The meeting will deliberate on the current situation in occupied Palestinian territories, especially killings of 11 Palestinian citizens in Nablus.

For the first time in a decade, Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry will visit Syria and Turkey to show ""solidarity with the two countries and their brotherly peoples" after the powerful earthquake that hit the two countries earlier this month. The visit illustrates the gradual acceptance of the once-isolated Syrian...

AMMAN, JORDAN -  Chairman of the Jordan Senate's Committee for Arab, International Affairs and Expatriates Hani Mulki, on Sunday discussed with Vice President of French Senate, Helene Conway, the region's key political and economic developments. The two leaders also discussed political changes in the surrounding countries following Arab Spring. Mulki,...

Jordanian state broadcaster Al-Mamlaka said the meeting, which kicked off in the Red Sea resort of Aqaba, was "the first of its kind in years between Palestinians and Israelis with regional and international participation" and would address "the situation in the Palestinian territories". Palestinian intelligence chief Majed Faraj and the...

Lebanese central bank chief Riad Salameh is accused of embezzling millions of dollars. He faces faces investigations related to suspicions of money laundering and illicit enrichment in Lebanon and abroad after he amassed a fortune in the country mired in financial crisis.

Madrid, Spain - Iran has released a Spanish woman who had been detained in the country since November, Spain's foreign minister said Sunday. "She was freed yesterday, but we didn't want to announce it publicly before her plane had taken off from Iran," Jose Manuel Albares told journalists. "I was able...

Putin was speaking on the sidelines of a patriotic concert in Moscow on Thursday on the eve of the first anniversary of the start of Russia's full-scale offensive in Ukraine.

Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain announced the signing of 12 agreements and partnerships worth over US$2 billion for nine joint industrial projects. The announcement came following a meeting of the Integrated Industrial Partnership for Sustainable Economic Development. Jordan Prime Minister Bisher Khasawneh oversaw the signing of the...

The crossing was closed last Sunday by Afghan authorities, who objected to what they said were new documentation rules restricting people assisting medical patients from entering Pakistan. It was the first time the Torkham boundary had been officially closed since the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan 18 months ago.

The entrances to the home of Fatima Alqam, her husband Moussa and four children were sealed within days after her son killed seven people outside a synagogue in the settlement of Neve Yaacov. Khayri Alqam was shot dead in the attack and his family later received a demolition order for...

Accusing him of racist comments and hate speech against sub-Saharan migrants, hundreds of people protested in the Tunisian capital on Saturday, denouncing President Kais for his outrageous remarks. Earlier this week, Saied said "hordes" of migrants were causing crime and posed demographic threat in the North African country.

Jordan will host a "political-security" meeting between Israel and the Palestinians to try and restore calm to the occupied Palestinian territories after deadly violence, a Jordanian government official said. The meeting to be held in the Red Sea resort of Aqaba will also be attended by United States and Egyptian...

ABU DHABI, UAE -  Minister of State for Financial Affairs Mohamed Hadi Al Hussaini headed the UAE delegation participating in the first G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (FMCBG) meeting in 2023. Held for the first time under the Indian presidency in Bengaluru, the meeting discussed the progress under...

BAGHDAD, IRAQ - Speaker of the UAE Federal National Council (FNC) Saqr Ghobash said that Arab parliaments should are required to coordinate parliamentary work. He said that Arab parliaments should unify positions on all common issues, activate the role of parliamentary diplomacy and cooperate in order to achieve the integration...

Nablus, Palestinian Territories--When Israel conducted its deadliest raid in the occupied West Bank in almost two decades this week, a young Palestinian nurse rushed to help. As critical case after critical case succumbed to their wounds, Elias al-Ashqar, 25, let out a blood-curdling roar. "My father! My father," he screamed, as...

Israel's government approved the 2023-2024 budget against the backdrop of economic uncertainty linked to controversial judicial reforms advanced by the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The government had been expected to adopt the budget during a cabinet meeting Thursday, but talks ran late into the night and also took...

