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Italian Minister of Health Roberto Speranza announced Sunday that his country succeeded in isolating the new coronavirus in an unprecedent medical event that opens way for a treatment. “We have isolated the virus,” Minister Speranza told a news conference at Spallanzani National Institute for Infectious Diseases, noting that this success means providing …

Iran on Sunday offered its full support for new Iraqi prime minister Mohammed Tawfiq Allawi and reiterated its backing for the government’s demand for U.S. forces to leave the country. Iran has deep ties with many Shi’ite political parties and militias in Iraq as well as Kurdish parties from the …

The head of the European Union’s foreign service, Josep Borrell, will travel to Iran next week to meet the country’s leaders in a bid to reduce tensions in the Middle East, the EU said in a statement on Sunday. During in his trip on Monday and Tuesday, Borrell will meet …

A Japanese destroyer left for the Gulf of Oman on Sunday amid simmering Middle East tension to guard sea lanes that supply nearly all the oil that powers the world’s third-biggest economy. “Thousands of Japanese ships ply those waters every year including vessels carrying nine tenths of our oil. It …

The Palestinian Authority has cut all ties with the United States and Israel, including those relating to security, after rejecting a Middle East peace plan presented by U.S. President Donald Trump, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Saturday. Abbas was in Cairo to address the Arab League, which backed the …

Iraqi President Barham Salih appointed Mohammed Tawfiq Allawi as prime minister on Saturday, state television reported, after squabbling parties failed to name a candidate in the two months since Adel Abdul-Mahdi was ousted by mass protests. Allawi, who will run Iraq until early elections can be held, must form a …

Syrian insurgents carried out two suicide car bomb attacks in an assault on pro-government forces in Aleppo on Saturday and opened a new front northeast of the city, an attempted fightback after territorial gains for President Bashar al-Assad. Backed by Russian air power, Syrian government forces had made a significant …

The world is being roiled by the Corona Virus, which appears to have come out of China.  Not only is it worrying health experts, it is affecting financial markets as China has aggressively quarantined infected areas and closed large factories, which threatens to impact their economy.  And, since China’s economy …

A man accused of killing two police officers while acting as the leader of an al Qaeda group in the Iraqi city of Fallujah was arrested in Phoenix, Arizona, federal officials said on Friday. Ali Yousif Ahmed Al-Nouri, 42, is wanted in Iraq on charges of premeditated murder of the …

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Kelly Craft warned the Palestinians on Friday that bringing their displeasure with the U.S. peace plan to the world body would only “repeat the failed pattern of the last seven decades.” Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will speak in the U.N. Security Council in the next …

Turkey may launch a military operation into Syria’s northwestern province of Idlib if the situation in the region is not resolved immediately, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday, as attacks by Russia-backed Syrian government forces raised concern of a new refugee wave to Turkey. Speaking in Ankara, Erdogan said Turkey …

The U.S. House of Representatives passed two pieces of legislation on Thursday seeking to rein in President Donald Trump’s ability to deploy U.S. forces to fight abroad, as some lawmakers fume over his failure to fully inform them about his strategy toward Iran. The Democratic-led House voted nearly along party …

President Kais Saied of Tunisia, an ally of the United States, said on Thursday that the new U.S. plan for peace between Israel and the Palestinians is the “injustice of the century”. Tunisia is serving a two-year term on the United Nations Security Council and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will …

French President Emmanuel Macron raised doubts on Thursday about the prospect of a two-state solution between Israelis and Palestinians and cast doubt on whether a peace plan unveiled by the United States this week would succeed. “I believe in two sovereignties,” Macron said when asked by Le Figaro newspaper whether …

The Trump administration on Thursday said it will allow Russian, Chinese and European companies to continue their work at Iranian nuclear sites, arguing that their presence makes it harder for Tehran to develop nuclear weapons. But the United States also imposed sanctions on Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization (AEOI) and its …

The FBI is investigating the role of Israeli spyware vendor NSO Group Technologies in possible hacks on American residents and companies as well as suspected intelligence gathering on governments, according to four people familiar with the inquiry. The probe was underway by 2017, when Federal Bureau of Investigation officials were …

BY Stephen Zunes,   Donald Trump’s long-awaited “deal of the century” between Israel and Palestine essentially gives Israel’s far right coalition government everything it wanted. This Middle East “peace” deal allows Israel to annex vast stretches of the Palestinian West Bank (which has been under Israeli military occupation since 1967) …

Service members suffering from traumatic brain injury following missile strikes by Iran on a base in Iraq earlier this month have all so far been diagnosed with mild cases, Army General Mark Milley, chairman of the military’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on Thursday. “The diagnosis we have so far …

Jordan has signed a new $1.3 billion programme with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the state news agency Petra said on Thursday. Petra said it was a four-year programme, but it gave no further details. In December, the country’s finance minister said a new IMF deal would secure lower servicing …

Business is booming at Iran’s largest flag factory which makes U.S., British and Israeli flags for Iranian protesters to burn. At the factory in the town of Khomein, southwest of the capital Tehran, young men and women print the flags by hand then hang them up to dry. The factory …

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will speak in the United Nations Security Council in the next two weeks about the U.S. Middle East peace plan, Palestinian U.N. envoy Riyad Mansour said on Wednesday. Mansour told reporters he hoped the 15-member Security Council, at the same meeting that Abbas would address, would …

The Pentagon has said the number of troops suffering from traumatic brain injuries (TBI) after an Iranian attack on a US base in Iraq on 8 January has risen to 50. The new total is 16 more than previously announced. President Donald Trump initially said no Americans were injured and …

Iranian rapper Amir Tataloo has been detained by Turkish authorities in Istanbul after he was flagged as a wanted person by Interpol, police say. Turkish police said Interpol issued a “red notice” for Tataloo, real name Amirhossein Maghsoudloo. The notice, which is not an arrest warrant, was for a drug-related …

