Libya has downgraded its diplomatic representation to Tuesday's Arab League ministerial meeting on the Libyan crisis, criticizing the "double standards" followed by the Cairo-based league.  "Up until now, an [Arab League] session called for by Libya since April of last year has not...

A top German court on Tuesday ordered Facebook to stop merging data collected through its Whatsapp and Instagram subsidiaries or other websites unless users explicitly agree, in a legal victory for competition authorities. Germany's Federal Cartel Office (FCO) had told Facebook to rein in...

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has urged Israel to drop plans to annex parts of the occupied West Bank, saying it would be a "most serious violation of international law," in a report made public Tuesday. The report to the Security Council comes ahead of its twice-yearly meeting on...

President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that Russia will from next year increase taxes on high earners, the first hike in decades, as he laid out measures to tackle the economic fallout of the coronavirus. Putin said that from January 1, 2021 the tax rate will rise from 13 percent to 15...

Sudan's foreign minister said Tuesday that her country is nearing a deal with Washington to compensate the families of victims of deadly 1998 embassy bombings, paving the way to Khartoum's removal from a US terror blacklist. Massive, nearly simultaneous blasts at the American embassies in...

A Palestinian man was shot dead Tuesday at a checkpoint in the occupied West Bank after driving his car "quickly" towards a border officer, Israeli police said. The Palestinian was "shot and killed" at a checkpoint in Abu Dis, close to Jerusalem, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said....

An Iranian official confirmed Tuesday the arrest of three members of a student charity but denied the organisation's offices had been shut, ILNA news agency reported. "The recent arrest of three members of Imam Ali's (Popular Students Relief) Society was done based on a court order," Zahra...

Lebanon's economic crisis has led to a collapse of the local currency and purchasing power, plunging whole segments of society into poverty as exemplified by near-empty fridges in many households. Earlier this year, Lebanon defaulted on its debt and, while the peg to the dollar remains...

India told Pakistan Tuesday to slash its embassy staff in New Delhi by half -- saying it would do the same in Islamabad -- as a diplomatic spat continued between the nuclear-armed rivals. The fractious relationship between the neighbours has worsened since New Delhi expelled two Pakistan...

Turkish authorities allowed a group of top lawyers Tuesday to continue a symbolic march into the capital of Ankara, ending a more than 24-hour standoff between the lawyers and police. The heads of some 60 regional bar associations in Turkey embarked on a march to Ankara wearing professional...

Two months before Donald Trump unveiled his Middle East peace plan on Jan. 28, Luxembourg's foreign minister was certain the US president would break with the European Union and recognize Israeli sovereignty over Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank. Jean Asselborn wrote to his EU...

A further slump in Iran's rial is "temporary", Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Tuesday after the currency sank to its lowest value in decades. A US dollar was offered for about 205,000 rials Tuesday, up from 188,200 rials Friday and 198,000 rials early Monday, according to foreign...

North Korean defectors to South Korea were reported on Tuesday to be behind anti-Pyongyang leaflet propaganda that have recently sparked tension between the two neighbors. "[We] sent anti-North Korea leaflets over [to the North] between 11 p.m. [1400GMT] and midnight on Monday [from a town]...

In an apparent broadside against the drive to take down statues of figures linked to racism, US President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he had authorized the government to arrest anyone who vandalizes or destroys historical statues, with penalties of up to 10 years in prison. "I have...

A new round of clashes erupted between government forces and the separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC) in Yemen's southern Abyan province on Tuesday, according to a Yemeni military source. The violence came hours after the Saudi-led coalition said the Yemeni government and STC,...

Oil prices were volatile on Tuesday after markets were spooked by surprise comments from White House trade adviser Peter Navarro saying a hard-won U.S-China trade deal was “over”, though he later said his comments had been taken out of context. Jangled nerves were also soothed to some...

The number of novel coronavirus infections in Russia closed 600,000 on Tuesday while the country registered the highest daily recoveries from COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic. With 7,425 new cases registered over the last 24 hours, the total number of infections rose to 599,705,...

Baby Omar Yaghi was eight months old when he died, unable to travel from Gaza to Israel for life-saving heart surgery after Palestinian officials cut coordination. The baby's mother Raneen has been unable to speak or eat since losing her son last week, his uncle Mohammed Yaghi told AFP....

Cowering in a pipe after fleeing Lebanon, a man desperate for work became the latest Sudanese national to risk his life in a perilous trek across the Israeli border. With Lebanon facing its worst economic crisis in decades, soaring unemployment has sparked a new trend at the country's...

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has upped the ante in the chaotic conflict in Libya, warning Cairo could intervene militarily to halt a march eastwards by the Turkey-backed forces of the UN-recognised government. Sisi's tough words came after the Tripoli-based Government of National...