Saudi Arabia announced on Sunday that beginning Monday applications for Muslim pilgrims wishing to perform umrah from abroad will be received and 2 million requests will be accepted per month. The Saudi news agency SPA cited Deputy Minister of Hajj and Umrah, Dr. Abdulfattah bin Sulaiman...

Afghan forces and the Taliban were fighting fiercely Sunday in the centre of Kunduz, officials and residents said, after the insurgents captured two other provincial capitals in the last 48 hours. The fall of the northern city would be a major blow for the central government, which has...

Britain's Olympic chief has told AFP the staging of the Tokyo Games in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic has proved the doubters wrong while a former IOC executive claims it was a "miracle". The first Olympics ever to be postponed took place a year late and in stadiums where spectators...

Hundreds of Greek firefighters fought desperately Sunday to control wildfires on the island of Evia that have charred vast areas of pine forest, destroyed homes and forced tourists and locals to flee. Blazes also raged in the Peloponnese region in the southwest, but fires in a northern...

France has beaten the Russian Olympic Committee 30-25 for the gold medal in women’s handball. Scores were level at 16-16 midway through the second half before six straight goals for France and a string of saves by goalkeeper Cleopatre Darleux took the game out of the Russians’ reach....

Myanmar protesters on Sunday marked the anniversary of a 1988 pro-democracy uprising that brought Aung San Suu Kyi to prominence, with flash mobs and marches of defiance against the ruling junta. The country has been in turmoil since the generals launched their February putsch and subsequent...

Energy giant Saudi Aramco said Sunday its second quarter profits for 2021 had nearly quadrupled compared to the same period last year on the back of higher oil prices. The company's success comes after its debts climbed last year, when Saudi Arabia was hammered by the double whammy of...

Syrian regime’s bombing killed four children of one family in the west-central Hama province, local activists and the rescue Civil Defence agency said Saturday. The artillery attacks that left 15 more people wounded have hit the town of Qastoun in the rebel-held areas in the Ghab...

It has been a year since Zaman al-Wasl published an exclusive report revealing the crimes of Mouwafak al-Al-Dawah, the Syrian-Palestinian militant who was detained by the German police in Berlin on Wednesday.   The prosecutors said al-Dawah is suspected of firing a grenade into a...

TOKYO (AP) — After an Olympics of too little diversity in the swimming pool, and less on the medal podium, the sport's governing body is investing tens of millions of dollars to change that by 2024. Elite training centers in Africa and scholarship programs worldwide are part of a strategy to...

 The Jordanian military on Saturday said it thwarted an attempt to smuggle drugs and weapons into the country from neighboring Syria, killing one smuggler and wounding several others. The military said in a statement it seized a “large quantity” of narcotics as well as ammunition and a...

Britain's Galal Yafai defeated Carlo Paalam to win the Olympic flyweight title on Saturday, denying the Philippines a first boxing gold medal in the country's history. The men's middleweight final produced a shock as Ukrainian top seed Oleksandr Khyzhniak was knocked out in the third round...

Due to continuing attacks by the Bashar-al-Assad regime, 80% of nearly 50,000 civilians living in targeted neighborhoods of Daraa, southwestern Syria, left their homes and migrated to other neighborhoods as talks for peace continue. According to local sources, migration has been continuing...

Like every year, summer brings the most difficulties and imposes severe challenges on the displaced in northwestern amid lack of means for cooling and the scarcity of water which increases their suffering. Abu Mohamed al-Hamwi, a Syrian displaced lives in one of the random camps in the...

The UN has called for a ceasefire in the flashpoint Syrian province of Daraa where it said recent fighting forced 18,000 to flee. Fighting between regime forces and armed opposition groups in the southern province last month killed at least 28 people. The clashes have died down...

TOKYO (AP) — A man with a knife stabbed at least 10 passengers on a commuter train in Tokyo on Friday and was captured by police after fleeing, fire department officials and news reports said. NHK public television said one passenger was seriously injured. It said the suspect left his...

 The militant Hezbollah group fired a barrage of rockets toward Israel on Friday, and Israel hit back with artillery in a significant escalation between the two sides. It was the third day of attacks along the volatile border with Lebanon, a major Middle East flashpoint where tensions...

The timing of Moscow and the Syrian regime’s attacks over the past few months indicates a desire to pressure the international community before major international meetings on the Syrian war. On March 5, 2020, Russia and Turkey signed a ceasefire agreement in Syria’s Idlib that included...

“The stark picture emerging from Daraa al-Balad and other neighbourhoods underscores how much at risk civilians there are, repeatedly exposed to fighting and violence, and in effect under siege”, High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said.   With the only route out...

  The Russian warplanes conducted five air strikes on Jabal al-Zawiya region in northern Idlib province and the Al-Kabbana hilltops east of Latakia province, Zaman al-Wasl reporter said Thursday.   No casualties were reported.   In retaliation, Captain Naji...