Oman has close ties with Iran and played a mediating role between Tehran and Washington in the build-up to a nuclear deal reached in 2015. Stop-start talks began in April last year to restore the deal, after the US unilaterally withdrew from it in 2018, prompting Tehran to roll back...

Abu Dhabi, UAE -- The UAE has joined global partners such as the US, Japan, and South Korea to commit up to $275 million towards nuclear energy in Romania. The announcement, made by US President Joseph Biden at the G7 Summit in Japan, is the first major nuclear energy initiative...

The discord in one of the two rival governments, based in the east and backed by Khalifa Haftar, where the parliament last week suspended its former premier Fathi Bashagha, may spur reconciliation.

Sporadic artillery fire still echoed in Sudan's capital, but residents said fighting had calmed following a US and Saudi-brokered ceasefire, raising faint hopes in the embattled city. The truce, to allow desperately needed humanitarian aid for civilians, took effect Monday night only to be quickly marred by more gunshots and...

The IMF said the 2023 upgrade reflected "higher-than-expected resilience" in both demand and supply, alongside improved confidence in reduced post-Brexit uncertainty as well as lower energy costs.

LONDON, UK -  British Business and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch will hold talks for a modern, comprehensive trade deal as she visits Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates this week, according to a press release issued by the UK Embassy in the UAE. Meeting her ministerial counterparts in...

BERLIN, GERMANY — No employee should be “subject to the will of a machine”, European trade union chief Esther Lynch has warned, calling for regulation to ensure humans remain in control as artificial intelligence technology advances at breakneck speed. In the same way that European Union treaties protect health and...

SHARJAH, UAE -   The Sharjah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) has discussed strengthening trade and economic ties with diplomatic delegations from Guatemala and Indonesia. The discussions focused on amplifying bilateral relations in industry, agriculture, food security, livestock and broadening trade exchanges and organizing events to promote local products and...

Indonesia and Iran signed a trade agreement in Jakarta where President Joko Widodo hosted his Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi. Tehran is aiming to boost its international trade. Raisi's two-day visit to Indonesia, Southeast Asia's biggest economy, comes in the shadow of fresh European Union sanctions this week on Iran's Revolutionary...

Colonna nevertheless said Paris would not be changing its policy towards the Syrian ruler. "We have to remember who Bashar al-Assad is. He's a leader who has been the enemy of his own people for more than 10 years," she said. A lifting of European Union sanctions on the Syrian...

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia - The Saudi Royal Guard and the Bahrain Royal Guard have started the joint security exercise “Haris” in Riyadh. The joint exercise is part of the continuous cooperation between the Saudi Royal Guard and the Bahrain Royal Guard. The exercise was inaugurated by Major General Mohammed bin...

The two countries have in recent years ramped up economic cooperation and diplomatic contacts, with their strategic partnership having only grown closer since the invasion of Ukraine. Last year China became the top energy customer for Russia, whose gas exports had otherwise plummeted after a flurry of Western sanctions over...

Lawmakers came to blows in Iraqi Kurdistan's parliament in a dispute between the two biggest parties over the upcoming polls in the autonomous northern region. Parliamentarians were seen climbing desks and tearing up papers in a video posted to the legislature's YouTube channel, while footage shared by Iraqi media showed...

Beirut, Lebanon -- Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has returned to the Arab fold after more than a decade of isolation, eyeing reconstruction and aid from formers foes as the conflict grinds on. Since the brutal civil war broke out in 2011, it has killed more than 500,000 people, displaced millions and...

The European Union imposed an asset freeze on the investment arm of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, over Tehran's brutal crackdown on protests over the death of Mahsa Amini. The sanctions - the eighth imposed by the EU over the repression - came after Iran hanged three more men convicted in relation...

Sudan is the world's largest producer of the raw gum which is a major source of foreign currency for the northeast African nation. The sector has survived repeated conflicts, a warming climate and decades of sanctions.

The elegant water craft have long been vastly outnumbered by modern, motorised vessels and are threatened further as Iraq's waterways suffer from droughts linked to climate woes.

Shamkhani, an ethnic Arab who had also previously served as a Revolutionary Guards commander, had been credited with defusing Iran's years-long tensions with some Gulf nations. He was named head of the security council in September 2013, replacing his ultra-conservative Saeed Jalili.

The Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, the armed wing of Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah party, said that the three were among the group's "fighters". The health ministry identified the three men killed in an overnight Israeli army raid in the Balata refugee camp as Muhammad Abu Zaytoun, Fathi Abu Rizk and...

Cairo, Egypt--Egypt's President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Oman's Sultan Haitham bin Tareq reviewed bilateral relations and regional issues in talks in Cairo on SUnday. The two leaders shared views on the importance of intensifying efforts to protect the interests of Arab peoples, Presidency Spokesman Ahmed Fahmy said. Before the summit...

Iran said it is capable of ensuring the safety of the vital Gulf waters in cooperation with neighboring countries. Iran and its neighboring countries are capable of cooperating for the security of the Persian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz and Sea of Oman," Iran's Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces,...

AARAMTA, LEBANON - Lebanon's Hezbollah movement simulated cross-border raids into Israel on Sunday in a show of its military might, using live ammunition and an attack drone, AFP correspondents said. Around 200 Hezbollah fighters took part in the raids, part of large-scale military exercise in Aaramta, around 20 kilometers (12 miles)...

Five Iranian border guards were killed during clashes with an armed group in the restive southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchistan, state media reported. Earlier, the judiciary's Mizan Online website had quoted local prosecutor Mehdi Shamsabadi as saying that six border guards were killed but later the number was revised down to...

The Bahraini decision comes the day after the Arab League summit in Saudi Arabia against a backdrop of unexpected rapprochement between Riyadh and Tehran, brokered by Beijing. The warming of relations between the region's two great rivals has paved the way for a major diplomatic reshuffle in the Arab world.

Bakhmut, which once had a population of 70,000 people, has been the scene of the bloodiest battle in Moscow's more than year-long Ukraine offensive. The fall of Bakhmut, where both Moscow and Kyiv are believed to have suffered huge losses, would allow Moscow to bring home a key victory after...

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia -– Two Saudi astronauts will conduct 14 scientific and research experiments during their ongoing space mission. The Kingdom’s first-ever astronauts Ali Al-Qarni and Rayyanah Barnawi, who is the first Muslim female astronaut, will engage in 11 research and scientific experiments within a microgravity environment at the International...

The ceasefire "may be extended with the agreement of both parties," a joint statement issued after talks in Jeddah said. "Unlike previous ceasefires, the Agreement reached in Jeddah was signed by the parties and will be supported by a US-Saudi and international-supported ceasefire monitoring mechanism," it said.

Air strikes and artillery exchanges shook the Sudanese capital and armed men ransacked the Qatari embassy as the country's warring generals kept up their struggle. Khartoum residents said that heavy fighting raged despite repeated global calls for a truce. The area around the state television building in Omdurman was also...

The World Health Organization launched a global network to help swiftly detect the threat from infectious diseases, like COVID-19, and share the information to prevent their spread. The International Pathogen Surveillance Network (IPSN) will provide a platform for connecting countries and regions, improving systems for collecting and analyzing samples, the...

DUBAI, UAE -   The Ministry of Community Development and Etihad Water & Electricity have announced the implementation mechanism of the new support program for low-income farm owners in the UAE. The farm owners have to be registered with Etihad Water & Electricity. This support aims to reduce the financial burden...

ABU DHABI, UAE -  A senior UAE official of the Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure (MoEI) visited Germany and the Netherlands to reinforce existing partnerships and discuss common goals, energy transition, technology deployment and potential projects. Sharif Al Olama, Under-Secretary for Energy and Petroleum Affairs MoEI visited Germany and the...

The sacking of the general made no difference to the fighting on the ground in both Khartoum and Darfur even as the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said that more than one million people have been displaced by the power struggle between Sudan's de facto leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his...

Iran said it "reserves" the right to take action as a dispute with Afghanistan escalates over an upstream river dam that restricts the flow of water into the country. "Iran reserves its rights to take necessary measures and emphasizes the full responsibility of Afghanistan in this regard," the foreign ministry...

