ANKARA (AA) – The French president on Wednesday called for a direct dialogue between Israel and Palestine. “In the short term, we know, this first requires the end of unilateral measures on the ground,” Emmanuel Macron said in a joint news conference with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at Elysee Palace in Paris. “I am thinking [&hel...
Zangilan, Azerbaijan – (AFP): Azerbaijan on Tuesday began the process of returning its people to land recaptured from Armenian separatists in what Baku calls “The Great Return” following a 2020 war over disputed Nagorno-Karabakh. The oil-rich country has vowed to repopulate lands recaptured in the six-week war with arch-foe C...
JERUSALEM (AA) – Israeli warplanes launched an airstrike on the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, targeting a position belonging to Hamas. The army said the attack came after a bullet was fired from the territory and hit an industrial building in southern Israel earlier Tuesday. No injuries were reported in the Israeli air strike. Israeli mounted [&helli...
JERUSALEM (AA) – Israeli leaders on Tuesday threatened to unleash a military response against Lebanon, one day after Tel Aviv shot down a Hezbollah drone amid tension over a maritime border dispute. “Israel is prepared and ready to act against any threat,” Prime Minister Yair Lapid said during a tour of Israel’s border with Lebanon. […]...
WASHINGTON (AA) – The PKK organization continued to forcibly recruit children to use them in conflicts in Iraq and Syria, according to a report by US State Department on Tuesday. The 2022 Trafficking in Persons Report stated that children remain vulnerable to forcible recruitment and use by multiple armed groups operating in Iraq, including IS...
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AA) – Somalia’s presidential spokesman said Tuesday that reports of Somali troops trained in Eritrea being involved in Ethiopia’s Tigray conflict are nothing but “rumors.” Abdikarin Ali Kaar, who held a news conference in the national capital of Mogadishu, said 5,000 “missing” Somali trainees have been found and the g...
WASHINGTON (AA) – The US Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted Tuesday to approve Sweden’s and Finland’s NATO memberships, setting up a vote in the wider chamber. The passage of what are known as the Nordic countries’ ascension protocols was met without opposition during a voice vote. The only vote not in approval came fro...
ANKARA (AA) – Turkish, Russian and Iranian leaders condemned Tuesday the increased presence and activities of terrorist groups and their affiliates under different names in various parts of Syria. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, and Iran’s Ebrahim Raisi gathered in Iran’s capital Tehr...
BRUSSELS (AA) – The European Union has kicked off accession negotiations with North Macedonia and Albania. The EU Commission head Ursula von der Leyen hailed the “historic moment” at a joint news conference with Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala, Albanian Premier Edi Rama and North Macedonia’s Prime Minister Dimitar Kovacevski. Von der Leyen pra...
ALGIERS, Algeria (AA) – Algeria’s state-owned oil company Sonatrach on Tuesday signed a contract with French, US and Italian oil giants to invest $4 billion to produce 1 billion of oil equivalent barrels. The contract was signed by France’s TotalEnergies, US oil giant Occidental Petroleum and Italy’s Eni. In a statement, Sonatrach said the con...
