The lead investigator of the catastrophic blast at the Lebanese capital's port heard testimony from outgoing prime minister Hassan Diab on Thursday. Diab became the first senior politician to testify before judicial authorities, who are not entitled to question incumbents in government or...

Israel will impose a partial national lockdown next week to battle a coronavirus infection surge, the head of its pandemic task force said Thursday, shouting his exasperation in an emotional television address. The health official, Ronni Gamzu, said Israel was facing a "pivotal moment" in...

Foreign minister Dominic Raab discussed the Middle East peace process on Thursday with Jared Kushner, U.S. President Donald Trump’s senior adviser, a British statement said. “They welcomed the historic Israel-UAE normalisation deal, and discussed wider US efforts to facilitate the...

 Lebanon’s army said on Thursday it had found 4.35 tonnes of ammonium nitrate near the entrance to Beirut port, the site of a huge blast last month caused by a large stockpile of the same highly explosive chemical. Army engineers were “dealing with it,” according to an army statement...

France's intelligence chief has joined efforts to push Lebanon to deliver a new government and reforms, Lebanese sources said Thursday, buttressing President Emmanuel Macron's bid to pull the country out of a devastating economic crisis. Macron is centre stage in international efforts to...

Beirut port's capacity to handle wheat and other bulk cereal imports has collapsed to about a fifth or less of its level before a massive blast smashed its grain silos and other facilities, a senior UN official said Thursday. But Abdallah Alwardat, the country director for the World Food...

El Al Israel Airlines said Thursday it would operate the first cargo flight to Dubai by an Israeli carrier Sept. 16. The first flight, using a Boeing 747 jet, will travel to Belgium and from there to Dubai, carrying agricultural and high tech products. It will later become a weekly flight,...

 Top aides to U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fly to the United Arab Emirates on Monday to put final touches on a pact establishing open relations between the Gulf power and Israel. Even before discussions start in Abu Dhabi, the delegates will...

Lebanon’s ambassador to Germany Mustapha Adib is set to be designated prime minister on Monday ahead of a visit to Beirut by the French president who will press for long-delayed reforms to steer the Middle East nation out of its deep crisis. Emmanuel Macron has taken centre stage in...

Lebanon's President Michel Aoun called Sunday for the proclamation of a "secular state" during a televised address to mark the upcoming centenary of the Lebanese state. "I call for the proclamation of Lebanon as a secular state," Aoun said during a speech after an enormous explosion at...

The Future Movement led by Lebanon’s main Sunni politician Saad al-Hariri will nominate Lebanese ambassador to Germany Mustapha Adib to be prime minister in formal consultations on Monday, senior Future Movement member Fouad Siniora said on Sunday. The announcement makes Adib the clear...

Turkey on Sunday celebrated the 98th anniversary of Victory Day, which commemorates the resounding defeat of the Greek forces at the hands of the Turks in the Battle of Dumlupinar in 1922. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, senior government and high-ranking military officials, and opposition...

An Israeli airliner flying to the United Arab Emirates Monday with aides to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump will fly over Saudi Arabia, according to a source familiar with the itinerary. Israel's flag carrier El Al will carry the delegations to Abu Dhabi for...

Egyptian public prosecutors have ordered the detention of a second man suspected of being involved in an alleged gang rape at a luxury hotel in Cairo in 2014 pending investigations, they said in a statement on Sunday. Police arrested the man on Aug 28, days after a first suspect was...

Israel hopes to hold a signing ceremony in Washington for its normalisation deal with the United Arab Emirates by mid-September, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet said on Sunday. The date for such an event could be decided by senior aides to Netanyahu and to U.S....

Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said on Sunday the powerful Shi’ite movement was open to discussing a new political order in Lebanon if all factions agree to it, as foreign donors press for deep reforms to tackle the country’s multiple crises. The presidency has called for...

The death toll from this month's Beirut port blast has risen to 190 with more than 6,500 injured and three people missing, Lebanon's caretaker government said in a report dated Sunday. Lebanese authorities are probing what caused highly explosive material stored unsafely for years to...

Thousands of tearful Shiite pilgrims wearing gloves and face masks flooded Iraq's holy city of Karbala Sunday to mark Ashura, one of the largest Muslim gatherings since the Covid-19 pandemic started. Ashura, on the 10th day of the mourning month of Muharram, commemorates the killing of the...

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called on the Jordanian authorities to immediately release a cartoonist for drawing a satirical cartoon about a recent normalization deal between the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Israel. Emad Hajjaj was arrested by Jordanian police on charges of insulting...

The president of the United Arab Emirates has issued a decree cancelling a law on boycotting Israel and allowing trade and financial agreements between the two countries, the UAE official news agency WAM reported Saturday. The decree from UAE President Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan aims at...