Major banks in Saudi Arabia reached settlements worth a combined 16.7 billion riyals ($4.5 billion) with the kingdom’s tax authority over a religious levy the lenders had been kicking against. The deals come as the world’s largest crude exporter predicts a budget shortfall of 131 billion...

  (Zaman Al Wasl)- Jihadists’ influx to Syria has deepened another fraction in the war-torn society due to the illegal marriage from jihadists and hundreds of Syrian children who were born to unidentified fathers.  Local activists said at least 2200 Syrian women got married to...

 (Zaman Al Wasl)- Syria's regime head Bashar al-Assad on Sunday issued a decree raising the salaries of military personnel and the pensions of retired military personnel, in a second rise in six months, the state-run news agency said. The military pilots, who conducted thousands of...

Spain's maritime rescue service says two children were reported missing at sea when 69 migrants were taken from a rubber dinghy in the Mediterranean Sea. The service says people on the boat told a rescue crew the boys hadn't been seen for several hours and were presumed dead....

Syrian regime's security services chief Ali Mamlouk held talks with Egyptian officials in Cairo over the weekend on a rare visit to the country, Syrian state-run news agency said Sunday. His Saturday visit came "at the invitation of" Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel, the official...

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and U.S. President Donald Trump agreed Sunday to coordinate to prevent an authority vacuum from developing as the United States withdraws from Syria, the Turkish presidency said. In a phone call between the two leaders, Erdogan also expressed...

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte arrived in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, on Sunday where he held talks with Prime Minister of the UN-backed unity government Fayez Sarraj. The talks tackled the current political situation in Libya and means of bolstering bilateral relations,...

Iraqi presidency on Sunday denied a report claiming a proposed mediation between the PKK terrorist group and Assad regime in Syria. The London-based Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper said in a report that Iraqi President Barham Salih is filling the gap left by the U.S. decision to withdraw its...

A senior Taliban commander was killed in an aerial raid in southeastern Paktika province, the Afghan Defense Ministry said Sunday. The militant was targeted in the Barmal district bordering Pakistan’s restive South Waziristan tribal agency. Without naming the rebel commander,...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- L’afflux de djihadistes en Syrie a creusé une autre fraction de la société déchirée par la guerre en raison du mariage illégal de djihadistes et de centaines d’enfants syriens nés de pères non identifiés. Des activistes locaux ont déclaré qu'au moins 2200 femmes...

Egyptian security forces have killed 14 Islamist militants in an exchange of fire in the country's turbulent northern Sinai region, the interior ministry said Sunday. The militants were under surveillance ahead of security forces raiding their hideout in the town of Al-Arish, the...

 (Zaman Al Wasl) - Le chef du régime syrien Bashar al-Assad a publié dimanche un décret augmentant les salaires du personnel militaire et les pensions de retraite du personnel militaire à la retraite, une deuxième hausse en six mois, a annoncé l'agence de presse officielle. Selon...

French President Emmanuel Macron said Sunday he deeply regretted U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria. In an abrupt policy shift, Trump announced Wednesday that Washington would withdraw the roughly 2,000 U.S. troops in Syria, upending a pillar of...

The U.S. dispute with China over a ban on tech giant Huawei is spilling over to Europe, the company's biggest foreign market, where some countries are also starting to shun its network systems over data security concerns. Some European governments and telecom companies are following the...

On the Giza Plateau outside Cairo, thousands of Egyptians are laboring in the shadow of the pyramids to erect a monument worthy of the pharaohs. The Grand Egyptian Museum has been under construction for well over a decade and is intended to showcase Egypt's ancient treasures while...

The federal government is expected to remain partially shut down past Christmas. The standoff over President Donald Trump's demand for $5 billion to build a border wall with Mexico deepened on Saturday. Democrats are rejecting Trump's demand as costly and ineffective, and any agreement...

The Trump administration's decision to make asylum seekers wait in Mexico while their cases wind through clogged U.S. courts was announced with crucial details still unknown — a move that creates uncertainty along the border and possibly an incentive for people to cross illegally before the...

 (Zaman Al Wasl)- Lebanon's General Security has announced it will secure a voluntary return trip Monday for around 1,000 Syrian refugees from various regions in Lebanon, The Daily Star reported. About 110,000 Syrian refugees have returned from Lebanon to their home country in...

Rozan Qarqour lives with her husband and six children in a tiny room in an unfinished building, where they share a bathroom with other Syrian refugees. Her husband sells paper cups of cardamom-flavored Arabic coffee on the streets of the Lebanese port city of Sidon to earn a few dollars to buy...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- Forty-two judges in Suweida have filed a lawsuit against a man uncovered corruption in the judiciary and the security services in the southern Druze-dominated province, accusing him of "defaming and undermining the the state." In a meeting held at the cultural center in...