The UAE has reduced arms imports by more than 40 percent over the past decade, taking it from the third to the ninth largest importer globally, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. The UAE was the second largest recipient of US arms between 2012 and 2016 but dropped...

ABU DHABI, UAE -   UAE Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Algerian Minister of Industry Ahmed Zeghdar discussed enhancing cooperation in the economic, industrial and commercial sectors between the two countries.    In a meeting between Sheikh Abdullah and Zeghdar in Abu...

Moscow, Russia - Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday the new Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile will be deployed this year following US reports that the weapon failed a recent test. The Sarmat -- dubbed Satan 2 by Western analysts -- is capable of carrying multiple nuclear warheads and is among Russia's...

A senior US official said last week that the United States and its G7 allies planned to unveil "a big new package of sanctions" around the February 24 anniversary, including measures to crack down on the evasion of existing sanctions.

The envoy made these remarks during a ceremony at the Japanese embassy in Amman while celebrating Japan's national day.

The Israeli army said the raid targeted militant suspects "in a hideout apartment" accused of shootings in the West Bank. It added troops came under fire but suffered no casualties. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said "the situation in the occupied Palestinian territory is at its most combustible in years",...

"Hordes of illegal immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa are still arriving, with all the violence, crime and unacceptable practices that entails," he said, according to a statement from his office on Tuesday evening.

Tehran, Iran - Iran said Wednesday that International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors were in the country to clear up "ambiguities" about its uranium enrichment activities. The visit comes after a report by Bloomberg News last week, strongly denied by Tehran, that its nuclear scientists have enriched uranium to 84 percent purity,...

Top Palestinian official Hussein Al Sheikh decried the incursion as a "massacre" and called for "international protection for our people". The Palestinian health ministry said those killed "as a result of the occupation's aggression on Nablus" were aged between 16 and 72.

Aleppo, once a major commercial hub, had already been battered by over a decade of war when the 7.8-magnitude quake struck in early February, killing more than 45,000 people across Turkey and Syria and flattening entire neighborhoods.

Jerusalem--An Israeli military court on Tuesday sentenced Bassam al-Saadi, a senior member of Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad in the occupied West Bank, to 22 months in prison, the army said. Leader of Islamic Jihad in the north West Bank city of Jenin, Saadi was arrested on August 1 and...

Taking retaliatory action for imposition of sanctions against the Islamic Republic, Iran has slapped 36 individuals and entities from the European Union and Britain with sanctions. According to the Iranian foreign ministry, Tehran has placed the names on its "sanctions list for supporting terrorism and terrorist groups" as well as...

TEHRAN, IRAN - A Tehran court Tuesday sentenced to death an Iranian-German dual national accused of being the leader of a "terrorist" group behind a deadly 2008 mosque bombing, the judiciary said. "The Tehran Revolutionary Court sentenced Jamshid Sharmahd, the leader of the Tondar terrorist group, to death on the...

The EU called it "deeply disappointing" and "surprising" that Israel stopped and deported a Spanish MEP who had arrived for an official trip to the Palestinian territories. European Parliament lawmaker Ana Miranda tweeted that the action by Israeli authorities against her was a "diplomatic affront" and showed "disrespect" to the...

SHARJAH, UAE - Chairman of the Department of Government Relations (DGR) in Sharjah Sheikh Fahim Al Qasimi recently met with Minister of Foreign Trade and Investment of Costa Rica Manuel Tovar Rivera to discuss strengthening collaboration between their respective regions. The two parties discussed trade, food security and the transportation...

The International Energy Agency (IEA) found that emissions from the energy sector rose slightly last year to 135 million tons, to just below the record set in 2019. The energy sector accounts for around 40 percent of total methane emissions attributable to human activity, second only to agriculture.

More than four million people live in areas outside government control in Syria's north and northwest, 90 per cent of whom depend on aid to survive. Yet the first UN aid convoy crossed into the area on February 9 -- three days after the quake struck -- and carried tents...

Lawmakers voted by 63 to 47 to give more weight to the government in the committee that selects judges, and to deny courts the right to rule on legislation they deem in conflict with so-called Basic Laws, Israel's quasi constitution. Tens of thousands had protested on the streets of Jerusalem...

