Mecca, Saudi Arabia – (AFP) “Business is back,” exclaims Abdullah Mekhlafi at the shop where he sells prayer mats in Islam’s holiest city, which is preparing for the biggest influx of hajj pilgrims since the coronavirus pandemic began. Two years of drastic restrictions on the number of pilgrims who could perform the haj...
JERUSALEM (AA) – Israel has threatened to use a “variety of tools” amid tension with Lebanon over a maritime gas field between the two countries. Israeli Energy Minister Karine Elharrar visited the disputed Karish field on Tuesday, days after the Israeli army shot down three unarmed drones fired by Lebanese group Hezbollah over the region. [&h...
PARIS/ANKARA (AA) – France’s President Emmanuel Macron welcomed Israeli interim Prime Minister Yair Lapid at the Elysee Palace on Tuesday for discussions about the Iran nuclear deal, Lebanese group Hezbollah, as well as the current tensions over Israel’s maritime border with Lebanon. It is Lapid’s first trip to France after he took over as pre...
LONDON (AA) – British Prime Minister Boris Johnson appointed Nadhim Zahawi as the new Chancellor of the Exchequer late Tuesday after the resignation of Rishi Sunak. Zahawi, who was the education secretary, was named by Johnson as the chief executive of the treasury. Johnson earlier appointed Steve Barclay as the new health secretary after Saji...
ALGIERS, Algeria (AA) – Algeria has said it will reopen its border with Tunisia later this month after being closed for two years due to the coronavirus pandemic. “It was decided to open the land border to the movement of vehicles and travelers as of July 15,” President Abdelmadjid Tebboune said in a statement published […]...
NAIROBI, Kenya (AA) – Ethiopia’s prime minister and Sudan’s forefront leader have agreed to calm tensions between the two countries and resolve outstanding issues through talks. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Abdel Fattah al-Burhan of Sudan met on the sidelines of a regional conference in the Kenyan capital Nairobi. “We have both agreed that ou...
GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) – Palestinians have condemned the results of a US investigation into the killing of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh. Abu Akleh, 51, was a trailblazing Palestinian journalist who was shot dead on May 11 while covering an Israeli military raid near the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank. [&hellip...
ANKARA (AA) – Turkish security forces claim to have “neutralized” a total of 11 PKK fighters in northern Syria, according to the Turkish Defense Ministry. The Kurdish militants were targeted in the regions of Turkiye’s Euphrates Shield and Peace Spring operations, the ministry said. “There is no escape from the fate that awaits the...
WASHINGTON (AA) – US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to Indonesia and Thailand this week, the State Department has said. Blinken will travel Wednesday to Bali to attend the G20 Foreign Ministers’ meeting, where spokesman Ned Price said he will reinforce the US’ commitment to working with international partners to confront g...
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AA) – A wildfire in the Gaacidh forest in the eastern Sanaag region of Somaliland in Somalia is burning from an undetermined cause, authorities said Tuesday. The fire in the forest that is described as one of the most beautiful in the region and home to unique trees and dozens of fauna started […]
