NABLUS, PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES - Israeli forces shot and wounded seven people in a raid Tuesday in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry said as the Israeli army confirmed an operation was underway. The ministry reported "six minor injuries from live fire" reached Jenin governmental hospital, while another person shot...

"The technical committees are now doing their work in this context, and it is expected that there will be exchange visits to consider the procedures we need to reopen embassies." foreign ministry spokesperson Majid Al-Ansari told a briefing. A UAE official confirmed that the reopening of embassies is "under process".

The Syrian president met with Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan in Damascus. This is the first visit to Syria's capital by a Saudi official since the start of the country's civil war in 2011, marking a new era in ties betwee the two countries.

TRIPOLI, LIBYA - Libyan authorities have imposed "severe restrictions" on local and international civil society groups, obstructing their work in the war-scarred country, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Tuesday. "Libya's Government of National Unity (GNU) and other authorities are cracking down on non-governmental domestic and foreign organizations," the New York-based rights...

The move came a day after the arrest of the party's leader, Rached Ghannouchi, 81, at his home in the capital Tunis, the latest in a string of opposition figures held. Ennahdha was the largest party in Tunisia's parliament before President Kais Saied dissolved the chamber in July 2021.

ISTANBUL, TURKEY -  President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's chief rival in next month's election defended Kurdish rights on Tuesday and accused the Turkish leader of inflating ethnic tensions for political gain. Kemal Kilicdaroglu's comments followed weeks of attempts by Erdogan to link the opposition with Kurdish militants who have been fighting against...

Seeing no way out of a political crisis that has prevented the country from having an effective government, Kuwait's emir has dissolved parliament on Monday and called a new general election. The wealthy Gulf state, the only nation in the region to have an elected government, remains mired in political...

After two days of talks in the bucolic Japanese mountain resort town Karuizawa, the top diplomats from leading economies unveiled no new sanctions on Moscow over its invasion but pledged to crack down on those helping Russia evade the measures and acquire weapons.

Calling on warring parties in Sudan to immediately cease hostilities, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned that any further escalation of the conflict between the army and paramilitary forces, led by rival generals, "could be devastating for the country and the region. Guterres' envoy to Khartoum said at least 185...

Yemen faces its best chance to strike a peace deal since the country's civil war started over eight years ago, although much work remains to be done, UN envoy Hans Grundberg said. "The truce has continued to deliver well beyond its expiration six months ago. The parties are engaging on...

PARIS, FRANCE -  Air France and plane manufacturer Airbus were acquitted Monday over the 2009 crash of a Rio-Paris flight after a French court ruled their errors could not be proven as the disaster's cause. While the ruling was expected after prosecutors recommended to the Paris court not to seek a...

The two countries had severed ties seven years ago after Saudi Arabia executed a revered Saudi shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr. They have pledged to work for stabilizing the situation in the Middle East, where they have been supporting opposite sides in the conflicts of Syria and Yemen.

A day after a major prisoner exchange, more than 100 prisoners of war were flown from Saudi Arabia to Yemen on Monday, raising hopes for peace in the future. Two ICRC planes carrying 48 prisoners each flew to Sanaa, Yemen's rebel-held capital, while a third with eight captives took off...

The delicacy of saltwater fish, buried in salt for weeks at a time, remains a staple as Egyptians celebrate on Monday the ancient spring festival of Sham al-Nessim. But it is as acclaimed as it is divisive, pitting those who complain of the pungent odour against others gleefully marrying feseekh...

Beirut, Lebanon--A US helicopter raid on Monday targeted a senior Islamic State group leader in Syria suspected of plotting attacks in Europe and the Middle East, US Central Command said. "US Central Command forces conducted a unilateral helicopter raid in northern Syria in the early morning... targeting a senior ISIS Syria...

Denouncing clashes in Sudan that have left dozens of civilians dead including three workers of the World Food Program, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for swift justice over the killings. He called for an immediate halt to the fighting and "a return to dialogue," and engagement with regional leaders...

Iran's judiciary had said in November 2021 that a trial had opened in Tehran for 10 military members in connection with the jet's downing.

