The city on the Egyptian border had been sheltering 1.4 million Palestinians, according to the United Nations, but Israel's military operation sparked an exodus of nearly 360,000 people from Rafah so far, said the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA).

Israel said its Kerem Shalom southern crossing with Gaza reopened on Wednesday, three days after being closed because of rocket fire claimed by Hamas's armed wing. However, UN agencies and aid groups said they have been unable to transport much-needed supplies through the crossing for security reasons.

The US has warned that the reputational damage Israel will suffer if it storms a city where an estimated 1.4 million civilians are sheltering will far outweigh any possible military gain. UN chief Antonio Guterres said Friday that Gaza risked an "epic humanitarian disaster" if Israel launched a full-scale ground...

Biden, a self-described Zionist, had long resisted stopping any of the $3 billion in weapons the United States sends each year to Israel -- and pushed Congress for an increase in the wake of the October 7 attack by Hamas that triggered the war.

Washington, United States - The US Federal Reserve on Wednesday held interest rates steady for a sixth straight meeting, keeping the level at a 23-year high to fight stubborn price increases.After a two-day gathering, the central bank decided unanimously to keep the benchmark lending rate unchanged at 5.25-5.50 percent, citing a...

Jerusalem, Undefined - Hopes rose on Monday for a long-sought-after truce and hostage release deal after almost seven months of war in Gaza between Palestinian Hamas fighters and Israel.Washington's top diplomat said he was "hopeful" Hamas would accept the offer, which his British counterpart said could see the release of thousands...

Baltimore, United States - Baltimore Banner reporter Matti Gellman is first to leap in with questions during a recent press appearance by Maryland's state governor and celebrity chef Jose Andres at an urban farm.With her notebook wedged under her arm and a Banner-branded baseball cap on her head, Gellman is launching...

The United States was among the first to cut ties with Assad over the repression of anti-government protests that sparked war in 2011, and many Western and Arab states also severed relations.

Iran downplayed Israel's reported retaliation for its unprecedented drone and missile attack, tamping down fears that escalating attacks between the arch enemies could tip over into a broader war in the Middle East. However a deadly blast at an Iraqi military base underlined the persisting tensions in the region.

Fears of regional escalation grew after a strike on Iran's consular annex at its embassy in Damascus. Tehran blames the attack on Israel. Airlines said they are avoiding Iranian airspace, nearly two weeks after a strike.

Agile work models and diverse skill demands propel MENA's freelance economy, empowering businesses to thrive amid modernization and digital transformation.

"Our enemies think that they can pull apart Israel and the United States, but the opposite is true -- they are bringing us together," Gallant said, after the two discussed Iran's threats of retaliation for a deadly air strike on its consulate in Syria.

The losses tracked a sell-off on Wall Street and saw the dollar strike a 34-year high against the yen, fueling speculation Japanese authorities will step in to support their beleaguered currency. Figures showing the consumer price index rose 0.4 percent on-month and 3.5 percent on-year were both above consensus for...

Biden urged Netanyahu "to just call for a ceasefire, allow for the next six, eight weeks, total access to all food and medicine going into the country"

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he had no indication of an "imminent" Israeli assault on the city, the last in the Gaza Strip yet to be the target of a ground invasion and where around 1.5 million Palestinians are sheltering.

The Damascus airstrike targeted the Iranian consulate, resulting in the death of IRGC commander Mohammad Reza Zahedi and several other IRGC officers. Since then, Iran has issued threats of a "harsh response" against Israel.

At the start of Israel's war with Hamas in October, Donald Trump loudly presented himself as the key US ally's ultimate champion. But six months and more than 33,000 deaths in Gaza later, he has become increasingly vague on the intensity of that support. Trump has halfheartedly commented on the...

"The demands ... are complete ceasefire, withdrawal of the occupation forces from Gaza, the return of the displaced to their residential areas, freedom of movement of the people, offering them aid, shelter, and a serious hostage exchange deal," Hamas said. Its insistence came as US President Joe Biden urged an...

Brussels, Belgium - US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday Washington wanted to see "results" showing more aid was reaching Gazans after Israel announced it would open routes into the territory.Israel announced on Friday that it would allow "temporary" aid deliveries into famine-threatened northern Gaza, hours after the United...

The threat of regional war compounded fears that the Federal Reserve would not cut interest rates as much as previously expected, with the focus now on the release of key US jobs data later in the day. The sell-off followed a plunge across the board on Wall Street.

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said deadly attacks on humanitarian staff showed either deliberate intent or reckless incompetence, and called for a change in how the war is being conducted. The medical charity added that children were turning up in hospitals with gunshot wounds from drones.

Brussels, Belgium - NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg urged the United States to stick together with Europe as the Western military alliance turned 75 on Thursday menaced by an aggressive Russia and the specter of Donald Trump's return to power.The Kremlin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 re-invigorated NATO as it was...

LOS ANGELES, US – The booming use of electric vehicles in parts of California is reducing CO2 emissions in those areas, a study showed on Thursday, bolstering a key pillar of the state's drive towards net zero.Scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, say a network of sensors set up around...

On Thursday, bullion touched $2,304.96 per ounce, according to Bloomberg News, after Fed boss Jerome Powell said it would likely be appropriate to cut borrowing costs "at some point this year". Eyes are now on the release of US jobs figures due at the end of the week.

