The United Arab Emirates' foreign minister said Tuesday that the presence of the United States as a mediator of the country's deal to normalise relations with Israel assures him that the suspension of further annexation of Palestinian lands will hold. Minister of state for foreign...

Iran warned the US Tuesday against making a "strategic mistake" after President Donald Trump threatened Tehran over reports it planned to avenge the killing of top general Qasem Soleimani. "We hope that they do not make a new strategic mistake and certainly in the case of any strategic...

 US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo Tuesday warned France that its efforts to resolve the crisis in Lebanon would be in vain without immediately tackling the issue of Iran-backed Hezbollah's weaponry. President Emmanuel Macron has spearheaded international efforts to set Lebanon on a...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has "no intention" of discussing peace with the Palestinians, opposition leader Yair Lapid told AFP ahead of the signing of a landmark deal with the UAE. US President Donald Trump will host a ceremony on Tuesday at which Netanyahu will sign...

The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain on Tuesday will become the latest Arab states to break a longstanding taboo when they sign agreements toward normalizing relations with Israel in a strategic realignment of Middle Eastern countries against Iran. U.S. President Donald Trump will host the...

A fire erupted in a landmark building in central Beirut’s commercial district on Tuesday before being put out, a civil defence official and Reuters witness said. The fire erupted in a futuristic seafront building that was close to completion after years of construction. Lebanese broadcaster...

A Katyusha rocket landed early Tuesday inside Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone, where the US embassy and many other diplomatic missions and government offices are located.  According to security sources, the rocket fell near the American embassy and sirens were heard from the...

President Donald Trump threatened late Monday to deliver a devastating response to any attack by Iran against the US.   "Any attack by Iran, in any form, against the United States will be met with an attack on Iran that will be 1,000 times greater in magnitude!" Trump said on...

 Iran supports the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) as long as the group protects Iranian interests alongside other members, Iran’s OPEC governor Amir Hossein Zamaninia said on Monday. Sixty years after its formation, OPEC’s founding members, Iran and Venezuela,...

The defense ministers of Bahrain and Israel held their first publicly acknowledged phone call Monday since their countries agreed to normalize ties. Bahraini state news agency BNA and a spokeswoman for Israel's defense ministry said Bahrain's minister of defense affairs, Abdulla bin Hassan...

The Trump administration is hoping to capitalize on agreements to be signed this week between Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain by pressing for an end to a dispute that has roiled relations between the Gulf Arab countries. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Monday that the US is...

The United States Monday urged the UN's top court to throw out a bid by Iran bid to lift sanctions imposed by President Donald Trump, saying Tehran remained a "grave threat" to global security. Iran brought the claim to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in 2018, alleging that Trump's...

For the first time in more than a quarter-century, a U.S. president will host a signing ceremony between Israelis and Arabs at the White House, billing it as an "historic breakthrough" in a region long known for its stubborn conflicts. But while the optics of Tuesday's event will evoke the...

The United States and Iran will face off at the UN's top court on Monday in the latest round of a battle over sanctions on Tehran reimposed by President Donald Trump. Tehran dragged Washington to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague in 2018 after Trump pulled the US out of...

 French President Emmanuel Macron has been pressing Lebanese politicians to deliver on promises to form a new government this week and haul the country out of its worst crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war, his office said on Sunday. Lebanon’s leaders promised Macron on Sept. 1 during...

 The death toll in Turkey due to the novel coronavirus reached 7,056 on Sunday, rising by 57 people in the last 24 hours, data from the Health Ministry showed. The total number of cases in the country rose by 1,527 on Sunday, for a total of 291,162 cases, the data showed, with 258,833...

The Gulf state of Oman on Sunday welcomed a US-sponsored agreement between Bahrain and Israel to normalize their relations.  “Oman welcomes the initiative taken by Bahrain in part of its sovereignty rights,” the government said in a statement cited by the official news agency. Oman...

Lebanon has approved a new work contract allowing foreign domestic workers to resign and keep hold of their own passport, but activists say the exploitative "kafala" system remains in place. The economic crisis-hit Mediterranean country is home to around 250,000 migrants, mostly women from...

 Iraq's top Shiite cleric Sunday endorsed early parliamentary elections set for June 2021, following his first meeting in nearly a year with a senior United Nations official. "The parliamentary elections scheduled for next year are of great importance," said Grand Ayatollah Ali...

For two decades Palestinians have revered the founder of the United Arab Emirates for his generosity, especially those living on the Gaza housing estate that bears his name. The $62 million development was gifted to the Palestinians a decade and a half ago by the late Sheikh Zayed bin...