Yunus, 83, is credited with lifting millions out of poverty with his pioneering microfinance bank but has earned the enmity of longtime Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who has accused him of "sucking blood" from the poor.

NEW YORK, US – The Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC) of the UN Security Council adopted the "Abu Dhabi Guiding Principles" and published them as an official document of the Council during the United Arab Emirates’ presidency of the CTC.This important achievement establishes a set of guidelines that address the challenges posed...

Youssef Salama, the 68-year-old former minister of religious affairs in the Palestinian Authority, was killed in a strike on the Al-Maghazi refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, Wafa news agency and the ministry reported. Considered close to Fatah, the party of Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas, Salama served as...

"The task of launching three additional reconnaissance satellites in 2024 was declared" as one of the key policy decisions for next year at a year-end party meeting, the official KCNA news agency said. Pyongyang successfully put a military spy satellite into orbit last month and has since claimed it was...

The US Central Command said the missiles were fired from the area controlled by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels, describing it as the "23rd illegal attack by the Houthis on international shipping" since November 19. The Houthis have repeatedly targeted vessels in the Red Sea with strikes they say are in...

Gaza City, Palestinian Territories - The Strip's Hamas rulers on Saturday condemned the US approval of a $147.5 million sale of high-explosive artillery munitions and related equipment to Israel.The United States announced the sale of the 155mm artillery munitions on Friday under an emergency provision that waives the normal requirement for...

Air strikes in eastern Syria "likely" launched by Israel killed at least 19 pro-Iran fighters, a war monitor said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said "19 pro-Iranian fighters, including four Syrians, and six Iraqis, were killed and more than 18 were wounded" in at least nine air strikes overnight...

The Pentagon has released little information about the space drone and its mission, which was initially scheduled for December 7, and SpaceX only cited the Pentagon's mission code name -- USSF-52 -- in its statement on the launch. Earlier, the Pentagon had said the X-37B's seventh mission would entail "multiple...

Holding banners demanding an immediate ceasefire, the activists gathered in Manhattan's Bryant Park while some briefly stood in the middle of the busy Sixth Avenue in the heart of New York's Midtown district. Several women shrouded in black held baby dolls swaddled in white cloths to represent the toll the...

Through their AI chatbots, the companies "seek to free-ride on The Times' massive investment in its journalism by using it to build substitutive products without permission or payment," the lawsuit said. With the suit, The New York Times chose a more confrontational approach to the sudden rise of AI chatbots,...

The Tuesday meeting additionally provided a chance for Israel and the United States to talk about the eventual "governance and security in Gaza, a political horizon for the Palestinian people, and continued work on normalization and integration," the White House official said.

The Pentagon said in a social media post that there was no damage to ships. Some 12 drones, three anti-ship ballistic missiles and two land-attack missiles were fired by Houthis. Earlier, the rebels claimed responsibility for a missile strike on a vessel in the Red Sea and a drone attack...

A US import ban on certain Apple smartwatch models came into effect, after the Biden administration opted not to veto a ruling on patent infringements. The United States International Trade Commission (ITC) decided in October to ban Apple Watch models over a patented technology for detecting blood-oxygen levels.

"It runs counter to the pursuit of enduring mutual interests in establishing security and stability, and it opposes the declared intention of the American side to enhance relations with Iraq," Baghdad said.

Rows of victims' bodies, shrouded in white bags, lined the ground at Al-Aqsa hospital in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza, ahead of a mass funeral. WHO has warned that only nine of Gaza's original 36 hospitals remain even partially functional. It has termed the situation as unacceptable, demanding a ceasefire.

Sweden and Finland bids earned approval from all NATO members except Turkey and Hungary. They remain the only NATO members left to ratify Sweden's bid 19 months after it applied for membership. Sweden and Finland dropped decades of military non-alignment and sought to join the organisation after Russia invaded Ukraine...

NEW YORK, US - The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) approved a US$3.59 billion budget for 2024, including establishing a private account related to funding by the United Nations Peacebuilding Fund (UNPBF).In a statement late on Sunday, UNGA approved around US$50 million as an additional funding for UN Human Rights...

