Bahrain is to normalize relations with Israel, the diplomatic correspondent for Israel's public broadcaster Kan said in a tweet Friday, without citing sources. Another Israeli reporter, Raphael Ahren of the Times of Israel, said US President Donald Trump would Friday announce that...

Afghan government negotiators left for Doha on Friday to hold landmark peace talks with the Taliban aimed at ending the country's long running conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people. Negotiations set to begin on Saturday had originally been slated to start in March but were...

Israeli demolitions of Palestinian homes built without planning permits that are almost impossible to obtain have risen sharply during the coronavirus pandemic despite the health risks, the UN said Friday. "The period from March to August 2020 saw the demolition or confiscation of 389...

Barcelona have taken heed of Lionel Messi's scathing criticism of the club as they begin a "fresh and exciting project", vice-president Pau Vilanova has said. Vilanova's assessment is the first time someone on the Barca board has spoken publicly since Messi's explosive interview with Goal...

The US police officer charged with the murder of George Floyd, the 46-year-old African-American man whose death sparked nationwide protests, was due to appear in court in person for the first time on Friday. Derek Chauvin, who was filmed on May 25 pressing his knee on handcuffed Floyd's...

Dozens of emerging market funds have closed this year as turmoil unleashed by the coronavirus has damaged investor sentiment towards the asset class, where returns lag those of developed economies. A weaker U.S. dollar, which would typically have boosted emerging markets, has failed to lift...

Turkey slammed a statement by European Union Mediterranean states on Friday, saying the comments were biased and “detached from reality”, but added Ankara was still open to unconditional talks with Greece. NATO members Turkey and Greece have overlapping claims to continental shelves and...

A first official visit to Israel by a United Arab Emirates delegation, provisionally planned for Sept 22, may be postponed or conducted under restrictions given a looming coronavirus lockdown, an Israeli cabinet minister said Friday. The delegates are expected to come in reciprocation of...

The United Nations independent expert on poverty is warning that the worst impacts from the coronavirus pandemic on poverty are yet to come, and that measures taken by governments to protect people so far have been insufficient. "The social safety nets put into place are full of holes,"...

Firefighters were battling unprecedented wildfires up and down the US West Coast on Friday that killed 15 people and forced more than half a million others to flee their homes, with officials warning of more deaths to come in the days ahead. The true scale of destruction was impossible to...

Thousands of supporters of Iraqi cleric Moqtada Sadr gathered at a mosque in east Baghdad Friday for the first weekly prayers since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. Iraq's mosques have been closed to gatherings for close to six months, but notoriously outspoken Sadr said Wednesday that...

The coronavirus tally passed the 8 million mark in Latin America, the region with the most infections in the world, while India reported another record daily jump of 96,551 cases. AMERICAS * The Brazilian state of Bahia has signed an agreement to conduct Phase 3 clinical trials for...

Lebanese firefighters and army helicopters on Friday put out the remains of a huge fire at Beirut’s port that had flared up a day earlier, barely a month after a massive blast devastated the port and the surrounding area. Thursday’s fire, which officials said was sparked by welding during...

United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo welcomed long-awaited “historic” peace talks between the Afghan government and the insurgent Taliban while on his way to the opening event in Qatar’s capital of Doha, late on Thursday. The United States has been attempting to ease negotiations...

Donald Trump barely mentioned Tim Kaine when he was the Democratic vice presidential nominee in 2016. But four years later, the president has plenty to say about Kamala Harris. Trump said this week that "nobody likes" Harris, feeding into a standard of likability that is applied to women in...

A trove of Saddam-era files secretly returned to Iraq has pried open the country's painful past, prompting hopes some may learn the fate of long-lost relatives along with fears of new bloodshed. The five million pages of internal Baath Party documents were found in 2003, just months after...

Jordan said a series of massive explosions that rocked the city of Zarqa early on Friday was likely caused by an electric short circuit at a nearby army munitions depot. There were no immediate reports of casualties from the explosions which took place in the desert east of Jordan's...

The Indian and Chinese foreign ministers have agreed that their troops should disengage from a tense border standoff, maintain proper distance and ease tensions in the cold-desert Ladakh region where the two sides in June had their deadliest clash in decades. India’s S. Jaishankar and...

A series of large explosions rocked a Jordanian army base outside the city of Zarqa on the northeastern edge of capital Amman, a security source said. It was not immediately clear what caused the explosions in an area where there are dozens of army bases on the outskirts of the sprawling...

Long-delayed peace talks between the Taliban and Afghan government negotiators will begin Saturday in Qatar, officials and the insurgent group announced Thursday. "The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan would like to declare its readiness to take part in the inauguration ceremony of the...