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...
DHAKA, Bangladesh (AA) – Bangladesh’s foreign secretary has said that his country is strongly committed to establishing a peace process for Palestine and denounces Islamophobia. Masud Bin Momen expressed his country’s stance while addressing the 48th Council of Foreign Ministers Meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) he...
KARACHI, Pakistan (AA) – The foreign ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) have endorsed Pakistan’s call for a joint probe to establish the facts surrounding the “accidental” firing of a missile into Pakistan from India earlier this month. In a resolution adopted Wednesday at the culmination of the two-da...
ISTANBUL – Educational institutions reopened in Afghanistan after a gap of nearly seven months. Officials of the Taliban-led interim government held a ceremony to mark the new academic calendar. At a function in Amani High School in Kabul, Syed Ahmad Shahid Khel, a Taliban official, said Islam considers knowledge, and understanding “as b...
