Israeli forces arrested a number of Hamas leaders during an overnight raid carried out across the occupied West Bank, according to a Palestinian NGO on Thursday. In a statement, the Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS) said that six Hamas leaders were arrested from their houses in the...

Ukraine's parliament voted Thursday to extend regulations giving limited self-rule to separatist-controlled eastern regions, a prerequisite for a deal to settle the five-year conflict there. Lawmakers gave a one-year extension to the regions' "special status", which was adopted in 2014 and...

Underscoring U.S. lawmakers' continuing unhappiness with Russia, a Senate committee Wednesday advanced legislation seeking to hamper Russian energy pipelines and boosting NATO but delayed voting on a measure nicknamed the "sanctions bill from hell" that would punish Moscow for meddling in the...

A fire broke out Thursday on Russia's only aircraft carrier as it underwent repairs in an Artic shipyard, Russian news agencies said, with at least one worker reported missing. The Admiral Kuznetsov has been undergoing repairs for more than two years in Murmansk and suffered previous damage...

Energy giant Saudi Aramco's market value soared above $2 trillion on Thursday as its share price surged again on its second day of trading. The valuation milestone was sought by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman when he first floated the idea of selling up to five percent of Aramco,...

An international airport in Libya’s capital Tripoli -- which was closed three month ago due to airstrikes by forces loyal to East Libya-based commander Khalifa Haftar -- has been reopened on Thursday. Several airlines announced that they will start operating flights from Mitiga...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- Syrian surgeon Hani Aouira accomplished a new medical achievement after performing a rare surgery on an obese patient in a Swiss hospital. The patient was suffering from excessive obesity, incisional hernia and several other complications, which put his life at risk. Swiss...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) is transporting tons of grain that was stored in warehouses and silos near the Turkish border to a former American base in Raqqa province, sources told Zaman al-Wasl.  The place was equipped to be a storehouse for placing the...

At least 424 people have been killed and 8,758 injured in anti-government protests in Iraq that began in early October, according to the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI). In its latest report released Wednesday, titled Demonstrations in Iraq: 2nd update, 5 November - 9...

Israelis will head to the polls for the third time in less than a year after lawmakers failed to meet a Wednesday deadline. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his main political rival Benny Gantz, the leader of the centrist Blue and White alliance, failed to form a government in...

Some 49 million voters are set to cast their votes on Thursday in what could be described as one of the most crucial polls in a generation. The election called by the Conservative government in September will be the third parliamentary election in four years and the fourth poll in the same...

Democrats warned that US President Donald Trump was on the verge of dictatorship while Republicans fiercely defended his record at the opening of a stormy, historic debate on impeachment charges Wednesday. The parties held tightly to diametrically opposed views of Trump as they weighed...

Whether Beijing and Washington reach a trade deal or not, China is already speeding up efforts to break its reliance on a country that is one of its biggest economic partners but also its biggest adversary. The effort has gained greater urgency for Beijing after more than a year and a half...

Polls opened in Algeria Thursday in a presidential election bitterly opposed by a protest movement that sees it as a regime ploy to cling on to power. All 61,000 polling stations around the North African country opened as planned at 8 am (0700 GMT), the official APS news agency said. No...

A senior U.S. military official said on Wednesday attacks by Iranian-backed groups on bases hosting U.S. forces in Iraq were gathering pace and becoming more sophisticated, pushing all sides closer to an uncontrollable escalation. His warning came two days after four Katyusha rockets struck...

A U.S. Senate committee backed legislation on Wednesday to impose sanctions on Turkey after its offensive in northern Syria and plans to buy a Russian S-400 missile system, the latest move in the chamber to push Republican President Donald Trump to take a harder line against Ankara. The...

An Iraqi activist was found dead on Wednesday, hours after disappearing amid mass protests against corruption and living conditions, according to a local security source. Ali Najm al-Lami disappeared on Tuesday while he was returning home from Tahrir Square, the epicenter of anti-government...

Sending ground troops to Libya is not currently on Turkey's foreign policy agenda, but the country might consider to do so if the UN-recognized Libyan government makes such a request, according to Turkish foreign minister. "At the moment, as no such request was made, we don't have a plan of...

The 14th round of Syria peace talks discussed developments east of Euphrates River and in Idlib de-escalation zone in Syria, according to Turkey’s Foreign Ministry on Wednesday.   “The fourteenth round of the high-level meetings on Syria was held on 10-11 December 2019 in...

A sharp fall-off in revenues means Lebanon’s 2019 budget deficit will be much bigger than expected, caretaker finance minister Ali Hassan Khalil said on Wednesday, as the country struggles with its worst financial crisis since the 1975-90 civil war. Speaking to reporters, Khalil did not say...