Cairo, Egypt — Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi held talks Sunday with Iraq’s prime minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani in Cairo as the two countries seek to deepen ties and strengthen a regional alliance with Jordan. Iraqi Prime Minister on his arrival was greeted at the airport by his counterpart, Mustafa...

Egypt regularly uses accusations of support or financing of "terrorism" to hold activists and opposition figures as long as possible in pre-trial detention. The two-year time limit on such detention is regularly exceeded, say rights groups who count around 60,000 political prisoners in the country.

Amman, Jordan--King Abdullah has stressed the need for restoring calm in the Palestinian Territories, as well as cease any unilateral measures that undermine stability and peace prospects. At a meeting with US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin in Amman, King Abdullah urged stepping up efforts to create a political horizon...

The United States' top military officer Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley made a surprise visit to an army base in the Kurdish-held northeast, meeting with US troops stationed in area controlled by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces. The visit has drawn sharp condemnation from Syria's foreign...

UNCTAD’s Secretary-General Rebeca Grynspan and Deputy Secretary-General Pedro Manuel Moreno will lead the organization’s delegation to the fifth UN conference on LDCs (LDC5) taking place in Doha, Qatar from 5 to 9 March.

Doha, Qatar - Qatar Emir Sheikh Tamim ibn Hamad Al Thani announced Sunday a $60 million financial contribution to Doha Program of Action (DPoA). He was speaking at the Fifth UN Conference on the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) in Doha. Local media reports said that $10 million will be allocated...

Denouncing Saied's power grab as a "coup", the protesters defied a ban on demonstrations imposed by Tunis authorities. Initially dozens gathered by a key bus and tramway station in central Tunis before charging police barricades to then march towards Habib Bourguiba Avenue, where the crowd soon swelled to more than...

At the moment just 36 percent of the 1.25 billion people in the world's 46 poorest countries can plug into the internet, the International Telecommunication Union said. By comparison, more than 90 percent have access in the European Union. The ITU condemned the "staggering international connectivity gap".

NEW DELHI, INDIA -  UAE Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy and Remote Work Applications Omar Sultan Al Olama said that his country has succeeded in adopting state-of-the-art, digital, and futuristic solutions as a key pillar for enhancing prosperity. Al Olama made this remark at the Raisina Dialogue...

Achim Steiner, head of the United Nations Development Programme, said that 25 of the 52 were spending more than a fifth of government revenues servicing external debt. "The situation right now for developing countries when it comes to national debt is indeed very, very serious," Steiner said.

"Many refugees who fled to Turkey in search of safety and protection have now faced the trauma of loss and displacement once again -- losing their homes and livelihoods," the UN's International Organization for Migration and the UN refugee agency UNHCR said in a joint statement. The 7.8-magnitude earthquake on...

UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi earlier said he had held "constructive" talks with Iranian officials in Tehran after the discovery of uranium particles enriched to near weapons-grade level. On his return to Vienna, Grossi recalled there had been "a reduction in monitoring activities related to cameras and monitoring systems"...

ABU DHABI, UAE -  The United Arab Emirates and Italy on Saturday announced the enhancement of their  bilateral relations to the Strategic Partnership level. The announcement came during a meeting between President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan  and Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni at Al Shati Palace in Abu...

A massive earthquake and aftershocks in February caused an estimated US$5.1 billion in direct physical damage in Syria, said the World Bank. The earthquake that struck on February 6 hit Turkey and Syria, devastating scores of cities and killing over 50,000 people in both countries. Millions need help with accommodation...

Panama City, Panama - Delegates to a global conference on saving the world's oceans pledged US$19 billion, the host country Panama said. The total included a $6 billion commitment from the United States, announced on Thursday by White House climate envoy John Kerry. Panamanian deputy foreign minister Yill del Carmen Otero...

LONDON, UK-  Six European countries on Saturday called on Israel to stop expanding its settlements in  Palestine's West Bank. Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Poland have also jointly condemned the recent attack on Israeli citizens by Palestinian groups. In a joint statement, they said, "We urge the Israeli government...

