Despite holding valid visas, six of the seven booked comedians were denied entry to Israel, and sets in Nablus and Jerusalem were canceled over safety concerns. But in Ramallah and Bethlehem, the 1,001 Laughs Palestine Comedy Festival returned for the first time since 2023
WASHINGTON, Aug 18 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that talks between the U.S. and Iran were neither taking place nor scheduled but the Strait of Hormuz was open, while Iran said the shipping route would remain closed until the U.S. fulfilled the terms of an
By Feras Dalatey and Tuvan Gumrukcu DAMASCUS/ANKARA, Aug 18 (Reuters) - Israel bombed an airbase in Syria on Tuesday, Syrian state media said, carrying out what appeared to be its first strike on Syrian government assets since March and drawing criticism from a U.S. envoy who
The Israeli military is touted as the most powerful in the Middle East, striking targets deep into enemy territory. But for more than a week, Israeli troops have somehow failed to evict a small group of settlers sitting on rocks in the occupied West Bank. Experts says the
Syria and the United States accused Israel of attacking a disused military air base in Syria's northwest on Tuesday, as a monitor said the strikes followed a Turkish delegation's inspection of the site. Israel has not claimed the attack, but US envoy for Syria Tom Barrack said
By Emma Farge GENEVA, Aug 18 (Reuters) - The portion of women in Afghanistan's workforce has fallen to just 5% since the Taliban takeover five years ago, according to the International Labour Organization, which called for measures to address their "severe exclusion". • Female
The Israeli military recovered the remains of Yehuda Katz, an Israeli soldier who was killed in the Battle of Sultan Yacoub in Lebanon 44 years ago.
By Pesha Magid, Ammar Awad and Sinan Abu Mayzer QUSRA, West Bank, Aug 18 (Reuters) - Palestinian American Loui Ridi raised a giant American flag over his West Bank home, hoping it might deter militant settlers besieging the property. But it wasn't enough to stop one of them
By Timour Azhari RIYADH, Aug 18 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia has placed financial transfers to the United Arab Emirates under extra layers of regulatory oversight reserved for countries considered high-risk for illicit money flows, according to three people with direct knowledge of
DUBAI, Aug 18 (Reuters) - The Strait of Hormuz will remain shut until the U.S. meets the conditions of an interim deal signed with Iran in June, the top Iranian negotiator Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said in comments published by state media on Tuesday. These conditions include the
MANILA, Aug 18 (Reuters) - The Philippines does not expect a reduction in military activities with its treaty ally the United States amid redeployment of some U.S. defence assets to the Middle East, an official said on Monday. The movement of assets including the USS George
By Mahmoud Issa and Nidal al-Mughrabi GAZA/CAIRO, Aug 18 (Reuters) - As children walked into the zoo near Gaza's Nuseirat refugee camp, they found a lion barely looking back at them through the bars of its cage and chimpanzees sitting listlessly in their enclosure. Many of the
President Donald Trump threatened Monday to bomb Oman if it "gets in the way" of a US deal with Iran on the Strait of Hormuz and called for Tehran to surrender in a war that has become a growing political burden. Control of the waterway, which Iran has effectively closed since
SINGAPORE, Aug 18 (Reuters) - Ship crossings via the Strait of Hormuz were still in single digits on Monday, despite rising slightly from the weekend, according to preliminary shipping data on Tuesday, amid a stalemate in U.S. and Iranian peace talks. Six commodity ships
Iran's escalating attacks against the Kurds make U.S. efforts to disarm Iraqi militias far harder. With the deadline approaching, the fallout threatens to ripple into Lebanon and Hezbollah
ANKARA, Aug 18 (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan urged U.S. President Donald Trump in a phone call to pursue talks with Iran to de-escalate tensions between the two countries, and offered Ankara's support for peace efforts, the Turkish presidency said on Tuesday.
Sudanese officials held parallel talks in Riyadh and Ankara as Saudi Arabia and Turkey deepen security cooperation around the Red Sea and fighting intensifies in Sudan.
The talks come as Oman is in the midst of negotiations with Iran over the Strait of Hormuz.
US President Donald Trump threatened on Monday to bomb Oman, 60 days after the signing of a memorandum of understanding towards a peace deal to end the war between the United States and Iran. Here are the latest developments in the Middle East conflict: - Trump threatens
US President Donald Trump threatened to bomb Oman if it obstructed a deal with Iran over the Strait of Hormuz, as a vessel transiting the strategic waterway reported being struck by a projectile on Tuesday. - Iran negotiator ultimatum - Iran's top negotiator Mohammad Bagher
A village is considered relatively fortunate when Israel has taken only part of its land and settlers raid it only occasionally. A quiet day is one in which the violence remains below the threshold of death, demolition or expulsion
(Corrects paragraph two to show that the siege has been ongoing for over a week, not nearly a week) By Pesha Magid QUSRA, West Bank, Aug 17 (Reuters) - He watched from thousands of miles away on a security camera feed as militant Israeli settlers encircled his West Bank house,
The Palestinian-American owner of a house besieged by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank said on Monday he feared for his safety as he headed back to his property and called for US protection. Louai Abu Ridi owns one of the three houses in Qusra, near Nablus, which
The prominent Dubai businessman condemned the Israeli national security minister's call to kill of dozens Gazans nightly, putting a pointed criticism from an influential Emirati voice on the record.
WASHINGTON, Aug 17 (Reuters) - A meeting on Monday between Donald Trump's envoy and son-in-law Jared Kushner and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was "lengthy, in depth, and very productive," a Board of Peace official said, adding that agreement was reached with
By Parisa Hafezi DUBAI, Aug 17 (Reuters) - Even as Iran projects resilience in the war with the United States, its leaders are worried that a threat of more economic punishment by Donald Trump could increase hardships, reignite unrest and further erode the Islamic Republic’s
Israel and the Gaza Board of Peace have agreed that the Israeli military will begin withdrawing from the Gaza Strip after Hamas disarms.
Ahead of the visit, King Abdullah said that Jordan hopes to expand cooperation with China in green energy, tourism and aviation.
The number of aid workers killed worldwide in 2025 reached 350, with the most fatalities in Gaza and Sudan, the United Nations said Monday, calling attacks on humanitarians "unacceptable." The death toll, however, was slightly lower than that of 2024, when 377 aid workers were