( The New Arab )- Egypt will open a massive new naval base in Eritrea, after the two countries reportedly signed secret agreements, members of the Eritrean opposition have claimed. Under the current proposed plans, an estimated 20,000 to 30,000 Egyptian navy crew will be deployed to Nora, a...

Far-right French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen softened her stance on Saturday on a timetable for ditching the euro, a week before she faces off in the decisive second round of voting with pro-EU rival and favorite Emmanuel Macron. Earlier this year, Le Pen repeatedly said that, if...

( Middle East Eye )- After the Syrian regime’s recapture of Aleppo in December 2016 and the consequential pushing and cornering of major rebel forces into Idlib, the tide of the Syrian civil war was decisively turned in favour of the government. Ever since, it has mainly sought to...

Hard-line Iranian presidential hopeful Ebrahim Raisi condemned President Hassan Rouhani's economic management Saturday, speaking at an election campaign rally in a packed Tehran stadium. Addressing thousands of supporters who waved Iranian flags and held pictures of their candidate, he...

 The EU's top officials will seek a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at a NATO summit next month amid mounting tensions with Ankara, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Saturday. EU President Donald Tusk made the announcement to 27 European Union leaders holding a...

Morocco Saturday voiced satisfaction at a U.N. Security Council resolution endorsing a new peace initiative on the disputed territory of Western Sahara. Friday's vote came as U.N. military observers confirmed that Polisario Front forces, fighting for independence in Western Sahara, had...

Tunisia said Saturday it had replaced two senior officials in a southeastern region, days after protestors there booed the prime minister off stage following weeks of demonstrations. Prime Minister Youssef Chahed was shouted down and forced to leave a heated town hall meeting Thursday in...

French President Francois Hollande said Saturday that voters in France must decide their future in Europe in the May 7 presidential vote pitting europhile candidate Emmanuel Macron against the anti-EU Marine Le Pen. Speaking at his last EU summit as leader of France, Hollande said the French...

 Syria's military says its troops and allied fighters have repelled an attack by ISIS on a government-held area south of Aleppo province. The Saturday attack took place in Khanasser, southeast Aleppo – a strategic region that links Aleppo with central and western Syria. The military...

Asian Olympic leader Sheik Ahmad of Kuwait denies claims in a U.S. federal court that he bribed FIFA voters. Sheik Ahmad, a member of FIFA's ruling council, is "very surprised by such allegations and strongly denies any wrongdoing." The statement was published by the Olympic Council of...

Turkey's military said it killed 14 members of the militant Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in airstrikes in northern Iraq Saturday, as Ankara steps up a push against the group and their affiliates in Iraq and Syria. Turkey has intensified attacks on the PKK in northern Iraq and its...

French President Francois Hollande warned Saturday that Britain must pay the price for Brexit as EU leaders met to adopt guidelines for negotiations. "There will inevitably be a price and a cost for Britain, it's the choice they made," Hollande said as he arrived at a Brussels summit....

Fighting between rebel groups in the biggest insurgent stronghold near the Syrian capital Damascus entered a second day Saturday, while government forces pressed an offensive against the besieged enclave, activists said. The clashes broke out in part of the densely-populated rural area east...

By Abdullah Ghadawi (Zaman Al Wasl)- Mustafa al-Sabbagh, the former National Coalition Secretary-General said that opposition’s absence from international interest is due to the lack of regional and international desire to change the regime, and the opposition’s failure to provide...

Hamas is to unveil a new version of its controversial founding charter which called for the destruction of Israel in a bid to ease its international isolation, party officials said. Leaders of Hamas have long spoken of the more limited aim of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and the Gaza...

Turkey and the United States can join forces to turn ISIS' defacto capital of Raqqa in Syria into a "graveyard" for the extremists, the Turkish president said Saturday. "The huge America, the coalition and Turkey can join hands and turn Raqqa into a graveyard for Daesh," Recep Tayyip...

Notorious Afghan warlord and ex-prime minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar returned to public life Saturday after more than 20 years in exile, calling on the Taliban to lay down their weapons and join a "caravan of peace". Hekmatyar, white-bearded and clad in his trademark black turban, spoke to...

Moscow is ready to cooperate with the United States on settling the Syrian crisis, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Saturday, Russian news agencies reported. Russian authorities reiterate periodically that they stand ready to renew cooperation with Washington on Syria and, more...

( The Guardian )- My life in Yemen is dominated by fear. As director of the Sana’a Center for Strategic Studies, and one of the few remaining independent voices in Yemen, I have been detained, seen colleagues assassinated, and buried friends killed by Saudi airstrikes. Now, half of my country...

Turkish authorities on Saturday blocked access to online encyclopedia Wikipedia, an internet monitoring group said, the latest in what government critics say is a crackdown on free speech on the internet. A block on all language editions of the Wikipedia website was detected at 8:00 a.m....