As most currencies in the region are pegged to the US dollar, monetary policy follows the decisions taken in Washington, with policymakers opting to lock the rate at the level it has been since December.

The White House said Trump would receive an intelligence briefing on Thursday, a US holiday and top US diplomat Marco Rubio meanwhile will meet his UK counterpart for talks expected to focus on the conflict.

Khamenei's speech came six days into the conflict, with US president Donald Trump saying he may or may not intervene in the conflict, while demanding Iran's "unconditional surrender".

Doha, Qatar -- As Iran and Israel trade strikes and the US weighs joining in, wealthy Gulf states on the conflict's doorstep are engaged in frantic diplomacy to halt the war -- but solutions remain elusive. A spillover of the conflict or the Iranian government's collapse are both worrying outcomes...

"Israeli drones fired at the citizens. Some minutes later, Israeli tanks fired several shells at the citizens, which led to a large number of martyrs and wounded," said Civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal.

Trump said that he wanted a "complete give-up" by Iran in return for peace, without elaborating on the outcome he seeks. China accused Trump of "pouring oil" on the conflict.

The DMCC Crypto Centre welcomed Bitcoin.com, which is setting up its first MENA office in Dubai. The Arab Coordination Group announced it had disbursed $19.6 billion in 2024 across 90+ countries.

Images verified by AFP, shot by a social media user from an overpass, showed near immobile traffic on a Tehran highway heading north with almost no vehicles in the opposite lane.

The decision added drama to the major aerospace industry event, which was already under the shadow of last week's deadly crash of Air India's Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Black walls were installed around the stands of five Israeli defense firms at the trade fair in Le Bourget, an airfield on the...

Israel's military said its air force hit Mashhad airport in Iran's far east, making it the longest-range strike of the conflict with the target "approximately 2,300 kilometers (1,430 miles) from Israel".

New York, United States -- US President Donald Trump pocketed more than $57 million from token sales by the crypto venture he and his sons helped launch last year, according to federal financial disclosure forms released by the White House. The more than 230-page document issued by the Office of...

Bat Yam, Israel -- A shocked Julia Zilbergoltz said she had never experienced anything like the Iranian missile strike that hit her home in central Israel early Sunday. "I'm stressed and in shock. I've been through hard times in my life, but I've never been in a situation like this,"...

Rights groups such as Amnesty International and Oxfam organized the demonstration through the city to the International Court of Justice, creating a so-called "red line". With many waving Palestinian flags and some chanting "Stop the Genocide", the demonstrators turned a central park in the city into a sea of red...

Iran announced it will scale back cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), expressing deep dissatisfaction over what it views as the agency’s failure to condemn Israeli attacks on its nuclear facilities.

In the central region, at least four people, including a 10-year-old boy, were killed and around 100 others wounded in a rocket strike, according to a spokesperson for Magen David Adom (MDA).

Following decades of enmity and conflict by proxy, it is the first time that Israel and Iran have traded fire with such intensity, with fears of a prolonged conflict engulfing the region.

Pro-Palestinian activists seeking to march to Gaza with the stated aim of breaking Israel's blockade on the territory were stopped Friday in both Libya and Egypt, organisers said.

UN Ocean Conference wrapped up Friday with world leaders taking major steps toward marine protection and vowing a showdown when nations meet to negotiate rules for deep-sea mining next month.

Trump warns Tehran that the "next planned attacks" will be "even more brutal" and said Iran should cut a deal to roll back its nuclear program "before there is nothing left".

In the financial sector, Fitch Ratings has projected a notable uptick in mergers and acquisitions within Saudi Arabia’s insurance industry. In Jordan, tourism revenue rose 17.5% in May to $630 million, bringing total earnings for the first five months of 2025 to $3.06 billion.

Israel's operation struck at the "heart of Iran's nuclear enrichment programme", taking aim at the atomic facility in Natanz and nuclear scientists, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.

While officials initially said everyone aboard was feared dead, state health official Dhananjay Dwivedi told AFP later that one passenger had survived after the plane smashed into a residential area. Several videos posted on social media showed an aircraft rapidly losing altitude -- with its nose up -- before it...

Like the text blocked by Washington to protect its Israeli allies, the draft resolution before the General Assembly calls for "an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire." It also demands "the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages" seized during the unprecedented Hamas attack inside Israel on October 7

For humans, spotting the difference between a Lacoste polo shirt and a fake sporting the brand's crocodile logo can be tricky. French startup Vrai AI believes its artificial intelligence model can tell the two apart based on a simple photo.

Brussels, Belgium -- The EU on Wednesday urged Israel to undo a move by a far-right minister that threatens to paralyze Palestinian financial institutions. Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich announced Tuesday that Israel had cancelled a waiver allowing its banks to work with Palestinian ones. "The European Union is deeply...

The European Commission said it added Algeria, Angola, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Laos, Lebanon, Namibia, Nepal and Venezuela, along with Monaco, to the list of countries subject to extra monitoring of their money laundering controls.

In a key sticking point, Iran has insisted on the right to enrich uranium at low levels for civilian use -- as allowed under a 2015 deal negotiated by former president Barack Obama which Trump tore up in his first White House term.

