MOSCOW, RUSSIA - Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will take part in the 13th Middle East Conference of the Valdai Discussion Club to be held on February 13-14, the club told TASS. “About 50 foreign and Russian experts and current political figures from 16 countries, including Algeria, the UK, Egypt,...

DOHA, QATAR - Minister of State and Chairman of Qatar Free Zones Authority (QFZ) Dr. Ahmad bin Mohammed Al Sayed revealed that QFZ has attracted nearly 500 companies spanning diverse sectors with estimated investments at about US$1.3 billion (QR5 billion). The QFZ Chairman held a meeting with a delegation from...

On his fifth trip to the region since the war broke out, Blinken will visit Saudi Arabia, Israel and mediators Egypt and Qatar. Ahead of the trip he stressed the need for "urgently addressing humanitarian needs in Gaza", after aid groups have repeatedly sounded the alarm over the devastating impact...

Tehran, Iran -- Iran said Monday it had started building a new nuclear research reactor in Isfahan, days after it announced it was constructing a nuclear power plant complex in the south. "Today, the process of pouring concrete for the foundation of the reactor started at the Isfahan site," said Mohammad...

For EU leaders, it is their way or the highway as the wealthy, powerful bloc seeks to tame opposition and browbeat defiant countries and individuals into submission.

The Gaza health ministry said that at least 127 people were killed in Israeli strikes in the previous 24 hours in the territory. A kindergarten where families were sheltering was hit in Rafah, which is teeming with Palestinians displaced by the war, ahead of another visit to the region by...

DUBAI, UAE - The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) of the Emirate has entered into a strategic partnership with ‘Shamal Holding,’ to undertake the construction of a two-lane bridge in each direction spanning 1500 meters. The bridge extends from Sheikh Zayed Road to Dubai Harbor, an exceptional seafront district that...

JERUSALEM - When Fatima, an Arab Israeli married to a Palestinian from the Gaza Strip, fled Israel's bombardment of the territory, she was terrified they would run out of fuel. "We feared that the gas wouldn't be enough. The road was deserted. All the way along, we saw devastated houses,"...

AMMAN, JORDAN - The Energy and Minerals Regulatory Commission (EMRC) has issued over 300 authorizations for the installation of electrical metering devices dedicated to electric vehicle charging infrastructure, with the current tally of licensed EV charging facilities standing at 63 across the Kingdom.EMRC records indicate a distribution of 49 publicly...

Paris, France -- Parisians were voting on Sunday in a referendum on tripling parking costs for hefty SUV-style cars, a campaign that has drivers' groups up in arms against city hall. Some 1.3 million in the French capital are eligible to cast their ballot on the change, which would see cars...

DOHA, QATAR - The total number of inbound visitors to the country reached about 519 thousand in December 2023, recording a monthly increase of 31.9 percent (compared to November 2023), and an annual decrease by 15.4 percent (compared to December 2022). The new issue of Qatar Monthly Statistics bulletin, released...

ISTANBUL, TURKEY - Turkey on Tuesday holds pre-dawn vigils for the loss of more than 50,000 people -- and parts of entire cities -- in the earthquake-prone country's deadliest disaster of modern times. Grieving Turks are still coming to terms with how a 7.8-magnitude tremor could upturn the lives of millions...

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates--Tunisian tennis star Ons Jabeur on Saturday threw her support behind the potential staging of the WTA Finals in Saudi Arabia, urging critics to be "more informed" on the Kingdom's interest in the sport. Jabeur, a three-time Grand Slam finalist and former world number two, said she...

Scaling up attacks in the Middle East, US and UK carried out joint air raids in Yemen after a separate wave of US strikes on targets in Iraq and Syria carried out in response to the killing of three US soldiers in Jordan. It is the third time the western...

Osama Hamdan, a top Hamas official in Lebanon, said the movement's leaders were reviewing a proposed framework hammered out by top officials from Israel, Qatar, Egypt and the United States. Speaking at a news conference, he said Hamas "has repeatedly said" it was "open to discussing any initiative.

Palestinian group Hamas condemned overnight US strikes in Iraq and Syria, saying Washington had poured "oil on the fire" in the Middle East. The US "bears responsibility for the consequences of this brutal aggression against both Iraq and Syria, which pour oil on the fire," the group said in a...

