BEIJING (AP)- One of China's biggest cities has imposed curbs on traffic and factories due to a spike in air pollution and told elderly people and children to stay indoors. The government of Tianjin, a port city of 15.5 million people east of Beijing, said half its cars will be barred...
MOSCOW (AFP)- Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is expected to be reelected for a fourth term in an upcoming ballot, said Saturday he had no plans to change the constitution to stay in the Kremlin beyond 2024. Asked by the US television network NBC whether he would follow in...
A gunman and three women thought to be his hostages were found dead Friday at a California veterans home after an hours-long standoff with police. The assailant struck at 10:20 am (1820 GMT) at the Veterans Home of California-Yountville in the Napa Valley, the largest veterans' home in...
Gunmen suspected to be herdsmen have killed at least five people in central Nigeria's Plateau state, police said Saturday, in the latest violence linked to tensions over grazing rights. Thursday's attack happened just as President Muhammadu Buhari was rounding up a tour of Plateau and...
Qatar accused the United Arab Emirates Friday of seizing a fishing boat and forcing its eight occupants to enter Emirati waters at gunpoint, the latest accusation in a nine-month row between the Gulf Arab neighbors. The UAE, along with Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Egypt, imposed travel, diplomatic...
Turkish banking sector posted a 4.5 billion Turkish lira ($1.2 billion) net profit in January this year, according to the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK) on Friday. In January, the net profit of the sector recorded a 22.7 percent rise year-on-year, compared to 3.7...
A Palestinian youth was martyred -- and another four injured -- in clashes with Israeli troops that erupted in the occupied West Bank on Friday, according to witnesses. The clashes followed a weekly demonstration against the recent U.S. decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s...
Three people were injured Friday by a car-bomb attack on a checkpoint near Libya’s eastern city of Ajdabiya, a stronghold for forces loyal to military commander Khalifa Haftar, according to a local security source. The source, who spoke to Anadolu Agency on condition of anonymity, said...
At least three people were killed on Friday -- and another four injured -- in two separate attacks by unknown perpetrators in Baghdad, according to a local police source. “Unidentified gunmen stormed a house early Friday in Baghdad’s eastern Al-Mashtaal district, killing a doctor and...
Turkey's military and its rebel allies have besieged the northern Syrian town of Afrin and were nearing its town center, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday, in what would mark a major advance in Turkey's military operation. Turkey launched its operation, dubbed "Olive Branch", in...
A months-long ban on international flights into and out of northern Iraq’s Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) will be lifted before the upcoming Nevruz spring festival, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has reportedly said. According to a Friday statement released by the office of...
The State Department spokesperson on Thursday said talks between Turkish and American officials have begun in the U.S. capital and many issues will be discussed including Syria and Turkey's ongoing operation in Afrin. "Today is the first day that the U.S. government and Turkish...
Israel’s founding fathers, who etched a commitment to encouraging Jewish immigration into the declaration of independence, might be surprised to find that, seven decades later, the state is relying on Christians to fulfill that promise. What was once a strictly Jewish-funded mission is...
BEIJING (AP)- China's government says it "firmly opposes" U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff increase for imported steel and aluminum but has given no indication whether Beijing might impose its own measures in response. A Commerce Ministry statement on Friday accused Trump of...
Election observers of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on Thursday hailed the conduct of the March 7 presidential, parliamentary and local council polls in Sierra Leone. In a statement, the bloc -- comprising 70 observers led by Liberia’s former interim president,...
President Donald Trump has accepted North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's invitation to meet for de-nuclearization talks, South Korea's national security advisor confirmed Thursday. Chung Eui-Yiong told reporters during brief remarks at the White House that Trump has agreed to meet Kim by...
Domestic and international considerations are behind Russian president's remark that Moscow has developed several advanced weapons, including intercontinental underwater drones and nuclear-powered cruise missiles, according to Turkish analysts. Vladimir Putin’s statements made on March...
Access to a debt market teeming with yield-hungry investors is helping some cash-strapped nations in the Gulf Cooperation Council kick reforms down the road. Taking advantage of attractive interest rates, Oman raised $6.5 billion in January, its biggest sale on record, to help bridge deficits....
SINGAPORE (AFP)- US tennis great Billie Jean King, a high-profile advocate of gender equality, has urged more players to take up causes off court and help "make this world a better place". King, the 74-year-old former world No. 1, said famous players have a global platform to speak out...
Saudi Arabia’s energy minister hinted the initial public offering of the state oil company Aramco could be delayed until 2019, pushing back a central plank of Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman’s plan to modernize the economy. Khalid al-Falih also said the IPO, potentially the largest...