In December, the airline ordered 230 Airbus planes.

According to the health ministry in Gaza, the bodies of four foreign aid workers and their Palestinian driver were brought to a hospital in the town of Deir el-Balah after an Israeli strike targeted their vehicle. Hamas said the aid workers included "British, Australian and Polish nationalities, with the fourth...

The White House said in a statement that the two sides had a "constructive engagement on Rafah" during two hours of videoconference talks, attended by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sulliva. The US side expressed its concerns with various courses of action in Rafah.

Washington, US - A digital tool considered vital in tracking viral falsehoods, CrowdTangle will be decommissioned by Facebook owner Meta in a major election year, a move researchers fear will disrupt efforts to detect an expected firehose of political misinformation.The tech giant says CrowdTangle will be unavailable after August 14, less...

BANGKOK, THAILAND – Asian economies are not doing as well as they could and growth in the region is forecast to slow to 4.5 percent this year from 5.1 percent in 2023, Associated Press (AP) quoted a World Bank report as saying on Monday.Debt, trade barriers and policy uncertainties are...

Reports of the new talks in Cairo came as protesters in Israel's biggest city blocked a major road Saturday following demonstrations calling for the release of hostages held in Gaza. A key element of the ceasefire negotiations has been an agreement on releasing the hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners...

Russia's invasion of Ukraine more than two years ago upended European leaders' sense of unshakeable post-war peace, prompting many countries to gear up weapons production to supply both Kiev and their own militaries. Former European Council president Tusk, whose country has been one of the staunchest supporters of neighbouring Ukraine,...

It will cost US$100bn and will include an AI supercomputer.

It can essentially duplicate someone's speech.

The go-ahead for a new round of talks on a Gaza ceasefire came a day after the world's top court ordered Israel to ensure aid reaches desperate civilians. But despite a binding UN Security Council resolution earlier this week demanding an "immediate ceasefire", fighting raged on unabated in Gaza.

Istanbul, Turkey - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will meet with US counterpart Joe Biden at the White House on May 9, a Turkish official told AFP on Friday.It would be the first White House meeting between the two leaders.The Biden administration in January approved $23 billion in F-16 warplanes for...

The next US census and federal government forms will include new options for race and ethnicity including a category for people of Middle Eastern or North African origin, officials said. The changes, the first in nearly three decades, were announced by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and published...

WASHINGTON, US – The US central bank's favored measure of inflation edged higher last month on the back of rising fuel prices, according to government data published on Friday, but another gauge stripping out volatile food and energy prices continued to ease.US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell told a conference in...

The profits more than doubled compared to 2022.

The sale is expected to be completed by June-end .

MOSCOW, RUSSIA - Russia said on Thursday it had evidence the perpetrators of last week's massacre at a concert hall outside Moscow were linked to "Ukrainian nationalists", a claim that the United States called nonsense.President Vladimir Putin and his security services continue to allege Kyiv and the West were involved somehow...

Washington, United States -- When a rare total solar eclipse sweeps across North America on April 8, scientists will be able to gather invaluable data on everything from the Sun's atmosphere to strange animal behaviors -- and even possible effects on humans.It comes with the Sun near the peak of its...

In November, the Houthis launched a campaign of drone and missile strikes against vessels in the Red Sea, an area vital for world trade, in professed solidarity with Palestinians during Israel's war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. US and British forces have responded with strikes against the Houthis, who...

Speaking at the CERAWeek conference in Houston, Saudi Aramco Chief Executive Amin Nasser said that the current transition strategy is visibly failing on most fronts. adding that this is "hardly the future picture some have been painting." Fossil fuels accounted for 82% of global consumption last year.

Israel's prime minister cancelled the visit after the US abstained on the UNSC vote, allowing it to pass. But Israel backtracked, after the White House said it was "perplexed" by the move. The U-turn came after Israeli defense minister had "constructive discussions" with senior US officials in Washington.

The richest state in the United States by GDP, California is a hotbed of no-holds-barred tech innovation, but lawmakers in state capital Sacramento want to give the industry laws and guardrails it has largely been spared in the internet age. Brussels has enacted a barrage of laws on US-dominated tech...

Gaza has endured almost six months of war and a siege that has cut off most food, water, fuel and other supplies, and the UN has warned that its 2.4 million people are on the brink of a "man-made famine". The flow of aid trucks from Egypt has slowed amid...

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor, an Iranian Revolutionary Guards adviser, his two Iranian security escorts, and four Syrian and nine Iraqi fighters with pro-Iran groups were killed in strikes on a villa in Deir Ezzor city and on the town of Albu Kamal on the Iraqi...

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told his Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant that civilian casualties in Gaza are "too high". A separate Israeli delegation was supposed to visit Washington to discuss US concerns over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's plans to launch an assault Rafah, where much of Gaza's population has sought...

With dollars dominating the country's economy, Baghdad has imposed a series of restrictions on the use of American greenbacks domestically. At the end of 2022 the country's bankings sector also adopted the international financial messaging system known as SWIFT as part of the reforms, to help tackle money laundering and...

The resolution demanding an "immediate ceasefire" was adopted Monday after Israel's closest ally the United States abstained. Washington insisted that its abstention, which followed numerous vetoes, did not mark a shift in policy, although it has taken an increasingly tougher line with Israel in recent weeks.