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia--Saudi Arabia and Qatar on Friday condemned a call by an Israeli minister for a flashpoint Palestinian town to be "wiped out", with Riyadh describing it as "racist and irresponsible". Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a far-right member of Israel's coalition government, made his comments on Wednesday, days after...

Dubai, UAE--A media report that the United Arab Emirates is considering leaving OPEC is "far from the truth," two sources with direct knowledge of the matter told media. Earlier on Friday, the Wall Street Journal reported that the UAE is having an internal debate about leaving the Organization of the...

Grossi was greeted Friday at Mehrabad International Airport by Behrouz Kamalvandi, spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, and later met with its head Mohammad Eslami. They were to hold a joint press conference Saturday morning. During the visit, the IAEA director general will try to secure "more access...

Warning the country's powerful trade union federation against inviting foreigners to a planned weekend demonstration, Tunisian President Kais Saied said that the UGTT was free to organize demonstrations, but it was not free to invite foreigners to participate in them, after denying entry into the country to an official from...

"I also read news in the press,” the Hungarian President Novak said. “In Hungary, a decision so far has not been made on moving our embassy in Israel,” he added. “The ministry would provide updates on any changes to the embassy in all cases,” Hungary’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mate Paczolay...

Lebanon is navigating a devastating economic crisis that has plunged more than 80 percent of the population into poverty. Strikes and absenteeism have paralyzed public services, the state is barely able to provide a few hours of mains electricity a day, and the local currency has lost most of its...

Doha, Qatar-- Qatar is preparing to inaugurate the UN House in Doha, on the sidelines of the fifth UN Conference on Least Developed Countries (LDC5) which will be held in the capital from March 5-9. Sheikha Alya Ahmed bin Saif Al-Thani, Permanent Representative of Qatar to the United Nations Ambassador,...

Tensions are high, especially after the nearby Palestinian town of Huwara came under attack by Israeli settlers on Sunday, hours after two Israeli settlers were shot dead as they drove past.

"The impacts of the energy crisis didn't result in the major increase in global emissions that was initially feared –- and this is thanks to the outstanding growth of renewables, EVs, heat pumps and energy-efficient technologies," IEA executive director Fatih Birol said.

RABAT, MOROCCO - UAE's Federal National Council (FNC) highlighted the critical role of parliaments in addressing the repercussions of climate change, by passing laws that preserves the environment and promote the use of clean energy. The FNC's Parliamentary Division made this statement during the intervention by Aisha Mohammed Al Mulla,...

Pentagon Press Secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said the trip would "reaffirm the enduring US commitment to the Middle East region."

Demonstrators in Tel Aviv blocked some streets, and police employed stun grenades, water cannon and officers on horseback in a rare use of force in the coastal city. Some 39 people were arrested for "allegedly rioting and not obeying instructions by police officials", police said in a statement

A week after President Kais Saied ordered "urgent measures" against irregular sub-Saharan migrants, Tunisian tennis star Ons Jabeur has spoken out against "discrimination". In a tweet Jabeur said that as a proud Tunisian, Arab and African woman she celebrates the right of everyone to live with dignity.

Brussels, Belgium - The European Parliament has told staff to purge TikTok from devices used for work because of data protection concerns, after similar moves by the EU's main governing bodies last week. The parliament's president, Roberta Metsola, and the secretary-general, Alessandro Chiocchetti, decided TikTok must not be used or installed...

In the aftermath of the quake, activists and emergency teams in the rebel-held northwest decried the UN's slow response, contrasting it with the planeloads of humanitarian aid that have been delivered to government-controlled airports.

The IAEA report said that during an inspection "on 22 January 2023, the agency took environmental samples... at Fordow (sic) Fuel Enrichment Plant (FFEP), the analytical results of which showed the presence of high enriched uranium particles containing up to 83.7 percent U-235". "These events clearly indicate the capability of...

Morocco and Algeria have moved to revive long-stalled projects in light of a gas supply crunch following Russia's invasion of Ukraine a year ago. Prices surged and Europe - which was heavily reliant on Russian gas - had to look elsewhere for energy.

During the meeting, the two discussed strengthening the process of joint GCC action and reviewed GCC issues of common concern.

