International donors Friday laid out a $2.5-billion response plan to the devastating port blast in Beirut in August, urging reforms in the crisis-hit country. The European Union, United Nations and World Bank published the plan four months after the country's worst peacetime disaster on...

Tuqqa Abdullah and her Iraqi family have wandered from one displaced people's camp to the next in the past three years, buying time and hoping they will one day be able to go home. Just 14 when her father took the family to the then Islamic State (IS) stronghold of Mosul, she has inherited...

Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister said on Friday he was hopeful a deal could soon be reached to resolve a long-running dispute among Gulf nations after recent progress in talks led by Kuwait and the United States. “We have made significant progress in the last few days thanks to the...

Iran is raising pressure on U.S. President-elect Joe Biden with plans to install more advanced uranium-enriching centrifuges at an underground plant in breach of its deal with major powers, a U.N. nuclear watchdog report showed on Friday. The confidential International Atomic Energy Agency...

In addition to China, Turkey is in contact with Russia on COVID-19 vaccine, the Turkish president said on Friday, adding he can be vaccinated to set an example for the nation. “We have [ongoing] talks with Russia, as well as China. On this issue, I personally have no problem with being...

Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday he hoped France would soon get rid of President Emmanuel Macron, describing him as a burden on France which was going through dangerous times. Ties between Turkey and France, both NATO members, have been particularly tense in recent months...

On 20 October, without much media hype, Turkish forces stationed in the Syrian city of Morek began withdrawing from their base.  Morek is the most important Turkish post north of the Syrian regime-held city of Hama and borders the rebel-controlled northwestern part of the...

Lebanon's Hezbollah said Friday it had filed slander lawsuits against an ex-parliamentarian and a political party who allegedly claimed the Shiite movement was responsible for the Beirut port blast. The explosion of hundreds of tonnes of ammonium nitrate fertiliser at the Beirut port on...

Manchester United are to install 1,500 barrier seats early next year as they prepare to trial "safe standing" at Old Trafford. Fans can finally return to Premier League matches in some parts of England this weekend after coronavirus restrictions were eased. But United have been pressing...

The human rights situation in crisis-wracked Belarus is deteriorating, the UN rights chief said Friday, highlighting mass arrests, including of journalists, and numerous allegations of torture. Michelle Bachelet said there were no signs of improvements in Belarus since an urgent debate...

It took Luis Salgado years of manual labor to save enough money to open a small fresh produce store, so when torrential floods swept away $1,500 worth of apples, bananas and other fruits, he decided there was no longer a future for him in Honduras. Salgado had already been struggling to eke...

For a man obsessed with winning, President Donald Trump is losing a lot. He’s managed to lose not just once to Democrat Joe Biden at the ballot box but over and over again in courts across the country in a futile attempt to stay in power. The Republican president and his allies continue to...

Turkish Red Crescent extended a helping hand to 18-year-old Abdullah Abu al-Homsi, who suffers from a physical and mental disability following an attack by the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria. In an interview with Anadolu Agency on the occasion of the International Day for People with...

Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi has held a rare meeting with his Israeli counterpart to press for the restart of stalled negotiations between the Palestinians and the Jewish state. Thursday's meeting came days after Palestinian Authority leader Mahmud Abbas visited Jordan as part of...

 At least eight people were killed in the shelling of an industrial compound in Yemen's strategic port of Hodeida, the government said Friday, pointing the finger at the Iran-backed Huthi rebels. There has been an uptick in fighting in and around the lifeline port of the western city,...

Turkey's lira slipped on Friday after US lawmakers included mandatory Turkish sanctions in a defence spending bill that moves Washington a step closer to punishing its NATO ally for buying Russian S-400 missile defences last year. The final version of the $740 billion annual US defence...

Brexit trade talks are in the difficult phase and a deal can only be struck if the European Union accepts that Britain is a sovereign nation, a British minister said on Friday after London indicated that the chance of a breakthrough was receding. With less than four weeks left until the...

Over 1.5 million people have lost their lives due to COVID-19 with one death reported every nine seconds on a weekly average, as vaccinations are set to begin in December in a handful of developed nations. Half a million deaths occurred in just the last two months, indicating that the...

Some damage to Sino-U.S. ties is “beyond repair” amid a new wave of Trump administration measures to counter China, Chinese state media warned, amid growing rancour underlined by an ugly Twitter spat between a U.S. senator and Chinese journalists. Relations between the world’s two largest...

President Nicolas Maduro and his allies are set to dominate Sunday's legislative elections in Venezuela, which are being boycotted by the mainstream opposition parties led by his main rival Juan Guaido. Victory will give Maduro's ruling Socialist Party control of the National Assembly, the...