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Lebanon’s parliament speaker Nabih Berri urged the country’s top politicians on Tuesday to form a government no later than this week. In a televised speech, Berri urged politicians to put aside their differences in order to save the country from economic collapse. Lebanon, which is suffering a deep economic crisis, …

Immigration from Lebanon is entering a state of “exodus” as the many crises hitting the small Mediterranean country remain unresolved, according to the Crisis Observatory, an interdisciplinary research program launched by the American University of Beirut. The continuing immigration of thousands of Lebanese is reaching a tipping point, the research …

Britain prepared to use ‘all means necessary’ to combat terror group Britain’s Royal Air Force is prepared to launch airstrikes in Afghanistan, targeting the resurgent Daesh group in the country, the RAF’s chief said following rocket attacks in Kabul. “We’ve got to be able to play a global role in …

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Israel will lend the cash-strapped Palestinian Authority more than $150 million after the sides held their highest-level meeting in years, Israeli officials said on Monday, while playing down prospects of any major diplomatic breakthrough. Defence Minister Benny Gantz, who has overall responsibility for the Israeli-occupied West Bank, travelled to the …

Syrian regime forces shelled opposition-held parts of a volatile southern city on Monday killing at least one person, while insurgents killed four soldiers after Russia-brokered talks to end the presence of opposition fighters in the area collapsed. Syria’s pro-regime media reported that Bashar Assad’s forces retaliated against fire by opposition …

The economic crisis in Lebanon is prompting a remarkable number of Syrian workers residing in the country to return to Syria. The number of Syrian refugees in Lebanon has decreased to 851,717, according to the UN High Commission for Refugees’ latest census, though the Lebanese government stopped allowing the UNHCR …

A dispute over scarce fuel supplies ignited sectarian tensions between neighbouring Shi’ite Muslim and Christian villages in southern Lebanon over the weekend, forcing the army to intervene, a security source said. Clashes mostly centred on the crippling gasoline and diesel shortages have become a daily occurrence in Lebanon, prompting growing …

When Ezmarai Ahmadi returned home from work on Sunday evening in Kabul, the usual gaggle of squealing children were waiting to greet him — his sons and daughters, and a slew of nieces and nephews. He pulled his white sedan into the driveway of a modest house in Kwaja Burga, …

Celebratory gunfire echoed across Kabul as Taliban fighters took control of the airport before dawn on Tuesday following the withdrawal of the last U.S. troops, ending 20 years of war that left the Islamic militia stronger than it was in 2001. Shaky video footage distributed by the Taliban showed fighters …

“What in the world is Lil Uzi Vert doing at an Arab wedding?” wrote one user on Twitter this week after footage of the American rapper dancing at the nuptials of a Palestinian couple went viral online. While it’s not exactly certain how or why the “Xo Tour Llif3” hitmaker …

A massive oil spill caused by leakage from a power plant inside one of Syria’s oil refineries is spreading along the coast of the Mediterranean country, Syria’s state news agency said and satellite photos showed Wednesday. SANA said the spill reached the coastal town of Jableh, about 20 kilometers north …

France, Britain and Germany are working on a United Nations proposal aimed at establishing a safe zone in Kabul to allow safe passage for people trying to leave Afghanistan, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Sunday. Macron, who said France had begun discussions with the Taliban to explore how further …

Turkey cannot bear the burden of a new wave of migrants from Afghanistan, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Sunday after talks with his German counterpart, as concerns over a new wave of migrants wave of migrants remain after the takeover of power by the Taliban. Events in Afghanistan fueled …

US anti-missile defenses intercepted as many as five rockets that were fired at Kabul’s airport early on Monday morning, a US official said, as the United States rushed to complete its withdrawal from Afghanistan to end its longest war. US and allied forces are hurrying to evacuate their remaining citizens …

A US drone strike blew up a vehicle carrying “multiple suicide bombers” from Afghanistan’s Islamic State affiliate on Sunday before they could attack the ongoing military evacuation at Kabul’s international airport, American officials said. An Afghan official said three children were killed in the strike. The strike came just two …

French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday visited the Daesh group’s former Iraqi stronghold Mosul, a day after vowing to keep troops in the country. Macron made the commitment during a regional summit in Baghdad largely devoted to the fight against terrorism and the impact of the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan as the …

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met with Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Sunday, officials said. It was the highest-level meeting between Abbas and an Israeli minister to be made public since Israel’s new government was formed in June. Gantz, who heads a centrist …

A British Muslim of Iraqi-Kurdish origin is walking from the UK to Saudi Arabia to arrive in time for next year’s Hajj pilgrimage. Adam Mohamed, 52, set off from Wolverhampton, where he lives, on Aug. 1 and aims to reach Makkah before the pilgrimage starts in July. He has already …

An Egyptian archeological mission on Friday unearthed remains of a town dating back to the Greco-Roman era in the north coast city of Alexandria. Mostafa Waziri, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities of Egypt, said that during excavation work in the Shatby neighborhood “the mission found … a large …

Sudan’s Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdok said a Saudi pledge to invest $3 billion in his country could rise to $10 billion as the country looks to rebound from an economic crisis. “In our last visit to Saudi Arabia, we met the crown prince and agreed on an investment of $3 …

Israeli aircraft struck Hamas sites in Gaza early on Sunday in response to incendiary balloons launched from the Palestinian enclave, the military said, as a recent rise in cross-border violence tests a fragile truce that ended fierce fighting in May. Sanctioned by Hamas, the Islamist armed group that rules Gaza, …