Growing anxiety over Trump's unilateral push to fast-track deep-sea mining in international waters shot to the surface at the opening of the UN Ocean Conference in France.

Tehran, Iran -- Iran's parliament speaker said on Sunday that the latest US proposal for a nuclear deal does not include the lifting of sanctions, state media reported as negotiations appear to have hit a roadblock. The two foes have held five rounds of Omani-mediated talks since April, seeking to...

I have instructed the military to prevent the Madleen flotilla from reaching Gaza," Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement from his office. "Turn back because you will not reach Gaza," Katz added, calling the activists "Hamas propaganda mouthpieces".

Only eight countries have won the World Cup in 22 editions up to the most recent tournament in Qatar, when Argentina defeated France on penalties in an epic final. That was their third title, a tally bettered only by Brazil with their record five crowns.

Nice, France -- France is hosting world leaders this week to confront what the United Nations calls a global "emergency" in the oceans -- but what is expected, and can the summit make a difference? There is pressure on the UN Ocean Conference starting Monday in Nice to show that...

Cairo, Egypt - An aid ship with 12 activists on board, including Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg, is nearing Gaza, having reached the Egyptian coast, organisers said Saturday. The Madleen, part of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, left Sicily last week with a cargo of relief supplies "to break Israel's blockade...

"This is a final and urgent warning ahead of an impending strike," army spokesman Avichay Adraee said. The army "will strike all areas from which rockets are launched."

Paris, France -- French anti-terror prosecutors have opened probes into "complicity in genocide" and "incitement to genocide" after French-Israelis allegedly blocked aid intended for war-torn Gaza last year, they said on Friday. The two investigations, opened after legal complaints, were also to look into possible "complicity in crimes against humanity"...

Saudi Arabia records the lowest Hajj attendance in three decades—outside the pandemic years—triggered by tighter visa restrictions; Special Envoy Zhai Jun meets Egypt’s Foreign Minister to discuss the Gaza crisis and broader Middle East peace efforts.

The accusation against Israel of genocide has been made with increasing force from quarters ranging from "Schindler's List" star Ralph Fiennes to Amnesty International and some Israeli historians.

Dublin, Ireland -- Ireland's prestigious Trinity College Dublin said on Wednesday that it would cut all links with Israel in protest at "ongoing violations of international and humanitarian law". The university's board informed students by email on Wednesday that it had accepted the recommendations of a taskforce to sever "institutional...

Makkah, Saudi Arabia -- Working day and night in front of maps, screens and seemingly endless data, Saudi officials have harnessed artificial intelligence to help manage the million-strong sea of pilgrims during the hajj. The technology has proven pivotal to track the overwhelming amount of footage from more than 15,000...

Makkah, Saudi Arabia -- Saudi authorities have asked pilgrims performing the hajj to remain in their tents for several hours during the high point of this week's pilgrimage, citing high temperatures. According to a report in Saudi media, Hajj Minister Tawfiq al-Rabiah has requested that pilgrims refrain from leaving their...

Geneva, Switzerland – The World Economic Forum today released a new report examining how emerging technology combinations are reshaping industries and how business leaders can harness these insights to guide investment, build capabilities and position ecosystems strategically. It also offers valuable insights to policy-makers by highlighting how emerging technologies intersect...

Gaza's civil defense agency said Israeli gunfire killed at least 31 people and wounded 176 near the aid distribution site in the southern city of Rafah.

Washington, United States -- As misinformation exploded during India's four-day conflict with Pakistan, social media users turned to an AI chatbot for verification -- only to encounter more falsehoods, underscoring its unreliability as a fact-checking tool. With tech platforms reducing human fact-checkers, users are increasingly relying on AI-powered chatbots -- including...

Israel has faced growing condemnation over the humanitarian crisis in the war-ravaged Gaza Strip, where the United Nations has warned the entire population faces the risk of famine after no aid was allowed to enter for more than two months.

The new city, named Jirian meaning "Flow" in Arabic, is part of Egypt's Nile Delta scheme, a massive agricultural initiative aiming to reclaim about 2.5 million acres west of the original Nile Delta.

Ministers from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and Bahrain, along with the Arab League chief, had planned a trip to the Palestinian territory, but Israel said Friday that it would not cooperate.

"At least 10 Palestinians were killed and more than 100 others... were wounded due to gunfire from Israeli vehicles towards thousands of citizens" approaching the US aid site west of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal said.

Prince Faisal will head a delegation to Ramallah, the first such trip since Israel first occupied the Palestinian territory in 1967. Saudi Arabia sent a lower-level delegation to Ramallah in September 2023.

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia -- Saudi Arabia is ramping up a crackdown on unregistered worshippers at next week's hajj pilgrimage, a year after hundreds perished in scorching conditions. Regular raids, drone surveillance and a barrage of text alerts are aimed at rooting out unauthorized visitors hoping to mingle among the crowds...

Under the new law, companies are required to report and reduce their emissions of the greenhouse gases that are responsible for global warming. Ghiwa Nakat, executive director of Greenpeace MENA, called it a "progressive move".