Israeli Defence Minister Naftali Bennett said on Wednesday that Israel should move to establish sovereignty over nearly a third of the occupied West Bank following the announcement of U.S. President Donald Trump’s Middle East peace plan. The remarks by the hawkish Bennett, a partner in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing …

Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement said on Wednesday it targeted facilities belonging to Saudi Aramco in Jizan on the Red Sea in response to “escalating air strikes” but there was no immediate confirmation from Saudi Arabian authorities. State oil giant Aramco declined to comment on the report. Houthi military spokesman Yahya …

Israel foiled a major cyber attack on one of its power stations a few months ago, Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz said on Wednesday. “It was a very serious, sophisticated attempt trying to control and paralyze one of our power stations,” Steinitz told the CyberTech conference in Tel Aviv, without elaborating. …

Egypt is considering exporting gas to Lebanon using an offshore pipeline, Egyptian Petrol Minister Tarek al-Molla told Al-Arabiya in an interview published Monday. “Unfortunately, the pipeline for importing Egyptian gas to Lebanon passes through Syria. The current circumstances in Syria mean we cannot deliver gas,” Molla said on the sidelines …

A Democratic-led U.S. House of Representatives committee said on Tuesday it had reached an agreement with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to testify at a public hearing on Iran and Iraq policy, after threatening a subpoena over previous refusals to appear. Representative Eliot Engel, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs …

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called U.S. President Donald Trump’s Middle East peace plan the “slap of the century” on Tuesday as thousands of Palestinians held protests in Gaza and the West Bank. The Islamist group Hamas said it would confront Trump’s “aggressive” proposals and accused him of talking “nonsense” about …

Saudi Arabia’s King Salman reassured the Kingdom’s commitment to the Palestinian issue and Palestinian rights, in a phone call with Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, the Saudi state news agency reported early on Wednesday. U.S. President Donald Trump proposed on Tuesday the creation of a Palestinian state with a capital in …

Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah group on Tuesday rejected U.S. President Donald Trump’s Middle East peace plan as a means to destroy Palestinians’ rights, and accused Arab states of being complicit in a “deal of shame” that bodes ill for the region. The heavily armed Shi’ite group, which helped form Lebanon’s new …

Jordan said on Tuesday the only path to a comprehensive and lasting Middle East peace was the establishment of an independent Palestinian state based on land captured by Israel in a 1967 war, and with East Jerusalem as its capital. “Jordan supports every genuine effort aimed at achieving just and …

The United Arab Emirates’ ambassador to Washington said in a statement on Tuesday that the UAE believes Palestinians and Israelis can achieve lasting peace and genuine coexistence with the support of the international community, the UAE Embassy in Washington said on Twitter. Ambassador Yousef Al Otaiba also announced the UAE’s …

U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday proposed creation of a Palestinian state with a capital in East Jerusalem, dependent on Palestinians taking steps to become self-governing, in an attempt to achieve a peace breakthrough in their decades of conflict with Israel. Senior administration officials, briefing Reuters on the details of …

Turkey’s Defence Ministry said on Tuesday that it would retaliate “in the strongest way, without hesitation” against any attack on its observation posts in Syria’s northwestern Idlib province by President Bashar al-Assad’s forces. Syrian government forces entered a town south of Idlib city on Tuesday, in a significant advance for …

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was formally indicted in court on Tuesday on corruption charges after he withdrew his request for parliamentary immunity from prosecution. Netanyahyu was in Washington for meetings with U.S. President Donald Trump ahead of the release of Trump’s long-delayed Israel-Palestinian peace plan when Israel’s attorney-general filed …

Thousands of Palestinians demonstrated against U.S. President Donald Trump’s Israeli-Palestinian peace plan on Tuesday hours before its scheduled release at a ceremony in Washington. Israeli troops meanwhile reinforced positions near a flashpoint site between the Palestinian city of Ramallah and the Jewish settlement of Beit El in the Israeli-occupied West …

Instead of acknowledging the political and national aspirations of the Palestinians, negotiators are focusing on material and economic concerns.   By Robert Malley President and CEO of the International Crisis Group & Aaron David Miller Distinguished Fellow at the Wilson Center |   Recent months have seen a series of …

President Donald Trump’s fellow Republicans in the U.S. Senate came under renewed pressure on Monday to allow witnesses in his impeachment trial, while his defense team largely ignored disclosures from a former White House adviser. The elephant in the room on Day 2 of Trump’s defense arguments was John Bolton, the …

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday he is withdrawing his bid for parliamentary immunity from prosecution on corruption charges. Israel’s longest-serving prime minister said in a statement the immunity proceedings in parliament would have been a “circus” and he did not want to take part in this “dirty …

Holocaust survivors in Israel are better off financially than in the past thanks to the efforts of campaigners after decades of government neglect and bureaucracy, but some still live in poverty. World leaders joined some of the survivors in Poland on Monday to mark 75 years since Soviet troops liberated …

U.S. President Donald Trump discussed developments in Syria and Libya in a phone call with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Monday, a White House spokesman said on Twitter. “The two leaders discussed the need to eliminate foreign interference and maintain the ceasefire in Libya. The leaders agreed that the violence …

Iran is preparing a site for launching a satellite, a government minister said on Monday, highlighting a program the United States says is a cover for ballistic missile development. “Yes, a site is being prepared for placing the Zafar satellite into orbit,” Iranian Minister of Information and Communications Technology Mohammad …

A Washington visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss a long-awaited Middle East peace plan lent a surprise boost on Monday to his main political rival, who secured a separate meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump. Ex-general Benny Gantz deadlocked with Netanyahu in two elections last year, triggering …