely restricted...

Yemen's Houthis have been targeting shipping for months and their attacks have persisted despite repeated US and British strikes aimed at degrading their ability to threaten a vital global trade route. The Houthis began attacking Red Sea shipping in November, saying they were hitting Israel-linked vessels in support of Palestinians ravaged...

Baalbek, Lebanon - Israeli strikes near the Hizbollah-dominated city of Baalbek killed two group members on Monday, two security sources told AFP, in the first strikes on Lebanon's east since clashes began after the Gaza war. "Two Hizbollah members were killed in the Israeli strikes near Baalbek," a security official told...

Abu Dhabi, UAE -- Ministers representing 123 World Trade Organisation (WTO) members have finalized the Investment Facilitation for Development (IFD) Agreement, according to a statement by the WTO. The ministers also issued a submission asking for the 13th WTO Ministerial Conference (MC13), taking place in Abu Dhabi on 26th-29th February,...

Speaking on the first day of MC13, WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala highlighted a need to "reform the multilateral trading system" and boost international cooperation. "Looking around, uncertainty and instability are everywhere," the WTO chief said, adding that the world is in an "even tougher place today" compared to two years...

The resignation of the government in the West Bank comes as several countries, including the United States, have called for a reformed Palestinian Authority that would take charge of all Palestinian territories after the war in Gaza ends. "The next stage and its challenges require new governmental and political measures...

The International Court of Justice entered its last day of week-long hearings after a request from the UN, with an unprecedented 52 countries giving their views on Israel's occupation. The 22 Arab-country bloc's representative, Abdel Hakim El-Rifai, told judges in The Hague that "the failure to bring it to an...

Speaking before the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Antonio Guterres said that Gaza's southernmost city, where more than 1.4 million Palestinians are crowded together in tent cities, was "the core of the humanitarian aid operation" in the Palestinian territory. Guterres stressed Monday that "nothing can justify Hamas's deliberate killing,...

The gas-rich country has emerged as the key player in mediation between Israel and Hamas to agree a truce in Gaza and release more hostages abducted by the Hamas fighters in its attack on Israel on October 7. It hosts the political bureau of Hamas but also enjoys warm relations...