TOKYO (AP) — Tokyo pitched itself as "a safe pair of hands” when it was awarded the Olympics 7 1/2 years ago. “The certainty was a crucial factor," Craig Reedie, an IOC vice president at the time, said after the 2013 vote in Buenos Aires. Now, nothing is certain as Tokyo's...

The recent sabotage at Iran’s main nuclear enrichment facility is just the latest setback for the country's Revolutionary Guard, though the paramilitary force is rarely publicly criticized due to its power. But with some of its leaders now considering vying for the presidency, the...

Iran will begin enriching uranium up to 60% purity after an attack on its Natanz nuclear facility, a negotiator said Tuesday, pushing its program to higher levels than ever before though still remaining short of weapons-grade. The announcement marks a significant escalation after the...

GENEVA (Reuters) - The United Nations human rights office said on Tuesday it fears that the military clampdown on protests in Myanmar since the Feb. 1 coup risks escalating into a civil conflict like that seen in Syria and appealed for a halt to the “slaughter”. U.N. High Commissioner...

Bashar al-Assad has dismissed Syria’s Central Bank Governor Hazem Karfoul, the state news agency reported on Tuesday. It did not immediately say whether Assad had appointed a replacement or give a reason for Karfoul’s dismissal. Syria’s economy has been decimated by the...

Syria's Electricity Ministry on Monday has estimated the damage in the electrical system over the past ten years at 3000 Trillion Syrian Pounds, ($2.4 billion). The capacity of the generating sets that were destroyed or causing great damage to them in the various stations is estimated...

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran's foreign minister warned Tuesday that an attack on its main nuclear enrichment site at Natanz affects ongoing negotiations in Vienna over its tattered atomic deal with world powers. Mohammad Javad Zarif's remarks, alongside visiting Russian...

A 10-day curfew in areas controlled by U.S.-backed fighters in northeast Syria went into effect Tuesday in an attempt to try limit the spread of coronavirus in the region that borders Turkey and Iraq. Northeast Syria witnessed a sharp increase of coronavirus cases in recent weeks...

Three pro-Syrian regime militants were killed in an ambush by Daesh (ISIS) in the Badia desert in central Homs province, local sources said Monday. The ambush targeted the Palestinian Liwa al-Qusd militia near al-Sukhna town in the eastern countryside of Homs.   ...

The global chemical weapons watchdog has "reasonable grounds to believe" that Syria's air force dropped a chlorine bomb on a residential neighbourhood in the rebel-controlled Idlib region in February 2018, a report released on Monday said. There was no immediate comment from the Syrian...

Last month marked 10 years since the beginning of the Syrian uprising when peaceful protesters, galvanised by the Arab Spring, went out on to the streets demanding freedom from an authoritarian regime and were met with bullets. President Bashar al-Assad vowed to crush dissent. In doing...

The Syrian Central Bank has applied new measure to combat black exchange market by selling US dollar to traders and importers at a slightly lower rate, seeking for a complete control on the exchange market players. The regime fixed the price of dollar used to finance imports at 3,375...

Syrian Turkmens from the Bayırbucak region in the war-torn country’s northwest will be welcoming another Ramadan away from their families and home country. The Turkmens numbering 3,500 that fled Syria due to the civil war and have been living in a container camp in Turkey's southern...

Anwar al-Bunni does not hide his joy over the sentencing, on 24 February 2021, of former Syrian intelligence agent Eyad al-Gharib to four and a half years in prison for ‘complicity in crimes against humanity’. “This is a historic verdict. I am happy, not because of the conviction of this...

Jordanian Prince Hamza Bin Al Hussein was not the victim of conspirators but was involved in a real coup attempt, a Jordanian writer said in a column in Al Ghad newspaper on Saturday. Prince Hamza's signing of the declaration of allegiance was the beginning, not the end, as he now needs...

Israeli defence analysts believe Israel and the US are at odds regarding the Iranian nuclear issue, local media reported yesterday. Following remarks by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Israel will not be bound by a revitalised nuclear deal between world powers and Iran,...

India reported another record daily surge in coronavirus infections Monday to overtake Brazil as the second-worst hit country. The 168,912 cases added in the last 24 hours pushed India's total to 13.5 million, while Brazil has 13.4 million, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins...

Iran on Monday blamed Israel for a sabotage attack on its underground Natanz nuclear facility that damaged the centrifuges it uses to enrich uranium there, warning that it would take revenge for the assault. The comments by Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh represent the first...

Iran's nuclear program has been targeted by diplomatic efforts and sabotage attacks over the last decade, with the latest incident striking its underground Natanz facility. The attack Sunday at Natanz comes as world powers try to negotiate a return by Iran and the U.S. to Tehran's atomic...

For Ramadan this year, Magdy Hafez has been longing to reclaim a cherished ritual: performing the nighttime group prayers called taraweeh at the mosque once again. Last year, the coronavirus upended the 68-year-old Egyptian’s routine of going to the mosque to perform those prayers,...