Oil prices held steady on Friday and were on track for a third consecutive weekly gain, pulled higher by major oil producers’ efforts to hold back output amid concerns about the pace of economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. Brent crude LCOc1 futures were up 5 cents, or 0.1%, at...

Still reeling from a deadly port blast that ravaged their Beirut homes and businesses, Lebanese wearily braced themselves for a new coronavirus lockdown due to start on Friday. "What now? On top of this disaster, a coronavirus catastrophe?" said 55-year-old Roxane Moukarzel, as she waved...

Joe Biden made it official Thursday night, accepting the Democratic Party's nomination for president while calling for the country and his fellow partisans to unite.  Addressing the Democratic National Convention on its final night, Biden said President Donald Trump has "cloaked...

Palestinian militants fired 12 rockets at Israel from the Gaza Strip overnight, nine of which were intercepted, and Israel responded with three airstrikes on targets linked to the territory's Hamas rulers, the Israeli military said early Friday. It was the most serious exchange of fire...

The Saudi-led coalition Thursday evening intercepted a missile and an explosive-laden drone launched by Yemen's Houthi group towards the kingdom's southern region close to the Yemeni border, Saudi state TV reported Friday. Yemen has been locked in conflict since 2014 when the Iran-aligned...

The US has formally initiated the process to re-instate UN sanctions on Iran lifted as part of Tehran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Thursday. Pompeo, who is expected to brief reporters at the UN's headquarters in New York later in the day, posted...

The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen said it intercepted and downed a booby-trapped drone towards the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the state news agency said Thursday. Cross-border attacks by Iran-aligned Houthi forces have escalated since late May, when a truce prompted by the coronavirus pandemic...

President Donald Trump said Thursday that US companies were involved in many prospects in Iraq's oil business, as Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi declared his country open for American business and investment. Trump told reporters before a meeting with the Iraqi leader that the US...

US President Donald Trump said Wednesday he expected Saudi Arabia to join the agreement announced last week by Israel and the United Arab Emirates to normalize diplomatic ties and forge a broad new relationship. "I do," Trump replied when asked at a White House news conference if he...

The United Arab Emirates has a legitimate request to acquire the F-35 fighter jet and its agreement to normalise ties with Israel should remove "any hurdle" for the United States to proceed with the sale, a senior Emirati official said Thursday. "We have legitimate requests that are there....

 Oil prices fell on Thursday on demand concerns driven by cautious views from OPEC+ producers and the U.S. Federal Reserve regarding economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. Brent crude LCOc1 was down 46 cents, or 1%, at $44.91 a barrel at 1159 GMT, and West Texas Intermediate...

Iran seized a United Arab Emirates-registered ship violating its territorial waters this week, Iran’s Foreign Ministry said on Thursday, adding that UAE coastguards killed two Iranian fishermen on the same day. Tensions have risen between the two countries, which face each other across the...

Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny is in a coma in a hospital in Siberia after suspected poisoning, his spokeswoman said on Thursday. Navalny, 44, a vociferous critic of President Vladimir Putin, fell ill on a flight from the Siberian city of Tomsk to Moscow this morning, Kira Yarmysh...

Europe can combat the new coronavirus without full lockdowns now that authorities are better prepared and have gained knowledge about how to fight it in recent months, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said Thursday. "With the basic nationwide and additional targeted measures, we are in a...

Human rights monitors sounded the alarm over a recent spike in assassinations targeting civil rights activists in Iraq's south Thursday, ahead of a much anticipated meeting between the prime minister and the US president as part of ongoing strategic talks. Mustafa al-Kadhimi departed for an...

Israeli soldiers fired at Palestinians who were to believed to be preparing to attack Israeli cars in the occupied West Bank Thursday, the military said, and Palestinian officials said a Palestinian teenager was killed. A military spokeswoman said members of a "terrorist squad" were hit by...

 The head of the UN refugee agency says it's time for the international community to show solidarity with the Lebanese people by offering assistance to a country that has hosted hundreds of thousands of refugees for decades. UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi also said...

Iran on Thursday unveiled two missiles it said had a bigger range than before, naming them after commanders killed in January by a US strike in Iraq. "Regarding cruise missiles, today we have gone from a range of 300 to 1,000 kilometres (621 miles) in less than two years," said Iranian...

Israeli soldiers fired at Palestinians who were to believed to be preparing to attack Israeli cars in the occupied West Bank Thursday, the military said, and Palestinian officials said a Palestinian teenager was killed. A military spokeswoman said members of a "terrorist squad" were hit...

Former President Barack Obama painted a unsparing portrait of American democracy on the brink if President Donald Trump wins in November, warning in a scathing, and at times emotional, address Wednesday that his successor is both unfit for office and apathetic to the nation's founding...