Baghdad, Iraq -- Iraq said Sunday it has found a site in a province bordering Saudi Arabia where captagon is produced, a rare discovery in a country that has become a transit route for the illicit drug. "Today, and maybe for the first time, a laboratory where captagon is produced was...

NEW YORK, US – In the last three years, poverty rates in low-and lower-middle-income countries have surged, with the number of additional individuals living on less than $3.65-a-day reaching 165 million by 2023, said a United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in a new policy brief. According to the policy brief...

They worry over the fate of residents in Syria's last remaining rebel strongholds, in the north and northwest, after the Security Council failed on Wednesday to extend the mechanism. Under a 2014 deal, aid had largely passed through the Bab al-Hawa crossing with Turkey without the authorization of Damascus.

Morocco has sought to diversify its energy sources particularly since neighbouring Algeria stopped supplying natural gas via the GME in November 2021, after severing ties over the disputed Western Sahara territory. According to ONEE chief Abderrahim El Hafidi, the agreement with Shell will "address part of our needs and ensure...

Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako, the patriarch of Iraq's Chaldean Catholic Church and architect of Pope Francis' historic visit to the country in 2021, is a key interlocutor between the Iraqi government and its Christian minority. For several months, Sako has been embroiled in a war of words with a Christian...

Following stiff opposition and growing international criticism -- including from US President Joe Biden -- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered a "pause" in March to allow for talks on the proposals. And while the weekly demonstrations did not seem to hamper the coalition's legislation, they did afford support to members...

Dubai, UAE - Six years after imposing a comprehensive blockade on Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Bahrain have nearly restored ties with the country. However, underlying tensions persist, as changing dynamics in the Middle East drive competing foreign policy priorities. These unresolved issues have the potential...

Abu Dhabi, UAE - The Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Saturday signed two Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs), which aim to support the rapid growth of trade between the two countries. The CBUAE and RBI will work together to develop a framework...

Russian President Vladimir Putin said the main objective of the deal that allowed Ukrainian grain exports to resume was not achieved, in a call with his South African counterpart Cyril Ramaphosa. The deal that eased fears of a global food crisis sparked by the offensive in Ukraine is due to...

The Black Sea grain deal was first signed in July 2022, five months after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and has already been renewed two times. This time however, Putin has repeatedly threatened not to renew it because of obstacles to Russia's own exports. The deal, which Erdogan helped broker,...

Hundreds of migrants fled or were forced out of Tunisia's second-largest city after racial tensions flared following the July 3 killing of a Tunisian man in an altercation between locals and migrants. The port of Sfax is a departure point for many migrants from impoverished and violence-torn countries seeking a...

A letter this week from Syrian authorities allowing use of the border crossing between Turkey and Syria "contains two unacceptable conditions," according to a document sent to the UN Security Council from the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). The 15 UN Security Council members had been trying...

India launched a rocket carrying an unmanned spacecraft to land on the Moon, its second attempt to do so as its space program seeks to reach new heights. The heavyweight LVM3-M4 rocket lifted off from Sriharikota in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh carrying the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft, as thousands of...

Amid reports of a mass grave having been found in the country's Darfur region, the African leaders summit exhorted an end to the fighting in Sudan. The ICC meanwhile said it has begun a new probe into alleged war crimes in the country, adding that the spiraling violence was a...

The two countries resolved to finalize a deal over Ethiopia's big dam on the Blue Nile in four months, a breakthrough after years of bickering between the two countries. The huge $4.2 billion dam has been at the heart of a regional dispute since Ethiopia broke ground on the project...

Microsoft did not identify the targets but a US State Department spokesperson said the department had "detected anomalous activity" and had taken "immediate steps to secure our systems."

Around 100 protesters rallied in Tunisia's capital to demand freedom for detained critics of President Kais Saied who has ruled largely by decree for the past two years. The demonstrators, including detainees' relatives, gathered outside the Court of Appeal in Tunis to protest the continued detention of 20 high-profile political,...