The UN's food agency said it was suspending work in Sudan after three staff were killed in the Darfur region, as fighting raged between the army and paramilitaries. "I am appalled and heartbroken by the tragic deaths of three WFP employees on April 15," Cindy McCain, executive director of the...

In February this year, the Iraqi foreign minister reiterated Baghdad's support for a ceasefire and negotiations to end the war in Ukraine, during a visit to Baghdad by his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.

The closures were announced a day after police said they have now implemented a plan to deal with women who violate the law, using surveillance cameras and facial recognition technology. The requirement for women to wear the headscarf in public was enshrined in law shortly after the Islamic revolution of...

Paris, UAE -- Without $97 billion in extra funding, a range of countries will fail to meet their 2030 national education targets, a new UN report has said, calling for an urgent review of financing. The paper “Can countries afford their national SDG4 benchmarks?” by the Global Education Monitoring (GEM)...

Sanaa, Yemen-- Yemeni rebels and government forces freed scores of prisoners Sunday on the last of a three day exchange of nearly 900 detainees, boosting hopes of ending their protracted civil war. Planes carrying detainees took off at the same time from the Houthi rebel-held capital of Sanaa and the government-controlled...

The PKK, which Ankara and its Western allies classify as a "terrorist" organisation, operates rear bases in Iraq's north. Since 1984 the PKK has waged an insurgency in Turkey that has claimed tens of thousands of lives, and Ankara has long maintained military positions inside northern Iraq where it regularly...

Iraq, one of the countries worst-hit by climate change, endured a dozen major sandstorms last year that turned the sky orange, brought daily life to a halt and left its people gasping for air. When the storms clear, layers of fine sand cover everything - including the Sumerian ruins of...

Algiers, Algeria-- Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad arrived in Algeria on Saturday, Algerian state radio reported late on Friday, a visit that reinforces Damascus' openness to the Arab world after it was isolated for more than a decade. The Algerian foreign minister, Ahmed Ataf, received the visiting minister, state radio...

ABU DHABI, UAE - Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva arrived here Saturday, following a two-day visit to China to strengthen economic and diplomatic ties. The UAE's energy and infrastructure minister, Suhail bin Mohammed al-Mazrouei, welcomed the Brazilian leader at Abu Dhabi airport, local media reported. Lula, who in January...

Iranian police said they will deal with women who violate the Islamic dress code. The number of women defying the dress code that headscarves must be worn in public has risen since a protest movement triggered by the death in custody of Kurdish-Iranian Mahsa Amini, 22, for allegedly flouting it.

A passenger plane preparing to take off from Sudan for Saudi Arabia came under fire as deadly fighting rocked Khartoum, the kingdom's flag carrier said. The Airbus A330 bound for Saudi Arabia "was exposed to gunfire damage... with guests and crew on board" ahead of its scheduled departure to Riyadh,...

The first flight of the day took off from the southern Saudi city of Abha before 9:00 am (0600 GMT), headed for Yemen's Houthi-held capital Sanaa with 120 Houthi rebel prisoners, ICRC public affairs and media adviser Jessica Moussan said. It was followed by a flight from Sanaa to Riyadh...

Moments after a blast was heard in Wakayama, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida was evacuated from the spot, and he was unharmed in the incident, according to local media. Japanese television showed footage of a disturbance in a crowd gathered where Kishida was due to speak. A person was detained...

Arab countries gathered in Jeddah on Friday to discuss ending Syria's long spell in the diplomatic wilderness as regional relations shift following Saudi Arabia and Iran's decision to resume ties.

The pro-Palestinian rallies follow months of unrest in Iran sparked by the September death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a young women arrested for an alleged breach of strict dress rules. The rallies, an annual fixture since Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution, are held on the last Friday of Ramadan.

The US should continue tightening monetary policy to bring down inflation while assessing the impact of last month's financial turmoil on bank lending, a top Federal Reserve official said. "How much further will depend on incoming data on inflation, the real economy and the tightening credit conditions," Federal Reserve governor...