Washington, US - American forces shot down eight drones near Yemen and destroyed four more on the ground, the US military said on Saturday, announcing a series of incidents that took place the previous day. The strikes and shootdowns in and around Yemen came as American forces launched a wave of air...

Tyre, Lebanon - When Ines Tehini and her family fled their south Lebanon village after Hizbollah and Israel began exchanging fire in October, she thought they would be home in a matter of days. But nearly four months later in a school turned shelter, her hopes for a swift return to...

The strikes hit "locations in the Akashat and Al-Qaim regions, including areas where our security forces are stationed", Awadi said. The United States carried out the strikes on Friday in retaliation for the killing of three US military personnel in a drone attack on a base close to Jordan's border...

ABU DHABI, UAE – As per the directives of President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan announced that the UAE has allocated US$5 million to support the efforts of the United Nations Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator for Gaza. Sheikh...

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell called on all parties to avoid further escalation in the Middle East after US strikes on Iran-linked groups in Syria and Iraq. "Everybody should try to avoid that the situation becomes explosive," Borrell said at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels.

The attack was the latest in a series of drone and missile strikes launched by the Houthis since the start of the Gaza war between Israel and Palestinian fighters group Hamas nearly four months ago. The Houthis have also repeatedly targeted vessels in the Red Sea with strikes they say...

Erkan resigned just a week after completing a historic series of interest rate hikes that have pushed the baseline rate from 8.5 percent to 45 percent. The bank said last week that it intends to keep rates high for the immediate future to make sure inflation is brought under control.

"Any (US) strike will result in an appropriate response," Al-Nujaba leader Akram al-Kaabi said in a statement, adding the group would continue its actions until its demands are met for US troops to leave Iraq and an end to Israel's war on Hamas in Gaza.

The targets included a site operated by Lebanese group Hezbollah on a road leading to the Sayyida Zeinab district and a site on the road to Damascus airport that had recently been vacated by pro-Iran groups, the Britain-based war monitor said.

"Each one has a heartbreaking story of loss and grief," said Jonathan Crickx, spokesman for the UN children's agency UNICEF in the Palestinian territories. "This figure corresponds to one percent of the overall displaced population -- 1.7 million people," he told a media briefing.

ABU DHABI, UAE  - The Ministry of Investment of the UAE and the Ministry of Digital Governance of the Hellenic Republic have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to create a framework for investments in digital infrastructure with a focus on data center projects in Greece. The agreement was signed...

Paris, France - Hackers have used the notorious Pegasus spyware to break into the phones of dozens of journalists and activists in Jordan over the past four years, according to the findings of an investigation released Thursday. The Access Now NGO highlighted 35 cases of hacking that date back to 2019,...

ISTANBUL, TURKEY - An assailant on Thursday took a number of people hostage at a plant owned by US cosmetics giant Procter & Gamble near Istanbul in protest at the war in Gaza, a police spokesman said. It was not immediately clear how many people were being held at the plant,...

The United States approved a $4 billion sale of state-of-the-art drones to India, offering a new edge to the growing US partner. The sale marks a milestone in Indian purchases of American weapons after New Delhi's reliance on weapons from Russia, which have been increasingly controversial due to sanctions over...

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia -- Saudi Arabia remains undecided on accepting the BRICS bloc's invitation to join, despite initial claims of its accession. South Africa's Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor's recently asserted the kingdom's membership, but a Saudi official told Reuters that the Kingdom has not yet responded to the invitation to...

UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said that "if the funding remains suspended, we will most likely be forced to shut down our operations by end of February not only in Gaza but also across the region". Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said after talks with Lazzarini that he "emphasized the immediate...

ABU DHABI, UAE - Madrid wants the upcoming 13th Ministerial Conference (MC13) of the World Trade Organization (WTO) here next month to address the potential challenges of de-globalization and its impacts on global supply chains, Minister of State for Trade of Spain Xiana Mendez said. “The main challenges we may...