We cannot shut down the energy system of today before we build the new energy system of tomorrow that is equipped with zero-carbon emission sources," said Sultan Al Jaber, head of the United Arab Emirates national oil company ADNOC. "We don't want to create an energy crisis."

The Israeli army said in a statement that "a number of suspects approached the northern security fence with Lebanon and attempted to sabotage the security fence in the area". The Israeli military released footage it said was of the incident showing several people approaching the fence before an apparent blast...

Nearly 140 countries have taken a first step towards reaching agreement on a fairer distribution of tax revenues from multinational firms, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development said. Some 138 countries, which account for over 90 percent of global economic output, agreed on a first draft of a convention...

Despite overwhelming condemnation of the Muslim holy book being desecrated, the vote brought more division than unity as Western nations said that more negotiation could have resulted in a unanimous consensus. Pakistan and other Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) countries brought forward a resolution after an Iraqi refugee burnt pages...

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on a wide network of sources on the ground in Syria, said the volunteer was killed by a "guided missile fired by regime forces".More than four million people live in rebel-controlled areas of north and northwest Syria, an area hard hit...

BRUSSELS, BELGIUM -  Sudan's warring sides must face "accountability" for the "crimes" committed in their conflict, which risks spiraling into a regional crisis, the head of UN mission in the country said on Wednesday. The fighting, which has gone on for three months, "risks morphing into an ethnicized, tribalized and ideologized...

Twelve Palestinians and one Israeli soldier were killed in the two-day raid on Jenin and its adjacent refugee camp, a regular site of fierce fighting between Israeli forces and Palestinian armed groups. The raid on the camp, which Israel views as a "terrorism hub", employed hundreds of troops as well...

Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani has described the three-day trip as "a new turning point" which could bolster economic and trade ties with African nations. He also said on Monday that Tehran and the three African countries share "common political views".

Opponents have accused Netanyahu, who is on trial on corruption charge he denies, of trying to use the reforms to quash possible judgements against him. The prime minister has rejected the accusation.

Threads, billed as the killer of Twitter, a platform that has tumbled into chaos under the leadership of mercurial tycoon Elon Musk, has added more than 100 million users in its first week in app stores.

Russia vetoed a nine-month extension of the agreement allowing for the conduit during a vote at the UN headquarters in New York, and then failed to muster enough votes to adopt just a six-month extension. The UN-brokered agreement that allows for the delivery of aid overland from Turkey into rebel-held...

German Patriot missile systems and French fighter jets were guarding the skies as NATO leaders gathered in Lithuania, on NATO's eastern flank and a land once occupied by Moscow. The Western military alliance is set to offer its full-throated backing for Kyiv's quest for victory, but its 31 nations are...

A statement from the prosecution said that the appeals court pronounced the verdict against a "criminal gang" whose members organized for migrants to travel on a "dilapidated boat, resulting in the death of 11 of them. Libya is a key departure point for migrants, with many risking the perilous sea...

Racial tensions flared into violence against migrants from sub-Saharan African countries in Tunisia's port city of Sfax last week, with hundreds fleeing or being pushed to inhospitable southern desert border areas. "All of the 500 to 700 migrants who were at the Libyan border have been transferred elsewhere," Salsabil Chellali...

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's block on Sweden's membership bid had cast a cloud over preparations for Tuesday's meeting, but the countries ironed out their differences in 11th-hour talks in Vilnius. Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said he was "very happy" and hailed "a good day for Sweden".

The United States supports Turkey's bid to enter the European Union but does not believe Ankara should link that to accepting Sweden's entry into NATO, a senior American official said Monday. Earlier Turkiye's Erdogan had said that EU should restart his country's inclusion bid into the EU bloc.

The health ministry reported "22 dead and a large number of wounded among the civilians" from what it described as an air strike Saturday on Khartoum's sister city Omdurman, in the district of Dar al-Salam, which means "House of Peace" in Arabic. After nearly three months of war between Sudan's...

TotalEnergies and the China National Offshore Oil Corporation signed a $10-billion agreement last year to develop Ugandan oilfields and ship the crude through a 1,445-kilometre (900-mile) pipeline to Tanzania's Indian Ocean port of Tanga. The East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) has run into strong opposition from rights activists and...

