ABU DHABI, UAE -  UAE Minister of Energy and Infrastructure and Romanian Minister of Energy discussed ways to enhance cooperation in the energy and climate action fields between the two countries. UAE minister Suhail bin Mohammed Al Mazrouei received Romanian Minister  Virgil-Daniel Popescu at the Energy Ministry's headquarters in Abu...

ABU DHABI,  UAE - Masdar signed an agreement with four Dutch companies to explore the development of a green hydrogen supply chain between Abu Dhabi and Amsterdam to support Dutch and European markets. Masdar, , one of the world’s leading clean energy companies, inked an agreement with Port of Amsterdam,...

ABU DHABI, UAE - European countries will eventually resume higher imports of Russian gas, Qatar's energy minister and gas company CEO predicted on Saturday, warning that market volatility could last for years. Russian gas exports to Europe plunged after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine but Saad Sherida al-Kaabi, head of QatarEnergy,...

Tehran, Iran--Iran on Saturday executed former top defense official and dual British national Alireza Akbari, who was accused of spying for UK intelligence, the judiciary reported. Akbari was executed after being sentenced to death for "corruption on earth and harming the country's internal and external security by passing on intelligence", the...

Nearly six years after the breakup of diplomatic ties between the two countries, Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian has expressed hope that ties between Tehran and Riyadh could be restored through dialogue between the two regional arch-rivals. Saudi Arabia broke up ties with Iran in 2016, after protestors attacked its...

ABU DHABI,  UAE - UAE Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with UK Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy. The memorandum aims to exchange information, knowledge, expertise and studies in the field of energy and promote it for the vital role it plays in...

"There's no doubt that our 53rd annual meeting in Davos will happen against the most complex geopolitical and geoeconomic backdrop in decades. So much is at stake," said Borge Brende, a former Norwegian foreign minister who is now president of the meeting.

Days after entering office as part of Israel's most right-wing government, led by Benjamin Netanyahu, Justice Minister Yariv Levin announced last week a series of moves to allow politicians to override the Supreme Court's decisions and change the way judges are appointed.

Exports fell 9.9 percent year-on-year to $30.6 billion, China customs said, their second consecutive month of decline and the biggest fall since the early days of the pandemic in 2020. They fell 8.7 percent in November. Imports were also down again in December, sinking 7.5 percent, following a 10.6 percent...

BAGHDAD, IRAQ - Iraq's Prime Minister Mohammad Shia al-Sudani left Thursday for Berlin to meet with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and discuss projects to address chronic power shortages, the premier's office said. Despite its oil riches, Iraq is beset by crumbling infrastructure, endemic corruption and decades of war. Dependent on its...

France's 100-year colonization of Algeria and the viciously fought 1954-62 war for independence have left deep scars on both sides, which Macron has by turns prodded and soothed over his political career. In 2017, then-presidential candidate Macron dubbed the French occupation a "crime against humanity".

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND– The current energy crisis is driving inflation, slowing economic growth, creating social turmoil and the world should not add to this crisis by actions which derail the energy transition, a World Economic Forum (WEF) report says. The report said that steps such as increasing production of electricity from...

ABU DHABI, UAE -  The UAE participated in the Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion (GPFI) meeting in the Finance Track of the G20 for 2023 which was held under India’s G20 Presidency. The meeting was held to discuss the GPFI work plan for 2023 and agree on the financial inclusion...

Seeking to reduce its dependence on crude, the world's biggest oil exporter, Saudi Arabia, has said that the kingdom intends to use its own uranium resources to develop its civilian nuclear program, according to its energy minister, The project is expected to cost the country some $80 billion.

Tehran, Iran -- Iran has protested to Iraq over the use of the name "Arabian Gulf" for a regional football competition held in the neighboring country, state media reported Wednesday. The Islamic republic insists the body of water should be called the "Persian Gulf" and has repeatedly raised the issue with...

The World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report 2023 says conflict and geo-economic tensions have triggered a series of deeply interconnected global risks, including energy and food supply crunches, which are likely to persist for the next two years, and strong increases in the cost of living and debt servicing.

