BEIRUT, Lebanon (AA) – Lebanon on Monday called on the United States to resume indirect talks with Israel to demarcate their maritime border. Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati met with President Michel Aoun to discuss developments related to a disputed maritime area with Israel and agreed to invite US mediator Amos Hochstein to resume his ...
PARIS – The French finance minister has said that his country is engaged in talks with the Gulf countries to find an alternative to Russian oil supplies and reduce the country’s energy dependency on Moscow. “Discussions are already underway with the United Arab Emirates. We need to find an alternative to Russian oil,” Bruno Le […]...
DHAKA, Bangladesh (AA) – At least 49 people died and more than 300 others were injured as a devastating fire in Bangladesh’s southern port city of Chattogram continued to burn for nearly 24 hours, an official said on Sunday. “We have a record of 49 deaths till now and more than 300 injuries. Of them, […]
ANKARA / ISTANBUL (AA) – Turkiye and Pakistan are determined to increase cooperation at all levels, including on bilateral and international platforms, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday, as he welcomed Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif at the presidential palace in Ankara. “We have achieved the annual b...
BEIRUT, Lebanon – The World Bank has called on Lebanon to accelerate implementing a comprehensive recovery plan out of its currently deep economic and financial crisis. “Despite early warnings, Lebanon has lost precious time and numerous opportunities to adopt a path to reform its economic and financial system,” Saroj Kumar Jha, th...
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AA) – A UN official said Tuesday that the situation in Somalia is extremely dire as 7.1 million people are going to be affected by drought before the end of the year unless there is a massive humanitarian effort. Some 6.1 million Somalis have been affected by the drought emergency as of May, […]
Fnideq, Morocco – (AFP): Spain opened the borders of its North African enclaves Ceuta and Melilla to Moroccan workers on Tuesday, two years after their closure and following the resolution of a drawn-out diplomatic crisis. The European Union’s only borders on African soil had been shuttered in 2020 at the height of the coronavirus ...
Dubai, United Arab Emirates – (AFP): Israel signed a free trade deal with the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday, its first with an Arab country, building on their US-brokered normalization of diplomatic relations in 2020. Two-way trade between Israel and the UAE last year totaled some $900 million dollars, according to Israeli figures. UAE...
ISTANBUL (AA) – Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif attended a dinner reception in his honor Tuesday hosted by the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Türkey (TOBB) in the Turkish capital Ankara. Sharif arrived in Türkey on a three-day official visit on Tuesday. M. Rifat Hisarciklioglu, the head of the TOBB, welcomed Sharif and [&...
TUNIS, Tunisia – Tunisia’s powerful UGTT labor union has declared a general strike on June 16 in protest of the government’s refusal to reform public companies. In a statement, the union said the strike was called “over government’s unwillingness to reform public companies.” It said the general strike will cover 159 public institutions i...
