DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The top U.S. Air Force general in the Mideast said Saturday that American airmen would continue to be stationed in the region even as military planners consider competition with China and Russia as Washington's next major challenge. Speaking to journalists...

Paris (AFP) – What exactly does one do after leaking thousands of documents from the world's most powerful social media company? For Frances Haugen, the answer is obvious: start a youth movement. Facebook has faced stinging criticism over the whistleblower's document drop, not least the...

New York (AFP) – Tesla CEO Elon Musk sold more than $6.9 billion worth of shares in the electric carmaker this week, according to regulatory filings released Friday. The 50-year-old South African billionaire sold more than 5.1 million Tesla shares, of which about 4.2 million were held in a...

London (AFP) – ABBA's first studio album in nearly 40 years has made it to the top of the UK charts, becoming the fastest seller of the year so far, the Official Charts Company said on Friday. "Voyage" by the Swedish quartet of Agnetha, Bjorn, Benny and Anni-Frid racked up 204,000 chart...

The Director of the Syrian General Intelligence participated in the Arab Intelligence Forum in Cairo last week despite being on the US sanctions list since September 2020 due to the Caesar Act.   The Arab Intelligence Forum, which was held on November 9, is the first of its kind in...

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday that the Gulf nation of Qatar has agreed to represent American interests in Afghanistan following the closure of the U.S. embassy in Kabul in late August. Blinken said Qatar will serve as the “protecting power” for the United States in...

Turkey on Friday halted airline ticket sales to Iraqi, Syrian and Yemeni citizens wanting to travel to Belarus, which in recent months has become a key launching point for migrants and refugees trying to enter the European Union illegally. The move, announced by Turkey’s Civil Aviation...

The Syrian regime signed a contract Thursday with a group of companies from the United Arab Emirates to build a solar power station in a Damascus suburb, the government announced. It was the latest indication that the Arab world is willing to re-engage with Syrian President Bashar Assad....

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Santa won't be getting his traditional welcome in the Dutch city of Utrecht this year. The ceremonial head of Carnival celebrations in Germany's Cologne had to bow out because he tested positive for COVID-19. And Austria is considering imposing a lockdown on...

  A Lebanese municipality in the northern Bekaa region has imposed discriminatory restrictions on Syrian refugees relating to wages and movement, activists said Thursday.   The Ras Baalbek municipality set a very low wage for Syrian workers that should not be exceeded, and imposed a...

BANGKOK (AP) — A court in military-ruled Myanmar on Friday sentenced detained U.S. journalist Danny Fenster to 11 years in prison after finding him guilty on several charges, including incitement for allegedly spreading false or inflammatory information. Fenster, the managing editor of the...

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia sent two nuclear-capable strategic bombers on a training mission over Belarus for a second straight day on Thursday in a strong show of Moscow's support for its ally amid a dispute over migration at the Polish border. The Belarusian Defense Ministry said two Russian...

Forces of Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar said Thursday 300 foreign mercenaries fighting on their side would leave the country, at the request of France, which will host a conference on Libya. The announcement, which gave no timeline for their exit, comes on the eve of an international...

Argentina superstar Lionel Messi is set to make his return from injury in a World Cup qualifier against Uruguay, his coach Lionel Scaloni said on Thursday. The six-time Ballon d'Or winner missed the last two matches with his club Paris Saint-Germain due to knee and hamstring issues. He...

KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) — Sudan’s top general reappointed himself as head of the army-run interim governing body on Thursday, a sign that he's tightening his grip on the country two weeks after he led a coup against civilian leaders. The move by Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan — along with other...

Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah on Thursday slammed Saudi's "exaggerated" response to remarks made by a Lebanese minister on the Yemen war that sparked a damaging diplomatic row with Gulf Arab states. In his first public comments since the crisis erupted, the leader of the pro-Iran movement...

Syrian migrant Youssef Atallah feared he would die in the forest on the Polish border after being left without food or water in freezing cold, unable to breathe through his nose after it was broken by what he said was an assault by a Belarusian soldier. Now in the safety of a migrant centre...

  Russia's air strikes on the last rebel-enclave in northwestern Syria have killed five members of the same family, including three children, rescue workers said Thursday.   The Russian warplanes carried out several raids targeting the displaced camps near the town of Maaret Misrin...

A visit by the United Arab Emirates' top diplomat this week may have turned a page for Syria's embattled autocratic president, enabling more Arab countries to re-engage with Bashar Assad. That would be a major shift in a region that for a decade ostracized Assad, supported his adversaries...

Top Israeli defense officials say the country is preparing for the possibility of an armed conflict with regional arch-rival Iran and its proxies. Israeli army chief of staff Lt. Gen. Aviv Kohavi said Tuesday that the Israeli military was “speeding up the operational plans and readiness for...