Sudan's nine-month-old war has so far largely spared the country's east. But with the frontline inching ever closer, and reports of military training camps across the border in Eritrea, the fragile peace there is in jeopardy. Witnesses, speaking on condition of anonymity because of security concerns, said Sudanese fighters were...

CENTCOM earlier announced that the USS Carney had shot down an anti-ship ballistic missile fired by the Houthis, and then downed three Iranian drones less than an hour later. It did not specify if the drones shot down by the naval destroyer were designed for attack or surveillance.

Maritime security firm Ambrey said that a merchant ship had been targeted with a missile in southwest of Aden, Yemen. The vessel has reported an explosion on board, Ambrey said. The security firm said it was aware that a missile was fired from Taiz. It comes after Houthis claimed an...

Since the relentless Israeli aerial and ground assault, triggered by Hamas's deadly October 7 attacks inside Israel, the United Nations said the decline in living conditions had been "precipitous". The UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) estimated that by late November, 37,379 buildings -- the equivalent of 18 percent...

"We urge fellow donor countries to reflect on the wider consequences of cutting their funding to UNRWA," Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said in a statement to AFP. "UNRWA is a vital lifeline for 1.5 million refugees in Gaza," he said, adding that "to avoid collectively punishing millions of...

Kyiv had accused Moscow of being a "terrorist state" whose support for pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine was a harbinger of the full-fledged 2022 invasion. It wanted Russia to compensate all civilians caught up in the conflict, as well as victims from Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, which was shot down...

"Container shipping... has declined by almost 30 percent," said Jihad Azour, director of the IMF's Middle East and Central Asia department, adding that "the drop in trade accelerated in the beginning of this year."

The Houthis, part of the anti-Western, anti-Israel "axis of resistance" of Iranian-backed groups, have been harassing Red Sea shipping for months, triggering US and British reprisal attacks. The attacks have prompted some shipping companies to detour around southern Africa to avoid the Red Sea, a vital route that normally carries...

Islamabad, Pakistan - Former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan was sentenced on Tuesday to 10 years in prison, less than two weeks before the country votes in an election his party has been hamstrung from contesting. Pakistan goes to the polls next Thursday in an election already marred by allegations of...

Heavy Israeli strikes and urban combat across the besieged Gaza Strip killed 128 more people overnight, the health ministry in the Palestinian territory said. The epicenter of fighting has been the southern city of Khan Yunis, where vast areas have been reduced to a muddy wasteland of bombed-out buildings.

Canada will now require that Turkish importers provide assurances about the weapons' use as well as a government statement "clearly indicating whether the items will be re-exported or transferred to a non-NATO country." The move comes less than a week after Turkey's parliament ratified Sweden's membership in the NATO defense...

Several countries, including the United States, France, Britain, Germany and Japan, have announced the suspension of further funding to the agency. "The secretary-general is personally horrified by the accusations against employees of UNRWA," Guterres's spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Monday.

Sheikh Mohammed confirmed that the framework -- which he said might lead to a permanent ceasefire -- includes a phased truce that would see women and children hostages released first, with aid also entering besieged Gaza. A senior Hamas official, Taher al-Nunu, said it wanted a "complete and comprehensive ceasefire,...

Washington D.C., US--– Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the US, Reema Bandar Al-Saud, has expressed disappointment with recent media criticism of the kingdom's hosting of the Women's Tennis Association Finals and broader issues concerning women's rights in Saudi Arabia. In response to an opinion piece published by The Washington Post, she...

Taher al-Nunu, a senior Hamas official, said his group wanted a "complete and comprehensive ceasefire, and not a temporary truce." Speaking to AFP, he said that once the fighting stopped "the rest of the details can be discussed" including a hostage release. Qatar, Egypt and the US have led mediation...

Palestinian Territories - Even the dead are not spared by the Hamas-Israel war raging in Gaza, with bodies dug up by Israeli troops and hurried burials happening in hospitals and even a school. In Gaza City's Al-Tuffah district, shrouded corpses of Palestinians torn from their graves lay atop muddied earth....

Gazans lamented the suspension of funding to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees by several donor countries after Israel charged that some UNRWA staff took part in Hamas's October 7 attack. The agency has fired several staff over Israel's accusations and has promised a thorough investigation into these claims, which...