Qatar 2022, the Middle East’s first football World Cup, is only 12 months away. The opening match of the next World Cup, which was awarded to Qatar in 2010, will be played on November 18, 2022, at the Al-Bayt Stadium in Al-Khor, located north of the capital Doha. Al Jazeera answers some...

At least 29,661 children have been killed in Syria since the beginning of the Syrian revolution and conflict in 2011, with 181 tortured to death and 5,036 still detained and forcibly disappeared, the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) has revealed. In its tenth annual report on...

Poland’s leader on Sunday warned against more possible migrant pressures on the European Union’s border with Belarus, this time coming from Afghanistan and Uzbekistan. Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki spoke in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, following talks with Lithuanian Prime Minister...

CAIRO (AP) — Sudan’s deposed prime minister signed a deal with the military on Sunday that will see him reinstated, almost a month after a military coup put him under house arrest. A key pro-democracy group that has mobilized dozens of protests had dismissed the deal as “a form of betrayal."...

CAIRO (AP) — Libya’s interim prime minister filed a request Sunday to run for president, despite being barred from elections next month under the current rules. Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah is meant to lead the country until a winner is declared following presidential elections on Dec....

BEIJING (AP) — Missing tennis star Peng Shuai reappeared in public Sunday at a youth tournament in Beijing, according to photos released by the organizer, as the ruling Communist Party tried to quell fears abroad while suppressing information in China about Peng after she accused a senior leader...

JERUSALEM (AP) — A Palestinian assailant killed one Israeli and injured four others before being fatally shot by Israeli police near the entrance to a flashpoint Jerusalem holy site Sunday, police said. Police said the attack took place near an entrance to a contested flashpoint shrine known...

The eight stadiums — all within a 30-mile radius of Doha — are now largely complete. The 2022 World Cup has been preserved after fending off hostility from neighbors, corruption investigations and concerns about worker abuses. Now a clock on the Corniche waterfront in the Qatari capital will be...

  ​​The Syrian opposition's Islamic Council has elected Sheikh Osama Al-Rifa'i as the Grand Mufti of Syria, following the dismissal of the Grand Mufti position by Bashar al-Assad in a swoop on the Sunni majority stature and a move to enhance Shiism in the war-torn country, scholars...

CAIRO (AP) — A deal was reached between Sudan's military and civilian leaders to reinstate Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, who was deposed in a coup last month, military and government officials said Sunday. The officials also said that government officials and politicians arrested since the...

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Saturday warned a shadowy Russian company with connections to the Kremlin not to interfere in efforts aimed at restoring democracy in the West African nation of Mali. As he wrapped up a weeklong, three-nation tour of Africa that...

Chinese influencers and diners are flocking to trendy restaurants and cafes decorated in “Syrian style” so they could photograph themselves posing in front of gaping holes and run-down walls that look like they have been bombed in a war.  The so-called “Syrian debris style” refers to...

BRUSSELS (AP) — This was supposed to be the Christmas in Europe where family and friends could once again embrace holiday festivities and one another. Instead, the continent is the global epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic as cases soar to record levels in many countries. With infections...

HYDERABAD, India (AP) — At least 17 people have died and dozens are reported missing in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh after days of heavy rains, authorities said Saturday. The state has been hit by intense torrents since Thursday, sparking massive floods in at least five...

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The more than 66,000 United Nations peacekeepers are confronting greater threats today because conflicts have become more complex and are driven by an increasing number of factors ranging from ethnic tensions and the impact of organized crime to illegal exploitation of...

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis is hoping that a charity soccer match that includes Swiss Guards, Vatican employees, priests, a player with Down syndrome, migrants and members of the Roma community will deal a significant “kick” to discrimination. The match takes place Sunday in Rome and will be...

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — America's top defense official vowed Saturday to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and to counter its “dangerous use” of suicide drones in the wider Mideast, a pledge coming as negotiations remain stalled over Tehran's tattered atomic deal with world...

 Syrian Kurds in the northeast city of Qamishli on Friday performed an ancient rain ritual that has gained new relevance as they struggle with record low rainfall. The "Bride of the Rain" ritual, practised for centuries by the region's Kurdish community, is traditionally performed...

The pragmatic rapprochement between Turkey and some Gulf countries symbolizes the end of the cold war between them, and the start of a new era based on de-escalation and diplomacy. On Nov. 17, Bahraini Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Alzayani visited Turkey, where he held talks with...

At least three civilians were killed and 16 others injured after militants of the powerful Kurdish YPG militia fired multiple rockets in northern city of Afrin on Friday. Six rockets struck Afrin at around 6 p.m. (3 p.m. GMT), according to a statement by the governor's office of...