Chinese authorities have demolished thousands of mosques in Xinjiang, an Australian think tank said Friday, in the latest report of widespread human rights abuses in the restive region. Rights groups say more than one million Uighurs and other mostly Muslim Turkic-speaking people have been...

The final stretch of a presidential campaign is typically a nonstop mix of travel, caffeine and adrenaline. But as the worst pandemic in a century bears down on the United States, Joe Biden is taking a lower key approach. Since his Aug. 11 selection of California Sen. Kamala Harris as his...

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has apologized to South Korea over the killing of an official who went missing in a border region, local media reported Friday.  In a formal notice to South Korea, Kim said he felt “very sorry” for “disappointing” President Moon Jae-in and other South...

Muhannad Al-Hamoud’s documentary film Dream is unveiling and showing the sufferings faced by the children of Homs’ Al-Waer during the siege years. The Syrian film released in a  5 km area, where children lived almost nothing about life in light of the war and siege of the neighborhood...

In just two months, Egypt’s burgeoning #MeToo movement has exposed sexual assaults, spurred legal reform and emboldened hundreds of abuse victims including celebrities to speak out, sparking a long-overdue debate about gender inequality. Now, rights activists in the conservative country say...

The United Arab Emirates and Israel share threats to their national online networks, the Israeli cyber-security chief said on Thursday in a rare public discussion of potential cooperation with his counterpart following the normalisation of relations. The establishment of formal Israel-UAE...

His assault on Libya's capital has collapsed. Foreign powers have tried to sideline him. But military commander Khalifa Haftar still sits astride oil terminals, with enough fire power and political sway to thwart any plans for peace. Having failed in his bid for national rule, Haftar, 76,...

Mexico was set to surpass 75,000 confirmed coronavirus deaths Thursday, as the pandemic ravages Latin American nations with large informal economies where workers have grappled with the twin threats of hunger and contagion. Mexico has the world's fourth-highest coronavirus death toll,...

Huthi rebels marked 2,000 days of "resistance" against the Saudi-led coalition in war-torn Yemen Thursday with a display of stacks of cash, food and other donations presented to their fighters. The coalition intervened in the Yemen war in March 2015 to bolster the internationally recognised...

The United States will slap new sanctions on a number of Iranian officials and entities, including a judge who sentenced Iranian wrestler Navid Afkari to death, US Special Representative for Iran and Venezuela Elliott Abrams said Thursday. "The US is committed to holding accountable those...

The foreign ministers of Jordan, Egypt, France and Germany Thursday urged Israel and the Palestinians to engage in "credible dialogue" to restore "hope" to the peace process. "Ending the stalemate in peace talks, the creation of political horizons and the restoration of hope through...

Britain's finance minister Rishi Sunak launched new, scaled-back job support on Thursday for workers hit by the resurgent COVID-19 pandemic, but warned he could not save everyone during the unprecedented economic turmoil. Sunak also unveiled plans to extend loan repayments for businesses...

If the United Nations was created from the ashes of World War II, what will be born from the global crisis of COVID-19? Many world leaders at this week’s virtual UN summit hope it will be a vaccine made available and affordable to all countries, rich and poor. But with the US, China and...

The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly increased last week, supporting views the economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic was running out of steam amid diminishing government funding. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits totaled a...

Libya's envoy to the UN has said Libyans are tired of "temporary stages" and hoping to end the conflict and reach elections and "a permanent constitution". This came during talks with the Secretary-General of the UN Antonio Guterres on Wednesday evening in New York on the sidelines of the...

Iran Thursday accused Saudi Arabia of distorting facts and shifting the blame for its own "crimes", after the Saudi king slammed the Islamic republic in a UN address. King Salman alleged in a speech Wednesday to the UN General Assembly that Iran had "targeted" oil facilities in the...

Longtime Palestinian rival groups Fatah and Hamas on Thursday agreed during talks in Turkey to hold elections "soon".  In an exclusive interview with Anadolu Agency, Azzam al-Ahmad, a member of the Fatah’s Central Committee, said: "It was agreed to hold legislative elections, followed...

Greece and Turkey will resume exploratory talks over contested maritime claims in the eastern Mediterranean, Greek government spokesperson Stelios Petsas said Thursday. After a four-year hiatus, Turkey and Greece have agreed to resume the talks following weeks of tensions that culminated in...

Iran's death toll from the novel coronavirus rose by 175 to 25,015 on Thursday, the highest in the Middle East, with the total number of identified cases spiking to 436,319 in the country, according to the Health Ministry. Health Ministry spokesperson Sima Sadat Lari told state TV that 3,521...

A second German cabinet minister has gone into quarantine after being exposed to a person infected with the coronavirus, amid a rise in cases in the country. Economy Minister Peter Altmaier, who hosted a gathering of EU trade ministers on Monday, tweeted that "an employee of a minister...