GENEVA (AA) – The number of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank has increased by 23% since 2014, and there are now close to 480,000 settlers, a UN expert told the UN Human Rights Council on Friday. Michael Lynk, the special rapporteur on the situation in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, delivered his […]
WASHINGTON (AA) – The US expressed discontent Thursday over the presence of Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) officers at the Doha Defense Show in Qatar. The US is “deeply disappointed and troubled” by the presence of Iranian military officials and IRGC officers, said US State Department spokesman Ned Price in a statement....
SANAA, Yemen (AA) – Bread prices in Yemen have spiked up to 35 percent, according to the UK-based international humanitarian organization Oxfam on Thursday. The NGO said Yemen imports 42% of its grain from Ukraine, but the Russian war on the country has disrupted the supplies of grain and cooking oil to the war-torn Arab […]
ISTANBUL (AA) – China’s foreign minister on Thursday arrived in Afghanistan on his maiden trip to the country after the exit of US-led foreign forces last year. As most countries worldwide have taken a wait-and-see approach to the country’s Taliban interim government, officials said the visit by Wang Yi sent a “positive message.” The vis...
SANAA, Yemen – The Iranian Foreign Ministry has called for launching an intra-Yemeni dialogue “away from foreign interference” to settle the crisis in the country. “The destructive war and the cruel blockade of the (Saudi-led Arab) coalition against the people of Yemen is entering its eighth year as it has led to this r...
DHAKA, Bangladesh (AA) – A Bangladeshi court on Thursday sentenced two elderly people to death for alleged crimes against humanity during the country’s “independence war” in 1971. They are Abdul Khaleq Mandol, who is a district head for the opposition Jamat-e-Islami party and a former lawmaker, and Khan Rokonuzzaman, wh...
WASHINGTON (AA) – US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will depart for a five-day tour of the Middle East and North Africa beginning this weekend, the State Department said Thursday. During his travels to Israel, Palestine, Morocco and Algeria, Blinken will “consult with partners on a range of regional and global priorities, includ...
Bureij, Palestinian Territories – AFP After Russia invaded Ukraine, Viktoria Saidam knew she needed to find a “safer place” than Kyiv and ultimately chose her husband’s homeland — a Palestinian territory not typically associated with security: Gaza. Saidam, 21, was born Viktoria Breij in Vinnytsia, a town some 200...
BAGHDAD (AA) – The Al-Sadr party of Muqtada al-Sadr on Wednesday announced an agreement with the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Sunni Sovereignty Alliance on naming the KDP’s nominee Reber Ahmed for the Iraqi presidency and Mohammad Jaafar al-Sadr of Al-Sadr party for the position of Iraq’s prime minister. Following a meeting a...
Damascus, Syria – AFP Iran’s top diplomat on Wednesday welcomed efforts to “normalize relations” between some Arab countries and Syria, days after President Bashar al-Assad made a surprise visit to the UAE. Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian made the remarks on a visit to Damascus during which he met Assad, his S...
