U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo sought to reduce heightened trade tension with India on Wednesday, promising a renewed focus on negotiating better ties, but giving few specifics of how they would overcome their disputes over trade and investment. Pompeo’s India visit comes as the two...

Palestinians poured scorn on the Trump administration’s much-touted peace plan for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on Wednesday, saying its framework for a trade and investment boost ignored their political aspirations for statehood. Gulf states attending an international meeting in...

A claim by US officials that a retaliatory cyber attack ordered by the White House crippled Iranian missile launching systems will remain almost impossible to substantiate, experts say. Citing unnamed sources, US media reported last week that the attack launched by the US Cyber Command...

A badly stubbed-out cigarette or an electrical fault could have started the devastating fire that ripped through Notre-Dame cathedral in April, Paris prosecutors said Wednesday, ruling out any criminal intent. French investigators were examining many hypotheses "including a malfunctioning...

Iraqi President Barham Saleh said Wednesday his country must not be dragged into another conflict in the Middle East, as tensions rise over its neighbour Iran. "We have had four decades of challenge and turmoil. We do not want to be embroiled in another war," he said at Chatham House, the...

Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei said Wednesday that its 5G business has not been impacted by the recent US sanctions amid a prolonged trade war between the world's two largest economies. "I can clearly tell everyone here that our current 5G technology solutions are completely...

Britain wants to see accountability for the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and Saudi Arabia should investigate the death thoroughly and in a way that adheres to international laws, Prime Minister Theresa May said Wednesday. Last week, a U.N. rights investigator said Saudi Crown Prince...

Two rescuers were among eight civilians killed in Russian and regime air strikes Wednesday on violence-plagued northwest Syria, a war monitor said, in the latest attack against relief workers in the region. The two civil defence workers, known as the White Helmets, were killed after Russian...

The offer by the United States to negotiate with Iran is a deception, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Wednesday in remarks published on his official website. U.S. President Donald Trump has said he is willing to hold talks with the Islamic Republic. "Negotiations are a...

The foreign minister of the United Arab Emirates said Wednesday that "clear, scientific and convincing" evidence was required on recent attacks on oil tankers in the Gulf region. Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who was speaking in Moscow at a news conference with his...

The sultanate of Oman has announced it will open an embassy in the West Bank, in the city of Ramallah. The announcement comes as Bahrain hosts a workshop on a U.S. Mideast peace plan by the Trump administration, focusing on the Palestinian economy. A tweet from the Omani Foreign Ministry...

Seven police officers have been killed in a jihadist attack in restive North Sinai, Egypt's interior ministry said Wednesday. The attack near the regional capital El-Arish targeted an "assembly centre" for police, according to the ministry. Four assailants died "during clashes"...

Spanish midfielder David Silva has confirmed he will leave Manchester City at the end of next season when his contract expires. Silva is one of City's most decorated players of all-time having won four Premier League titles, two FA Cups and four League Cups since joining from Valencia in...

South Korea and Saudi Arabia signed an $8.3 billion economic co-operation pact Wednesday during Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's first visit to Seoul, as the oil-rich kingdom looks eastward following Western criticism over journalist Jamal Khashoggi's murder. Saudi Arabia is resource-poor...

Saudi Arabia announced the downing of a drone launched by Yemen’s Houthi rebels toward a residential area, local sources said Wednesday. The Saudi Press Agency reported that Arab coalition spokesman Col. Turki al-Maliki said the country’s air defense forces intercepted the drone in the...

The UN aid chief said Tuesday he had asked Russia to explain how it uses data on the location of Syrian hospitals and clinics following a string of attacks on health facilities. Mark Lowcock, the under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, told the Security Council he was "not sure"...

Moscow will respond in kind to any steps NATO takes over Russia's decision to suspend a 1987 nuclear missile treaty, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Wednesday, according to RIA news agency. NATO defense ministers will discuss later Wednesday their next steps if Moscow...

Growth in the West bank and Gaza has to be focused on creating jobs, the head of the International Monetary Fund said Wednesday, as she discussed the Trump administration's $50 billion economic plan for Israeli-Palestinian peace. "One of the really good aspects of the plan ... is that it...

 Saudi Arabia's minister of state said that an economic plan presented by White House senior adviser Jared Kushner for the Palestinian territories could succeed since it includes private sector and if "there is hope of peace." "I truly believe it can be done if people do believe that...

Iran will speed up enrichment of uranium after a deadline given to European countries to prevent this ends Thursday, the spokesman for Iran's Atomic Energy Organization said, according to the IRIB news agency. "The deadline of the Atomic Energy Organization for passing the production of...