AJMAN, UAE -   Chairman of the Ajman Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) Abdullah Al Muwaiji discussed trade and investment opportunities with Ambassador of the Kingdom of Belgium to the UAE Antoine Delcourt and his delegation. The meeting, held at the Ajman Chamber's headquarters, was attended by Mohamed Ali Al...

Iran executed three men convicted of killing security force members during protests triggered by Mahsa Amini's death last year, the judiciary said, drawing condemnation from rights groups. Majid Kazemi, Saleh Mirhashemi and Saeed Yaghoubi were found guilty of waging "war against God" - at a demonstration in Isfahan on November...

Thursday's march began in the western part of the city before passing into east Jerusalem and through the Old City to the Western Wall, where about 50,000 people took part in the Jewish evening prayer, according to local authorities. Those marching were mostly young men, with some wearing white T-shirts...

G7 leaders, including the heads of nuclear-armed Britain, France and the United States, arrived at the city's Peace Park to a sodden red carpet welcome from Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who is from Hiroshima. The leaders were also scheduled to speak with survivors of the bomb, which killed some 140,000...

Japanese PM Fumio Kishida is hosting leaders from six other wealthy democracies in his hometown -- a city synonymous with nuclear destruction and now peppered with peace monuments. Leaders including US President Joe Biden will try over three days to forge a united front on Russia and China, where the...

DUBAI, UAE - Conflict-plagued countries in the Middle East are among the most vulnerable to climate change but are almost entirely excluded from meaningful financing to mitigate its effects, aid groups warned on Thursday. In a joint report focusing on Iraq, Syria and Yemen, the International Committee of the Red Cross...

The three-day conference in Abu Dhabi has brought together officials from around the world to discuss the menace of money laundering and terrorism financing and how to combat it. An official from the UAE's ministry of justice affirmed the need for global partnerships and more direct contact between relevant authorities...

Tehran, Iran - Iran and Russia on Wednesday signed an agreement to construct the final part in the International North–South Transport Corridor (INSTC) that connects Russia to the Gulf and India. The INSTC, a freight network of ship, rail and road routes, covers some 7,200 kilometers (4,475 miles) between Russia, Azerbaijan,...

Sanjay Shah was arrested in the United Arab Emirates' financial hub in June upon request by Danish authorities who accuse him of helping companies fraudulently claim tax refunds. Shah was accused of running the scheme for three years starting in 2012, in which foreign firms pretended to own shares in...

Once it is signed by Brussels and London, it will create a framework for voluntary regulatory cooperation in the area of financial services between the EU and the UK.

Abu Dhabi, UAE -- The UAE has received a terrorist named Khalaf Abd Al Rahman Humaid Al Rumaithi from the Jordanian authorities.  The UAE's Federal Supreme Court in 2013 sentenced him in absentia to 15 years in prison on charges of establishing a secret organization affiliated with the terrorist Muslim...

Parliament also announced an investigation into Bashagha. The chamber, backed by military strongman Khalifa Haftar, had picked Bashagha in February last year to lead a government to replace that of Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah, who sits in Tripoli.

A French investigating magistrate issued an international arrest warrant for Lebanon's central bank chief Riad Salameh, a source close to the case said. Salameh earlier failed to appear for questioning by French investigators who want to know how he amassed sizeable assets across Europe, his lawyer said.

In total, 103 homes were completely destroyed and 140 severely damaged in Israeli military strikes, the United Nations said.

PARIS, FRANCE -  Russia's oil exports rose in April to the highest level since its invasion of Ukraine, boosting revenues by US$1.7 billion despite Western sanctions, the International Energy Agency said on Tuesday. The Paris-based organization said Russian exports increased by 50,000 barrels per day to 8.3 million bpd last month, estimating...

The United Arab Emirates has invited Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to attend the UN climate summit in Dubai later this year, Syrian state media said. Assad's first invitation to a global summit since the start of Syria's war in 2011 comes as the Arab world warms to Damascus after a...

ARBIL, IRAQ- Officials in Iraqi Kurdistan say Baghdad is still waiting to reach a "final agreement" with Ankara to resume oil exports to Turkey, where the results of tightly-contested presidential elections hang in the balance. After defying Baghdad and independently exporting crude through Turkey for nearly a decade, Iraq's autonomous...