DUBAI, UAE  - The US Navy said Tuesday it had seized over 2,000 assault rifles smuggled on a fishing boat along a maritime route from Iran to Yemen. The cargo was discovered on Friday off the coast of Oman "on a route historically used to traffic illicit cargo to the Huthis...

Around 150 representatives from Bahrain, Egypt, Israel, Morocco, the UAE and the United States discussed boosting security cooperation through information sharing as part of the so-called Negev Forum, a gathering born out of recent normalization deals between Arab states and Israel.

ABU DHABI, UAE - Masdar has announced the signing of an agreement with the Ministry of Energy of Kyrgyz Republic to develop a pipeline of renewable projects in the country. The projects, with a total capacity of up to 1 gigawatt (GW), start with a 200-megawatt (MW) solar photovoltaic (PV)...

The annual figure was released one day after an 11-year-old girl was shot dead in a gun attack on an Antwerp home that the city's mayor dubbed the latest outrage in an ongoing "drug war". Belgium's main container terminal is now considered the main gateway for illegal drugs into Europe,...

The last eight years were the warmest. Average temperatures across 2022 -- which saw a cascade of unprecedented natural disasters made more likely and deadly by climate change -- make it the fifth warmest year since records began in the 19th century, according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service.

The pilgrimage - one of five pillars of Islam, and which all able-bodied Muslims with the means are required to perform at least once - is scheduled for June. In 2019, about 2.5 million people took part in the rituals. For the next two years numbers were drastically curtailed numbers...

The law gives settlers in the occupied West Bank access to civilian law, while their Palestinian neighbours face military courts. The session marks the first legislative move since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took office last month.

The 60-year-old former lawmaker and women's rights activist was charged with "collusion against national security, propaganda against the Islamic republic and disturbing public order by participating in illegal gatherings", the lawyer said.

More than six months after 23 people died in an attempt to cross into the Spanish enclave of Melilla from Morocco, an appeals court in the country has increased the sentence of 13 migrants to three years over the deadly crossing. Nearly 2,000 people stormed the frontier in June in...

Israel's new right-wing government said Friday it will withhold millions of dollars in tax revenues from the Palestinian Authority. This followed the Authority's successful lobbying for a UN vote referring Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories to the International Court of Justice.

MUSCAT, OMAN -  UAE Minister of Education Dr. Ahmad Belhoul Al Falasi and Oman Minister of Education Dr. Madiha bint Ahmed Al Shaibaniyah discussed advancing the cooperation between the two countries in the education sector.   The meeting was held in Muscat and aimed at boosting the coordination and cooperation...

Worldwide acts of piracy fell to their lowest level last year since statistics were first established in 2008, a maritime security body said. The Maritime Information Cooperation and Awareness Center, the France-based branch of the International Maritime Bureau which is headquartered in Malaysia, said there were 300 reported acts of...

Iran has sentenced to death three people accused of killing three members of the security forces during the protests triggered by the death of Mahsa Amini, the judiciary said Monday. Iran has been rocked by civil unrest since the September 16 death of Kurdish Iranian Amini, 22, following her arrest...

Those reinstated include far-right activists, anti-Muslim extremists as well as others peddling election conspiracies and Covid-19 misinformation, according to an analysis by the non-profit Media Matters of dozens of restored accounts with millions of combined followers.

A delegation of the UAE Federal National Council's Parliamentary Division, led by Dr. Nidal Mohamed Al-Tunaiji met with Nuzhat Sadiq, Member of the Senate of Pakistan.

Most of Turkey's demands have involved Sweden because of its more robust ties with the Kurdish diaspora.

ANTALYA, TURKEY - The UAE Parliamentary Division of the Federal National Council (FNC), participated in the meeting of the Standing Committee on Political Affairs of the Asian Parliamentary Assembly (APA). The FNC delegation was represented by Dr. Nidal Mohammed Al Tunaiji, Head of the UAE Parliamentary Division at APA, and...

Cairo, Egypt - A Cairo court has sentenced to life in prison a Ukrainian woman arrested at the Egyptian capital's airport with a bag of cocaine, a judicial source said Sunday. Liudmyla Balakina, who lives in the Netherlands, had been convicted of drug smuggling following her arrest in April upon arrival...

