Videos circulated on social media on Wednesday night showed Mahmoud Hamza dressed in military fatigues and surrounded by his fighters at the Tekbali barracks south of the Libyan capital.

In a separate statement late Tuesday, the commerce ministry announced the total lifting of subsidies on petrol and a partial lifting of subsidies on fuel oil. As a result the price of petrol has risen to 8,000 pounds from 3,000 previously, and fuel oil to 2,000 pounds from 700 previously,...

Shorelines at Habbaniyah, about 70 kilometres west of Baghdad, have receded by several dozen meters after years of drought ravaged parts of the country.

BEIRUT, LEBANON -The Lebanese army arrested 134 migrants near the northern border with Syria on Saturday after foiling their attempt to take a boat to Europe, it said in a statement. The group of would-be migrants -- made up of 130 Syrians and four Lebanese nationals -- were taken into custody...

Drastic government measures have restricted water use for some purposes, including crop irrigation, and authorities have cracked down on illegal practices they long ignored.

The Safer, a floating storage and offloading facility, has been moored around 50 kilometres (30 miles) from the port of Hodeida since the 1980s. It has not been serviced since war broke out eight years ago between rebels, who control the capital Sanaa and the waters where the Safer is...

The UAE, set to host COP28 from November to December in the business hub of Dubai, requires official permission for protests but effectively bans demonstrations it deems disruptive. At the upcoming UN climate talks "there will be space available for climate activists to assemble peacefully and make their voices heard", it...

"The United Nations has begun an operation to defuse what might be the world's largest ticking time bomb," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a statement. "A complex maritime salvage effort is now underway in the Red Sea off the coast of war-torn Yemen to transfer one million barrels of...

"AI development is now outpacing Moore's Law and moving at breakneck speed, and governments are unable to keep up. This is the wake-up call we need," asserts Sharaf, urging for a balanced outlook towards AI, emphasizing the need for "optimistic realists" who assess the possible threats posed by AI to...

AMMAN, JORDAN - The United Nations' World Food Program has announced it would reduce cash assistance to nearly 120,000 Syrian refugees in Jordanian camps, saying the move was "unavoidable as funds run precariously low". The UN logs about 650,000 Syrians in Jordan who fled their native country since war broke out...

Designated by the UN as one of the five countries in the world most touched by some effects of climate change, Iraq is experiencing its fourth consecutive summer of drought.

The G20 talks come after Russia on Monday refused to extend a deal allowing critical Ukrainian grain exports through the Black Sea, sparking outrage from the United Nations, which has warned millions of the world's poorest would "pay the price". World Bank president Ajay Banga said he feared a lack...

Aboard Nautica , Yemen - The United Nations on Monday handed over a vessel that will take on board oil from a decaying tanker in the Red Sea off war-torn Yemen, an operation aimed at averting an environmental catastrophe. The handover ceremony took place aboard the Nautica, which is being renamed...

They worry over the fate of residents in Syria's last remaining rebel strongholds, in the north and northwest, after the Security Council failed on Wednesday to extend the mechanism. Under a 2014 deal, aid had largely passed through the Bab al-Hawa crossing with Turkey without the authorization of Damascus.

Bees thrive in temperatures of around 30-35 degrees Celsius, not in searing heat, when the thermometer climbs to 50, said Aliawi, the manager of a private honey producer. The country has been plagued by scorching summers, declining rainfall and frequent sand storms, while upstream dams have reduced the flow of...

The UAE and India vowed to make this year's COP28 conference in Dubai a success, as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid a visit to the Gulf state. The oil-rich UAE will host the COP28 UN climate talks in November and December, as nations are still far on means to...

UNITED NATIONS - The COVID-19 pandemic, the cost-of-living crisis and the war in Ukraine have pushed 165 million people into poverty since 2020, the United Nations said, calling for a pause in debt repayments for developing countries. Because of these shocks, 75 million people will have fallen into extreme poverty,...

DUBAI, UAE- As much of the world swelters in record temperatures, spare a thought for Issam Genedi, who ekes out a living washing cars in one of the planet's hottest regions, the Gulf. Pausing from his work at an outdoor carpark in Dubai, the Egyptian migrant says the UAE's furnace-like summer...

BRUSSELS, BELGIUM -  Sudan's warring sides must face "accountability" for the "crimes" committed in their conflict, which risks spiraling into a regional crisis, the head of UN mission in the country said on Wednesday. The fighting, which has gone on for three months, "risks morphing into an ethnicized, tribalized and ideologized...

Crude is the main revenue source for Libya, which has been torn by more than a decade of stop-start conflict, involving foreign powers and a myriad of militias, since a NATO-backed revolt toppled strongman Moamer Kadhafi in 2011.

On current policy trends, the planet will be 2.8C warmer by the end of the century, according to the UN's IPCC climate science advisory panel.

NEW YORK, US- Advisor to the UAE Minister of Foreign Affairs Salem Al Zaabi called on the international community to address the root causes of intolerance and extremism, including countering disinformation on the internet and social media. Al Zaabi, who led the UAE’s delegation to the biennial United Nations Counter-Terrorism...

On Wednesday, Iran took Canada to the Hague-based International Court of Justice, the UN's top tribunal, accusing Ottawa of allowing victims of alleged terror attacks to claim damages from Tehran. Tehran's case claims that Ottawa, which listed the Islamic Republic as a sponsor of terrorism in 2012, had violated Iran's...

Following more than 15 years of discussions, UN member states finally agreed on the text for the treaty in March after a flurry of final, marathon talks. The text, since frozen, has been pored over by the UN's lawyers and translators to make sure it matches in the body's six...