Tehran, Iran-- Hectic efforts are underway for the restoration of ties between Syria and Turkey and also to pave way for a meeting between the Syrian and Turkish presidents. According to the Special envoy of the Russian president in Syria, Alexander Lavrentiev, intense work is underway to normalize relations between...

Jeddah, Saudi Arabia -- Saudi Arabia's General Directorate of Narcotics Control (GDNC) have arrested a citizen in Jeddah governorate for smuggling 209,000 pills of the narcotic methamphetamine. Legal action has been taken against him, and the case has been referred to the Public Prosecution, SPA reported. Security authorities have requested...

The European Union and New Zealand signed a free trade agreement which Brussels says can lift exchanges between the two by 30 percent with a decade. The deal, agreed in June 2022 after four years of tough negotiations, is "ambitious", said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

AMMAN, JORDAN- Jordanian forces have killed three fugitives including two who had recently escaped jail in a raid near the kingdom's border with Saudi Arabia, authorities said on Sunday. Security forces raided on Saturday the hideout of three wanted fugitives "near the kingdom's southeastern border",  Public Security Directorate spokesman Amer Sartawi...

BAGHDAD, IRAQ - A powerful alliance of pro-Iran factions in Iraq called on Sunday on Baghdad to pressure the United States to unlock pending payments to Tehran for crucial gas imports. Iraq, ravaged by decades of conflict and international sanctions, relies on gas imported from its eastern neighbor for a third...

France's energy transition minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher left the world's biggest oil exporter early Sunday morning after meeting with her Saudi counterpart. Emissions reduction targets can be more credible "when we give ourselves objectives in a short period -- 2030-2035 -- and therefore do not postpone the subject to 2050," Pannier-Runacher said in...

ABU DHABI, UAE -  UAE Ambassador to the Republic of Chad Rashid Saeed Al Shamsi on Sunday opened a field hospital in Amdjarass city. The UAE built the hospital in Chad to support Sudanese refugees. The initiative is the result of joint cooperation between three humanitarian entities in the UAE...

"The return of Azov commanders from Turkey to Ukraine is nothing but a direct violation of the terms of existing agreements," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies. Peskov said the return was linked to the "failure of the counter-offensive" launched by Ukraine, and Ankara's...

Dubai, UAE-- During the first half of 2023 the Dubai Police has recorded some 65,942 smart transactions at its 22 "smart police stations" spread across the emirate of Dubai. The police said that a total of 65,942 smart transactions were conveniently and smartly processed without any human intervention. These included...

In a rare move against an international media organization, the Syrian government has cancelled the BBC's accreditation over what it termed "misleading reports." According to the country's information ministry, the cancellation was brought about by the "broadcaster's failure to adhere to professional standards and its insistence on providing biased and...

TRIPOLI, LIBYA- Rivals in politically divided Libya have agreed to form a committee on sharing oil revenues, a move welcomed on Saturday by the UN, after military strongman Khalifa Haftar sought a "fair" split. Haftar, who backs the country's eastern administration, had last Monday called for a committee to address the...

A European envoy blasted Israel over the "proportionality" of the force it uses, as international envoys toured Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank following this week's deadly raid. His remarks echoed UN chief Antonio Guterres who had said, "there was an excessive force used by Israeli forces" in...

TEHRAN, IRAN -  Four assailants were killed on Saturday after blasting their way into an Iranian police compound, leaving one officer dead in the southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchistan near the Pakistani border, state media said. "Four unidentified armed individuals attacked and entered police station Number 16 of Zahedan", the capital of...

One of the three, whose identities and nationalities were not given, was sentenced to life in prison and the other two to 20 years each. Considered to be the first convictions in Libya in human trafficking cases, the court found the three guilty of "trafficking in human beings" and having...

NABLUS, PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES -  Three Palestinians were killed on Friday in the occupied West Bank, a day after the United Nations urged a "meaningful political process" to stem renewed violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israeli forces killed two Palestinian fighters when a firefight erupted during an Israeli raid on the northern...