Tel Aviv, Israel--Thousands of Israelis protested on Saturday against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's new government, regarded as the most right-wing in Israeli history, an AFP correspondent said. Protesters brandished signs with slogans including "Democracy in danger" and "Together against fascism and apartheid" in the coastal city of Tel Aviv. Some waved...

Russian President Vladimir Putin had unilaterally ordered his forces to pause attacks for 36 hours for the Orthodox Christmas.

PARIS, FRANCE -  Iran on Saturday executed two men for killing a paramilitary force member during unprecedented protests sparked by the death in custody of a young woman. The latest hangings double the number of executions to four over the nationwide protests, which escalated since mid-September into calls for an end...

Abu Dhabi, UAE- The UAE has dispatched a second consignment of household generators for the Ukrainian civilians affected by the ongoing war with Russia. In December, the UAE announced that it's sending 2,500 household generators to civilians affected by the ongoing crisis in Ukraine that has disrupted energy infrastructure and...

More than 100 members of Islamic State group have been arrested by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in an eight-day operation dubbed Operation Al-Jazeera Thunderbolt. The sweep was launched after scuttling an IS attempt to free fellow militants from prison in Raqa, the jihadist group's former Syrian stronghold.

AMMAN, JORDAN -  Jordan's total imports of Iraqi oil between September 2021 to December 2022 amounted to 3.65 million barrels, equivalent to 490,000 tons of crude oil."Jordan imports Iraqi crude oil according to the memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the processing of crude oil signed between the Jordanian and Iraqi...

Berlin, Germany--Bayern Munich CEO Oliver Kahn said on Friday the side was reviewing whether to renew its sponsorship arrangements with Qatar Airways, as the side flew to Doha to begin their annual winter training program. Bayern have come under criticism for their ties to Doha and the state-owned carrier in relation...

TEHRAN, IRAN - Iranian authorities have arrested a journalist who published interviews with families of death row inmates sentenced in connection with nationwide protests, the reformist daily Etemad said Friday. Fourteen Iranians have been sentenced to death in connection with the unrest triggered by Mahsa Amini's death in custody on September...

No reason was given for the arrest of Ebrahimi, who had some 2.7 million followers on Instagram enjoying his slickly produced videos showing how to produce classic Persian dishes without pain. But social media users said the arrest coincided with him posting a recipe to make Persian cutlets on the...

Owned by Chinese tech giant ByteDance, TikTok has become a political punching bag for US conservatives who allege that the app downloaded by millions of US young people can be circumvented for spying or propaganda by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). TikTok is the equivalent of "digital fentanyl," said Republican...

In a statement announcing measures to disrupt financiers of the Islamic State group, the State Department wrote of joint action between "the United States and Turkiye," written with an umlaut over the u. "The Turkish embassy did request that we use this spelling in our communications," State Department spokesman Ned...

Erdogan's call for a ceasefire followed a proposal earlier Thursday by Russia's spiritual leader Patriarch Kirill for an Orthodox Christmas truce this week.

Kidane Zekarias Habtemariam has been accused of being a smuggling kingpin, running a camp in Libya where hundreds of East African migrants seeking passage to Europe were allegedly kidnapped, raped and extorted. Habtemariam, subject of two Interpol red notices, was arrested on Jan 1 by Sudanese police in coordination with...

With a black and white keffiyeh around his shoulders, 64-year-old Younis was met by a crowd singing the Palestinian national anthem in Ara in northern Israel. "Every prisoner's story is the story of an entire people and I am proud to be one of those who sacrificed for Palestine," said...

Lebanon has charged seven people for participating in an attack against United Nations peacekeepers that killed one Irish soldier in mid-December, a judicial official said. Private Sean Rooney, 23, was killed and three others injured on December 14 when their UN Interim Force in Lebanon vehicle was attacked near Al-Aqbiya...

The opposition's campaign "appears abstract and distant" to voters, especially in a country where the media is heavily controlled by the government, he wrote last month.