UN Middle East envoy Tor Wennesland issued a warning on Monday against changes made by the Israeli government that will simplify procedures to authorize settlements in the occupied West Bank. The alterations, expected to expedite settlement expansion, have caused international concern.

Saudi Arabia announced that it would jointly lead a conference on the humanitarian response to the war in Sudan next week. The pledging conference will be held on June 19, the official Saudi Press Agency said, citing the foreign ministry, adding it would be jointly led with Qatar, Egypt, Germany,...

Recycling, in rebel-controlled Syria, is rather a grim lifeline than environmental impulse for desperate residents searching for work or items they otherwise could not afford.

KHARTOUM, SUDAN -  Sudanese authorities loyal to the regular army have declared UN envoy Volker Perthes "persona non grata", accusing him of taking sides in nearly two months of devastating fighting with rival paramilitaries. Fighting has raged in the north African country since mid-April, when army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and...

Seriously ill Syrians in the country's last rebel bastion of Idlib used to be able to access life-saving care across the border. But the main crossing there for medical visits slammed shut after a deadly earthquake ravaged southern Turkey on February 6, prompting Ankara to prioritise its domestic needs.

DUBAI, UAE - US special climate envoy John Kerry has met senior Emirati officials in Abu Dhabi, including the head of the United Nations' upcoming climate change conference, official media reported on Sunday. The choice of Sultan Al Jaber, chief executive of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), to head...

Biochar, a substance produced by heating the cocoa husks in oxygen-free environment, could be used to capture 2.6 billion of CO2.

Syria's opposition urged the resumption of moribund United Nations-sponsored talks with the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, who has returned to the Arab fold after years of isolation. "The international, regional and Syrian conditions provide an appropriate circumstance for the resumption of direct negotiations...," the Syrian Negotiation Commission said in...

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia -- Saudi Arabia has advanced three ranks in the Times Higher Education Impact Rankings in 2023, with 25 Saudi universities securing a presence in the global performance index. The number of Saudi universities was 22 in 2022 within the international ranking, which sorts universities that impact achieving...

"Transportation disruptions, market devastation and the absence of financing... will have catastrophic impacts on the food security of the people of Sudan and the surrounding region," said the head of the Khartoum-based Arab Organisation for Agriculture Development, Ibrahim al-Dakhiri. Although some farmers have sown crops like maize, millet or oilseeds...

A military judge has accused five members of the Iran-backed Hezbollah group, only one of whom is in custody, of killing an Irish United Nations peacekeeper in December last year, a judicial official said. Fadi Sawan issued a 30-page indictment accusing five Hezbollah members of "forming a group of malefactors...

In an unprecedented salvage plan, the UN has purchased a super-tanker to remove the oil from the vessel in the Red Sea. The actual pumping will start in about 10 days to two weeks, said Gressly. The 47-year-old Safer has not been serviced since Yemen's civil war broke out in...

New York, USA - Mariam bint Mohammed Almheiri, the UAE Minister of Climate Change and the Environment, has called for urgent global action to tackle food insecurity and climate change at Security Council sessions at the United Nations headquarters in New York, USA. The minister also discussed key related topics...

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...

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...

"Tech is at the top of the global agenda, but the benefits of digital technology are still out of reach for too many people," ITU chief Doreen Bogdan-Martin said in a statement. "If we are serious about digitalizing the world in a way that is meaningful and sustainable, we must...

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.

fighting and looting raged most of Thursday in the capital Khartoum and US diplomats were frank about the obstacles in the nearly week-long talks in Jeddah. "This is not a ceasefire. This is an affirmation of their obligations under international humanitarian law," said a US official involved in the talks,...

CUACOS, SPAIN -  UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said peace negotiations to end the conflict in Ukraine were "not possible at this moment," in an interview published by Spanish daily El Pais on Tuesday. His statement came as the leaders of Russia and Ukraine called for victory during events commemorating the end...

Israel told the UN it was justified in carrying out strikes on Gaza, even as its overall human rights record met resounding criticism from several countries. Following the pre-dawn strikes that killed 13 people, including several children, an Israel Defense Forces representative said the attacks adhered to the law of...

Heavy fighting in Sudan has displaced 700,000 people within the country since the middle of April, the United Nations said, adding the figure had doubled in a week. Sudan was thrown into chaos when fighting broke out on April 15 between army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Mohamed Hamdan Daglo,...

An Iraqi court sentenced to death a former policeman convicted of killing prominent academic Hisham al-Hashemi, whose murder in 2020 sparked condemnation in the country and abroad. The sentence against Ahmed Hamdawi Oueid for killing Hashemi, an expert on Sunni extremism and a government security adviser, was handed down by...

Tehran, Iran--Iran has reported a large increase in its purchases of domestically-grown wheat in the months of April and May. Saeid Raad, CEO of Government Trading Corporation (GTC) of Iran, said on Saturday that wheat purchases in seven provinces with warm climate in south and southeastern Iran had reached some...

New York, USA - Omar Sultan AlOlama, UAE's Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy, and Remote Work Applications, called for the use of digital technologies to build and sustain peace during a United Nations Security Council open debate on “peacebuilding and sustaining peace.” “The emergence of new, powerful...

The United Nations said it was planning for an outflow of 860,000 people from conflict-torn Sudan, adding that $445 million would be needed to support them just through October. The UN refugee agency said in a statement that it had presented its appeal to donor countries earlier in the day.

The United Nations called for security guarantees at "the highest level" to ensure aid deliveries in Sudan, after trucks carrying food to the Darfur region were looted. The UN's top humanitarian official Martin Griffiths insisted on the need "we have the commitments publicly, clearly given by militaries, to protect humanitarian...