The council stressed that the continuation of Israeli settlement activity endangers the principle of the two-state solution.

Sultan Haitham and Assad "held official talks" at the royal palace in Muscat, Oman's foreign ministry said in a statement. The Omani ruler "extended anew his condolences and sincere sympathy to.... the president and to the brotherly Syrian people for the victims of the devastating earthquake", it added.

But on the eve of the talks, set to run through March 3, cautious optimism appears to be taking hold, encouraged by a historic agreement reached in Montreal in December during the UN's COP15 conference on biodiversity. Countries then committed themselves to protecting 30 percent of the world's lands and...

Iran denied reports it has enriched uranium up to 84 percent, just below the 90 percent needed to produce an atomic bomb, state media reported. The International Atomic Energy Agency said it was in discussions with Tehran after Bloomberg News reported that IAEA's inspectors in Iran found uranium enriched to...

Abu Dhabi, UAE--G42 and its subsidiaries Bayanat, Presight.AI and G42 Cloud have announced their participation as a strategic partner at the International Defence Conference (IDC), organised by ADNEC Group in cooperation with Tawazun Council and the UAE Ministry of Defence. The event, held on 19th February, kicks off the International...

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia--The African Union said Sunday that Israel's observer status at the bloc was suspended and therefore it had not been invited to its weekend summit, after a row over the ejection of one of its top diplomats. A furious Israel accused arch-foe Iran of orchestrating the expulsion of...

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – Net-zero goal cannot be achieved without carbon capture and there is a need to scale up carbon capture and storage over the coming years to reach zero emission targets, Fahad Alajilan, President of the King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center (KAPSARC), has said.KAPSARC co-hosted on...

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Turkey to show support to the earthquake-hit country and NATO ally which has had tumultuous ties with Washington. His visit comes after a 7.8-magnitude tremor hit southeastern Turkey and northern Syria killing nearly 45,000 people but his trip had been planned before...

Tehran, Iran--Iran's judiciary is prosecuting a woman for "disrespecting" the Islamic headscarf after she threw hers to the ground during a public meeting, an Iranian news agency reported Saturday. The requirement for women to wear the headscarf in public, enshrined in law since shortly after the Islamic revolution of 1979, has...

Abu Dhabi, UAE-- The International Defence Conference (IDC 2023), which will be held one day ahead of the IDEX and NAVDEX exhibitions will kick off today at ADNOC Business Centre. The conference is expected to see the participation of a large number of leaders and officials from regional and international defence...

Munich, Germany--Kuwait Foreign Minister Sheikh Salem Abdullah Al-Jaber Al-Sabah met High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell on the sidelines of the 59th Munich Security Conference. During the meeting, Sheikh Salem explained the stance of Kuwait on the issue of Schengen visa waiver...

Earlier in Saturday, Esther Lynch, Europe's top trade union official took part in a demonstration organized by the UGTT trade union federation and made comments that constituted blatant interference in Tunisia's internal affairs, head of the European Trade Union Confederation, the presidency said in a statement. It added that she...

Washington, United States--Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke Saturday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and separately with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, reaffirming US support for a "two-state solution" in the region and asking the two to "restore calm." Blinken spoke by telephone with both men to reaffirm US commitment to...

In yet another missile strike by Israel on Damascus, 15 people were killed and a residential building was destroyed in the Syrian capital. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the strike, which hit close to an Iranian cultural center, had killed 15 people including civilians. Israel has targeted Syria...

UN chief Antonio Guterres called for Africa to take "action for peace" to combat rising violence as the continent's leaders held their annual summit in Addis Ababa. Africa is reeling deadly violence in the Sahel region and the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, with the African Union meeting aiming to...

Israel condemned the "severe" expulsion of a senior diplomat from the African Union summit, accusing Iran of orchestrating the move with help from Algeria and South Africa. A video on social media shows guards escorting the Israeli foreign ministry's deputy director general for Africa, Sharon Bar-li, out of the AU...