Tunis, Tunisia -- A professional footballer in Tunisia has died after setting himself alight earlier this week in what he said was a protest against the "police state" ruling the country, his brother said Friday. Nizar Issaoui, 35, suffered third-degree burns from his action in the village of Haffouz in the...

Iraqi cleric Moqtada Sadr, an influential player in national politics, said he was "freezing" for a year his powerful movement over "sinful" practices among supporters. Sadr, a Muslim Shiite leader, has the ability to mobilize tens of thousands of his supporters with a single message and presents himself as an...

The first plane departed Sanaa, the rebel-held capital, for government-controlled Aden hours after a Saudi delegation departed without a fresh truce but with plans to meet again. Both initiatives come a month after Gulf heavyweights Saudi Arabia and Iran, who back opposing sides in the Yemeni conflict, agreed to re-establish...

Houthi political leader Mohamed Ali al-Houthi said the talks were conducted in a "positive atmosphere", with plans for another round. On Saturday, before the Saudi visit, a Yemeni government source said the Saudis and Houthis had agreed in principle on a six-month truce to pave the way for three months...

For the study, published in the journal Science, researchers analyzed a combination of satellite data and ground moisture readings from a period of over 60 years (1951-2014). The researcher, based out of China's Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology (NUIST), warned that the rapid onset of flash droughts gives...

Friday's nine-nation talks in Jeddah, the Red Sea gateway to Mecca, come after Syria's foreign minister arrived on a previously unannounced visit - the first since the outbreak of the country's civil war in 2011.

The European Union's central data regulator said it was forming a task force to help countries deal with AI chatbot ChatGPT, ramping up the pressure on its US maker OpenAI. Italy temporarily banned the program over allegations its data-gathering broke privacy laws, and France's regulator said it had opened a...

Tripoli, Libya -- Libyan security forces said Thursday they had arrested a second US citizen for alleged Christian proselytizing in the North African Muslim nation. The arrest came a day after another US citizen, who was also teaching at the same private language school in the capital Tripoli, was detained...

Countries must do more to avert the costly consequences of growing global trade fragmentation, and help avert a "second Cold War," the International Monetary Fund's managing director said. "I know what are the consequences of a Cold War: it is loss of talent and contribution to the world," Kristalina Georgieva...

Russia delivered a new warning to the West over a grain deal with Ukraine, saying a number of conditions must be met for Moscow to extend it beyond May 18. Negotiated in July by Turkey and the United Nations, the agreement has given Ukrainian grain shipments a safe corridor in...

Friday's nine-nation talks in Jeddah come after Syria's foreign minister arrived on a previously unannounced visit -- the first since the outbreak of the country's civil war in 2011. It was one in a flurry of events that were nearly unthinkable before Saudi Arabia and Iran announced to restore ties.

Tunisia has recovered 14 bodies of migrants from sub-Saharan Africa in the Mediterranean, bringing to 24 the number of dead after their boat headed for Europe sank, the coastguard said. The spokesman for the National Guard announced that 41 Tunisian migrants, including five women and nine children, had been "rescued"...

Tunisia's Saied had said last month he planned to restore diplomatic relations with Syria. Tunisia expelled Syria's ambassador in 2012 over the government's repression of peaceful protesters that triggered more than a decade of civil war which has killed around half a million people and displaced millions more since 2011.

In 2017, Bahrain joined Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt in imposing a diplomatic blockade on Qatar. The countries' rivalry goes back even further, however, and Bahrain is the last to renew ties. Agreement on the reconciliation was reached in talks at the Gulf Cooperation Council headquarters in...

Cairo's foreign reserves fell by about 20 percent in one year to $34.45 billion -- about $28 billion of which are deposits from wealthy Gulf donors. Experts have for months warned that Egypt is among the top five countries at risk of defaulting on its debt, which hit a record...

Global government debt is on track to reach levels not seen since the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the International Monetary Fund warned. China and the United States are responsible for the vast majority of the expected debt increase over the next five years, the head of the IMF's Fiscal...

The two leaders talked about de-escalation in the region and maintaining deterrence against threats from Iran and elsewhere.