A report by the UN refugee agency estimated that global forced displacement surpassed 80 million at mid-year, noting that the full picture for 2020 is not yet established. “With forced displacement doubling in the last decade, the international community is failing to safeguard peace,” said...

Prime Minister Boris Johnson headed to Brussels on Wednesday, with hopes for a post-Brexit trade deal hanging on crisis talks with EU chief Ursula von der Leyen. Johnson's dash back to the city where he made his name as an EU-bashing newspaper reporter marks the last chance of a...

A leading rival of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the right-wing Likud party announced his resignation from parliament Wednesday as he launches a new party to challenge the premier. Gideon Saar, an influential figure in conservative Israeli politics, had challenged Netanyahu...

Two oil wells were bombed inside a small oilfield on Wednesday but production was not affected, oil officials and security sources said. It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the bombings at Khabbaz oilfield, 20 km (12 miles) southwest of Kirkuk, the sources said. Technical...

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) yesterday appealed for a record $2.5 billion in urgent funding to provide life-saving aid to 39 million children in the Middle East and North Africa during 2021. UNICEF said in a statement that the amount "includes an increase of nearly US$ 500...

 Turkey on Tuesday condemned the interception of one of its ships by eastern-based Libyan forces in the Mediterranean, saying it must be allowed to resume its journey to western Libya and warning of possible reprisal. Khalifa Haftar’s eastern-based Libyan National Army (LNA) said on...

Israeli forces have demolished a number of Palestinian homes and detained 16 people in the occupied West Bank, an official said on Tuesday. "The [Israeli] occupation army demolished five homes in the town of Ras Al-Auja in the Jordan Valley," mayor Salah Freijat told Anadolu Agency. He...

Two protesters were shot dead on Tuesday in renewed demonstrations against Kurdish political parties in the northern, Kurdish-run region of Iraq, two local officials said. The officials, including a health source, said one protester had been shot dead by guards of the headquarters of the...

The United States plans to impose terrorism-related sanctions on Hasan Irlu, Iran's ambassador to Yemen, and on Iran's Al-Mustafa International University, a U.S. official told Reuters on Tuesday. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official described Irlu as an official of Iran's elite...

Iran said on Tuesday its Supreme Court had upheld a death sentence against a high-profile dissident journalist who was captured last year in what Tehran calls an intelligence operation, after years in exile in France. Ruhollah Zam, whose Amadnews social media feed had more than 1 million...

Ten years ago, millions dared to dream that political change could sweep across Arab capitals, but in most places such hopes have been crushed as thousands languish in jail. From Cairo to Damascus, regimes have cracked down on the dissent which flourished in the early, heady days of the...

Hamas said Monday it had received nearly 20,000 coronavirus test kits from the World Health Organization, after warning it could no longer perform testing in the Gaza Strip due to a shortage. The health ministry of the Islamist movement, which runs the Palestinian enclave, initially said on...

A protester was shot dead during demonstrations against Kurdish political parties in the northern, Kurdish-run region of Iraq on Monday after several days of unrest, local medical officials and a lawmaker said. It was a rare deadly incident involving protests against the political parties...

After waking up on Friday, the day he turned 15, Palestinian Ali Ayman Nasr Abu Aliya told his mother Nihad he was hoping for a birthday surprise. Nihad said she had planned to serve maqluba, a traditional lamb and rice dish, at a party later on and had his gifts ready, including a new pair...

 France, Germany and Britain said on Monday they were alarmed by an Iranian announcement that it intended to install additional, advanced uranium-enriching centrifuges and by legislation that could expand its nuclear programme. “If Iran is serious about preserving a space for...

The removal of subsidies in Lebanon without guarantees to protect the vulnerable would amount to a social catastrophe, two U.N. agencies said on Monday, warning there is no parachute to soften the blow. With Lebanon deep in financial crisis, the central bank has been subsidising basic goods...

Lebanon on Monday released a Lebanese-French businessman who has been on the run from French authorities since June, but banned him from travel pending investigation, a Lebanese judicial source said. Lebanese security forces detained Ziad Takieddine last week at the request of Interpol....

An official close to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has denied rumours on social media that the top authority's health was deteriorating, the semi official Fars news agency reported on Monday. "By the grace of God and with the good prayers of devotees, the Gentleman (Ayatollah...

Trade between the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Israel could grow to at least $5 billion, the chairman of Dubai's biggest port operator said on Monday. "We estimate at least $5 billion of trade will happen between our countries in the beginning and this will grow," DP World chairman Sultan...

A satellite-controlled machine gun with "artificial intelligence" was used in last week's assassination of a top nuclear scientist in Iran, the deputy commander of the Revolutionary Guards told local media Sunday. Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was driving on a highway outside Iran's capital Tehran...