The Houthis welcomed Spain's stance, with deputy foreign minister Hussein al-Ezzi saying "we highly appreciate Spain's refusal to be drawn into American and British lies on the issue of maritime navigation". The Iran-backed Houthis have carried out several strikes on Red Sea shipping in what they say is in support...

NEW YORK, US - Artists under siege by artificial intelligence (AI) that studies their work, then replicates their styles, have teamed with university researchers to stymy such copycat activity.US illustrator Paloma McClain went into defense mode after learning that several AI models had been "trained" using her art, with no credit...

NEW YORK, US - UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Sunday that 136 United Nations employees in Gaza Strip had died in 75 days, something the global organization had "never seen" in its history."Most of our staff have been forced from their homes," the UN chief added in a post...

The conversation came a day after the UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding "safe and unhindered delivery of humanitarian assistance at scale," though it stopped short of calling for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas militants. "The President emphasized the critical need to protect the civilian population including those...

In one step back from the newfound isolation, the Un on Friday, after painstaking negotiations, let through a UN Security Council resolution on humanitarian aid for the beleaguered Gaza Strip, after vetoing two earlier calls to halt the fighting. But the United States still remained apart from some of its...

The high civilian toll in the latest Israeli strikes on the besieged territory comes in spite of growing calls for restraint and for more aid to reach war-stricken Palestinians. But Israel showed little sign of modulating its "Operation Swords of Iron", which aims to rout Hamas as the US urged...

It was the first time the Pentagon has accused Iran of directly targeting ships since the start of Israel's war on the fighters group Hamas. The attack came amid a flurry of new drone and missile attacks by Yemen's Houthi rebels on the vital Red Sea shipping lane since the...

SAN FRANCISCO, US - A US federal court ruled that social media company Twitter, now branded X, violated contracts by failing to pay annual performance bonuses it orally promised its workers.The breach-of-contract lawsuit was brought by former employer Mark Schobinger in June.The lawsuit said Twitter had promised workers a 2022 performance...

The Israel-Hamas war is pushing Gaza towards famine, the United Nations warned ahead of an expected Security Council vote on a resolution to boost aid to the Palestinian territory but not call for a ceasefire. Separate diplomatic efforts were also underway for a fresh pause in the worst-ever Gaza war.

The Iran-backed Houthis have repeatedly targeted vessels in the vital shipping lane with strikes they say are in support of Palestinians in Gaza, where Israel is battling Hamas. The deaths of 20.000 people in Gaza have provoked widespread anger in the Middle East and provided an impetus for attacks by...

The task force announced by US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Monday initially included Britain, Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles and Spain. The Iran-backed Houthis say their missile and drone strikes on passing container ships are in support of Palestinians in the Gaza war raging between Israel...

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia -- Saudi Arabia’s holdings of US Treasuries reached $117.5 billion in October 2023, up $399 million month-on-month and the highest level since December 2022, new data released by the US Treasury showed.The Kingdom kept the 17th place among the largest holders of US Treasuries for the month,...

It is an antitrust settlement made public recently.

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said that the first private trucks entered Saturday and more came through on Monday. Miller, without confirming the meeting, said that the United States supported a new deal that would include the release of remaining hostages held in Gaza.

A report by Washington's Director of National Intelligence, quoted by US media, said that nearly half of munitions dropped by Israeli aircraft on Gaza were "dumb" bombs -- unguided munitions with limited accuracy. Israel insists Hamas is to blame for mass civilian casualties, accusing the group of using innocent Palestinians...

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement that countries seeking to defend "the foundational principle of freedom of navigation must come together to tackle the challenge posed by this non-state actor." Yemen's Houthi rebels have ramped up attacks on tankers, cargo ships and other vessels in the Red...

Wilmington, United States--A car crashed into a Secret Service vehicle attached to Joe Biden's motorcade on Sunday, with the security scare startling the US president as he left his campaign headquarters in Delaware.After a loud bang caused by a sedan slamming into an SUV positioned in a nearby intersection about 130...

