Iran will lift border restrictions with Iraq's Kurdistan region "in the coming days following a closure after last month’s Kurdish vote in favour of independence, the Iranian armed forces chief of staff said. Maj. Gen. Mohammad Baqeri, in remarks quoted by ISNA news agency on Monday,...
A Kurdish video journalist with a channel backing Iraqi Kurdistan's leader Massud Barzani was stabbed to death at his home overnight in disputed Kirkuk province, a security source said Monday. Four armed men broke into the home of Arkan Sharif, a 54-year-old journalist with Kurdistan...
Saudi Arabia will for the first time allow women to attend sports events in three selected stadiums from early next year, the General Sports Authority said in a statement. The stadiums in Jeddah, Dammam and Riyadh are being prepared to accommodate families in early 2018, said the...
At least five people were killed Monday when a suicide bomber blew himself up inside a mosque in northeastern Nigeria, a militia member assisting the military against Boko Haram extremists said. The leader of the Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF) in Ajiri Yala, some 15 kilometers north...
Heavy clashes between the Syrian regime forces and the Islamic State group in Deir Ezzor city have killed at least 73 fighters in the last 24 hours, a monitor said Sunday. The regime army controls most of Deir Ezzor city, capital of Deir Ezzor province in the country's east, and made...
Qatar’s central bank is easing its banking rules for expats, as it grapples with a regional economic boycott about to enter its sixth month. The regulator ordered lenders to allow foreign workers to conduct normal banking transactions for 90 days after the expiry date of their visa, according...
A fresh round of peace talks seeking to end Syria's war opened in the Kazakh capital Astana Monday, as part of a Moscow-led push supported by Iran and opposition backer Turkey. The latest round of talks begins days after Daesh (ISIS) was forced out of its de facto capital Raqqa in...
CAIRO (Reuters) - Bahrain will not attend the upcoming GCC summit if Qatar does not change its stand, and the right step to preserve the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is to freeze Qatar’s membership, Bahrain’s foreign minister said on Twitter on Sunday. Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa also...
(Zaman Al Wasl)- The first blood bank was established recently in the city of Rastan in the northern Homs region. The bank established by individual initiatives provides blood units with various elements of plasma, red blood cells and blood platelets for the needy patients in the...
Qaryatayn, SYRIA (Reuters) - Twenty six Syrian hostages who escaped from their Islamic State captors received an emotional homecoming on Sunday in the central province of Homs, witnesses and officials said. They were among at least 70 people abducted and taken by fleeing Islamic State...
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Demonstrators, some carrying clubs, stormed the Iraqi Kurdistan parliament building in Erbil on Sunday, angry at the decision of Masoud Barzani to step down from the presidency of the region, witnesses said. Gunshots were heard as protesters who claimed they were...
Iraqi and Kurdish military commanders reached a deal late Sunday for Baghdad to deploy federal forces after clashes at the disputed key Faysh Khabur border crossing, a government source told AFP. Baghdad is seeking to secure access to its oil pipeline to the Turkish port of Ceyhan by...
At least 11 civilians were killed and a school day violently interrupted amid intensive Syrian regime shelling of a rebel-held enclave north of the capital Damascus Sunday, sending panicked kindergarten children scurrying for shelter, opposition activists reported. The Britain-based...
The head of Hamas security forces left hospital on Saturday after being wounded in a car bomb explosion in the Gaza Strip, and vowed that an agreement to end the decade-long rift with rivals Fatah would remain on track. Tawfiq Abu Naim was moderately injured in an explosion...
Jordanian Hussein al- Sawalme is a technician in a dental laboratory. He loves birds and has kept a number of them over the years. One of them is a parrot whom he trained six years ago to recite verses from the Quran. The parrot has been called the "miracle parrot" and turned...
Iraq managed to boost oil export capacity from its southern ports to 4.6 million barrels per day (bpd) after adding a new floating terminal in the Gulf, Oil Minister Jabar al-Luaibi said in a ministry statement.
Iran says it has foiled an online plot led by foreigners to spark dissent involving the tomb of Cyrus the Great on the day that many mark the birth of the Persian king by gathering at his grave. The Iranian judiciary's news agency Mizan reported Sunday that the Intelligence Ministry...
Pro-unity protesters gathered for a rally in Catalonia's capital Barcelona Sunday, two days after regional lawmakers voted to break away from Spain, plunging the country into an unprecedented political crisis. As protesters gathered for the march, the deputy president of the region's...
(Zaman Al Wasl)- About 20 prisoners broke out of a rebel-held jail in southern Daraa province, shedding the light of the deteriorating security condition in Daraa after a series of assassinations and car bombs, local activists said on Sunday. The inmates who were charged with drug...
BERLIN (Reuters) - Disputes about climate and immigration policy dominated German media ahead of resumed talks among Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives, the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) and the environmental Greens about forming a coalition government. Officials from all...