The form and rules around elections have been key sticking points in Libya's faltering peace process since the last major round of fighting in the North African country, torn apart by a decade of war. The envoy, Senegalese diplomat Abdoulaye Bathily, had on Monday told the United Nations Security Council...

In a show of solidarity with Iraq, UN head Antonio Guterres arrived in the country for the first time in six years, after a prolonged political crisis there. On arrival he said that he wanted to show solidarity with the people and the democratic institutions of Iraq, pledging support for...

A total of 5,951 people were killed across Syria, while Turkey recorded 44,374 deaths after the February 6 earthquake. The new tally brings to 50,325 the total number of deaths caused by the disaster across both countries.

Office of Management and Budget director Shalanda Young in a memorandum called on government agencies within 30 days to "remove and disallow installations" of the application on agency-owned or operated IT devices, and to "prohibit internet traffic" from such devices to the app.

TEHRAN, IRAN - Dozens of schoolgirls in Iran were hospitalized on Tuesday after a mysterious poisoning, an Iranian news agency reported, the latest in a spate of suspected attacks in the Islamic republic. Hundreds of cases of respiratory distress have been reported in the past three months among Iranian schoolgirls mainly...

The World Bank warned that the continuing aftershocks are likely to increase the total amount of damage caused by the disaster. "This disaster serves as a reminder of Turkey’s high risk to earthquakes and of the need to enhance resilience in public and private infrastructure," said Humberto Lopez, the World...

The UN says more than 21.7 million people - two-thirds of Yemen's population -- need humanitarian assistance this year. Its appeal aims to reach the 17.3 million most vulnerable among them. Erin Hutchinson, the Norwegian Refugee Council's Yemen chief, said the world had "abandoned Yemen at this crucial crossroads" by...

Elections were originally scheduled for December 2021, but were postponed indefinitely because of differences over controversial candidates and rules on participation. Since March last year, an administration in Libya's east backed by military leader Khalifa Haftar has challenged the UN-recognized government of Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah, arguing it has outlived...

Dozens of Israeli settlers set homes and cars ablaze in the northern town of Huwara overnight Sunday, after a day of Israeli-Palestinian talks in neighbouring Jordan aimed at quelling escalating unrest in the Palestinian territory. More than 350 Palestinians were injured, most suffering from tear gas inhalation, the Palestinian Red...

Dozens of Israeli settlers set homes and cars ablaze in the northern town of Huwara overnight, after a day of Israeli-Palestinian talks in neighboring Jordan aimed at quelling a surge in violence in the Palestinian territory. The violence came hours after two Israeli settlers -- brothers Yagel Yaniv and Hallel...

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND -  The United Arab Emirates is participating in the 52nd session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland  which started Monday and will continue until April 4. The head of the UAE delegation Ahmed Abdul Rahman Al-Jarman, Permanent Representative of the UAE to the United Nations and...

Turkey said on Monday that NATO accession talks with Sweden and Finland would be held next month, after being postponed in January over a row about protests held in Stockholm. "The meeting will be held on March 9," Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told a news conference in Ankara, alongside...

The Russian foreign ministry on Friday thanked Chinese efforts but said that any settlement of the conflict needed to recognise Russia's control over four Ukrainian regions. Russia claims to have annexed the regions of Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson but never fully controlled them. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his...

Washington, United States--Iran's nuclear program is advancing at a "worrisome pace," CIA director William Burns said in an interview broadcast Sunday, following reports Tehran had further enriched uranium. Iran was last known to have enriched uranium up to 60 percent purity, but a recent Bloomberg News report that International Atomic Energy...

The latest deaths came amid talks in Jordan to discuss worsening violence in the occupied territory, and days after Israeli forces launched their deadliest West Bank raid in nearly 20 years, which left 11 Palestinians dead in the northern city of Nablus. The West Bank is home to about 2.9...

Damascus, Syria--Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad received today a delegation from the Arab Inter-Parliamentary Union, participating in the thirty-fourth meeting of the Arab Parliamentary Union, which concluded yesterday in Baghdad. The delegation included Saqr Ghobash, Speaker of the Federal National Council, and the speakers of parliaments in Iraq, Jordan, Palestine, Libya...