As per UN figures, nearly half a million displaced people have sought refuge in Sudan's Al-Jazirah state, more than 86,000 of them in its capital. However, fighting between Sudanese armed forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) overran the city on Friday, leading the UN humanitarian agency to suspend...

Seoul, South Korea - Microsoft has seized the websites of a Vietnam-based group it alleges sold millions of fake accounts to cybercriminals who used them for ransomware attacks, identity theft and other scams around the world.The group, identified by Microsoft as Storm-1152, developed sophisticated tools to defeat the US tech giant's security...

There have been near-daily cross-border exchanges between Hezbollah, an Iran-backed Hamas ally in Lebanon, and Israel since the Palestinian group's unprecedented October 7 attacks on Israel.

The US has suggested the internationally-recognized PA could play a role in governing Gaza after the war, though the Ramallah-based administration is deeply unpopular among Palestinians

Video footage obtained by AFP showed soldiers inside a mosque in Jenin refugee camp using loudspeakers to recite the Shema Yisrael, a central prayer in Judaism. Towards the end of the clip, laughter can be heard as troops walk outside the mosque and a Hanukkah song rings out from the...

President Joe Biden while expressing his frustration with rightwing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu referred this week to "indiscriminate bombing" in Gaza". The Democratic US administration is even beginning to talk about a "timetable" for how long Israel's high-intensity military operations can continue.

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia -- In the third quarter of 2023, Saudi investors engaged in sell and buy transactions on US equities with a total value of SAR 13.7 billion ($3.65 billion) through capital market institutions. This reflects a substantial year-on-year (YoY) fall of SAR 9.15 billion, equivalent to a 40...

AFP and other international media groups had written to Blinken in late October urging his help in protecting journalists on the ground in Gaza after several were killed since the outbreak of fighting. "The United States has and will continue to underscore with Israel, and with all countries, that journalists...

CAMBRIDGE, US - Harvard University's president, under fire over testimony she gave about anti-Semitism on campus, will remain in her job after a meeting of the institution's governing body issued a statement backing her on Tuesday.Claudine Gay has been engulfed by criticism after she declined to unequivocally say whether calling for...

Washington, United States -- The United States unveiled sanctions Tuesday on individuals and companies based in China, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and others, aiming to disrupt Moscow's military procurement networks amid its war in Ukraine.The latest actions take aim at people and entities accused of supplying Russia’s industry and furthering...

The alliance comes as workers and governments are fretting over the potential repercussions of AI on work, with fears that whole industries and professions could be displaced by human-replacing technology. Microsoft has become the standard-bearer of the AI revolution, moving faster than other tech giants in adopting the technology.

US climate envoy issued the warning after COP28 president Sultan Al Jaber proposed a draft deal that did not include a phase-out of fossil fuels, disappointing the United States, the European Union and low-lying islands most vulnerable to climate change. Kerry told ministers that many participants have called for the...

DOHA, QATAR - Prime Minister of Palestine Mohammad Shtayyeh called for holding Israel accountable, imposing sanctions and not allowing it to continue violating international laws. Addressing a session within the Doha Forum 2023 on Sunday, Shtayyeh called for an “urgent investigation into its crimes against the Palestinian people”. “What is...

Antonio Guterres had convened an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council after two months of fighting in Gaza. He deployed the rarely-used Article 99 of the UN Charter to bring to the council's attention "any matter which in his opinion may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security".

Washington, US – A committee of the Joint Arab-Islamic Extraordinary Summit under the chairmanship of Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Saudi Arabia have held official discussions with the Secretary of State of the US Antony Blinken, here.The committee stressed their call on the United...

Tehran, Iran - Iran said on Saturday that attempting to revive its landmark nuclear deal with world powers that was effectively scrapped by former US president Donald Trump was increasingly "useless"."Today, the more we advance, the more the JCPOA becomes useless," Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said in a speech to students...