A top Iranian security official accused U.S. President Joe Biden on Saturday of illegally threatening Iran after he said he may consider other options if nuclear diplomacy with Tehran fails. “The emphasis on using ‘other options’ against (Iran) amounts to threatening another country illegally and establishes Iran’s right to reciprocate …

Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi met Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani in Baghdad on Saturday, the Egyptian presidency said, the first meeting since the two countries agreed in January to end the dispute from 2017. Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain and Egypt had severed diplomatic, trade and transport ties …

President Emmanuel Macron said on Saturday that France was holding preliminary talks with the Taliban on the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan and the possible evacuation of more people from the country. Macron, who spoke in Baghdad where he was attending a summit with several Middle East leaders, said France was …

Several Middle Eastern leaders and French President Emmanuel Macron met in Baghdad on Saturday at a summit hosted by Iraq, which wants its neighbours to talk to each other instead of settling scores on its territory. Iraq’s security has improved in recent years but it is still plagued by big …

Iraqi populist Shi’ite Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr said on Friday that he and his supporters would take part in an October general election, reversing a decision last month to stay out. Sadr’s bloc is part of a coalition that holds the most seats in parliament now, and is likely to …

The second unit of United Arab Emirates’ only nuclear power plant has started operations, UAE leaders announced on Twitter on Friday. “Operations started at Unit 2 at the Barakah nuclear energy plant,” said Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed, the Ruler’s representative in the western region of Abu Dhabi. “This is a …

The Taliban will ask Qatar for technical assistance in operating Kabul airport, Qatari based Al Jazeera news channel reported on Friday citing a source in the Islamist movement. The Taliban have asked Turkey for technical help to run the airport after next Tuesday’s deadline for all foreign military forces to …

US President Joe Biden told Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett in White House talks on Friday that he was putting “diplomacy first” to try to rein in Iran’s nuclear program but if negotiations fail he would be prepared to turn to other unspecified options. After a one-day delay due to …

Western forces running the Afghan airlift braced on Saturday for more attacks after the United States launched a drone strike, apparently killing an Islamic State “planner”, two days after the group claimed a deadly bombing outside Kabul airport. Among the 92 killed in Thursday’s suicide blast, claimed by Afghanistan’s Islamic …

The Lebanese parliament on Friday told the judge who is investigating last year’s Beirut port explosion that he had exceeded his powers by issuing a subpoena for caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab after he failed to show up for questioning. Judge Tarek Bitar, leading the inquiry into the huge explosion, …

Lebanon’s energy ministry said it had picked Dubai’s ENOC in a tender to swap 84,000 tonnes of Iraqi high sulphur fuel oil with 30,000 tonnes of Grade B fuel oil and 33,000 tonnes of gasoil. ENOC won the tender, part of a deal between the two countries that allows the …

The Lebanese army has deployed troops to an area of the north where two men have been killed this week in violence between rival clans that spiralled out of a dispute over logging, a security source said on Thursday. Heavy machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades were used during fighting in …

The first White House meeting between President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett was postponed until Friday, overshadowed by suicide bombings near Kabul airport during a chaotic U.S. evacuation mission from Afghanistan. Two deadly explosions https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/western-nations-race-complete-afghan-evacuation-deadline-looms-2021-08-25 occurred on Thursday just hours before Biden and Bennett were due to …

U.S. forces helping to evacuate Afghans desperate to flee Taliban rule braced for more attacks on Friday after an Islamic State suicide bomber killed 85 people, including 13 U.S. soldiers outside the gates of Kabul airport. Two blasts and gunfire https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/i-saw-doomsday-says-kabul-airport-blast-survivor-2021-08-26 rocked the area outside the airport on Thursday evening, …

The judge leading the investigation into last summer’s Beirut port blast issued a subpoena for caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab on Thursday after he failed to show up for questioning, Lebanon’s state news agency reported. Judge Tarek Bitar, who is leading the inquiry into the explosion, issued requests in July …

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amirabdollahian that talks on the Iranian nuclear deal in Vienna should restart as soon as possible, the Russian foreign ministry said on Thursday. “The Iranian side perceived this signal with due seriousness,” the ministry’s statement read. Iran has accelerated its …

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed deep concern on Thursday about the deteriorating socio-economic situation in Lebanon and called on all “political leaders to urgently form an effective government of national unity,” his spokesman said. This is needed to “bring immediate relief, justice and accountability … and drive an ambitious and …

The US military confirmed two large explosions Thursday outside the Kabul airport in Afghanistan, where the United States and other countries have been evacuating tens of thousands of people. Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said there were “a number” of US and civilian casualties in the bombings, which came just hours after western …

The NEOM Media Industries Sector has partnered with ITP Media Group, the parent company of magazine brands such as Harper’s Bazaar and Esquire, to train young Saudi journalists. “Talent development is a key element of our aim of establishing NEOM as the regional epicenter of the media industries,” said Wayne …

More than 12 months since Lebanon’s cabinet resigned and with the country teetering on the brink of collapse, politicians look unlikely to form a much-needed government any time soon, sources warn. Despite one of the world’s largest-ever non-nuclear explosions killing more than 200 people, soaring hyperinflation, food insecurity and crippling …

Israel’s defense minister on Wednesday accused Iran of launching a deadly drone strike on an oil tanker last month from its territory and reiterated that Israel would act alone if needed to stop Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.Benny Gantz spoke as Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett was visiting Washington to …

At least 20 Palestinian protesters have been wounded after the Israeli army fired on them near the security fence in besieged Gaza, medical sources and witnesses said, but the protest was more muted than a weekend demonstration that left dozens wounded. Paramedics transported demonstrators who were wounded by live bullets …