Jan 16 (Reuters) - Syria's President Ahmed al-Sharaa issued a decree affirming the rights of the Kurdish Syrians, formally recognising their language and restoring citizenship to all Kurdish Syrians, state news agency SANA reported on Friday. Sharaa's decree came after fierce
Jan 16 (Reuters) - The United States is ready to restart mediation between Egypt and Ethiopia to help resolve the issue of Nile River water sharing, President Donald Trump said in a letter to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Friday. "I am ready to restart U.S.
President Trump said the canceled Iranian executions “had a big impact” on his decision-making regarding a military response.
Syria's interim president surprised the country's Kurdish citizens with a decree enshrining their culture and language as an "inseparable component of Syria’s unified and diverse national identity."
US President Donald Trump thanked Iran's leadership on Friday after saying Tehran had called off the executions of hundreds of protesters arrested in a brutal crackdown. "I greatly respect the fact that all scheduled hangings, which were to take place yesterday (Over 800 of
The son of Iran's late shah said Friday he was confident that mass protests would topple the Islamic republic and urged international action, as President Donald Trump holds off on intervening in the unrest. Reza Pahlavi, who lives in exile in the Washington area, has presented
A top UK police chief who oversaw a contentious decision to ban Maccabi Tel Aviv football fans from a Birmingham match retired on Friday after public pressure for him to step down. West Midlands Police and its chief constable Craig Guildford, 52, have been under mounting
A top UK police chief who oversaw a decision to ban Maccabi Tel Aviv football fans from a Birmingham match stepped down by retiring on Friday after growing calls for him to go. West Midlands Police and its chief constable Craig Guildford have been under mounting pressure about
WASHINGTON, Jan 16 (Reuters) - The Trump administration issuedfresh sanctions on Friday further targeting the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen and the transfer of oil products, weapons and other so-called dual-use equipment that it said helped fund the group. The action targets 21
By Humeyra Pamuk WASHINGTON, Jan 16 - Iranian opposition figure Reza Pahlavi on Friday urged the international community to ramp up pressure on the Iranian government to help protesters overthrow clerical rule, even as a deadly crackdown appears to have broadly quelled
The US Middle East envoy has said he favors a diplomatic resolution of tensions with Iran rather than military action, in line with the president's recent remarks, but the threat of military escalation remains.
A bipartisan US Congress delegation began a visit to Copenhagen on Friday to voice support for Denmark and Greenland after US President Donald Trump threatened to take over the Arctic island, an autonomous Danish territory. The two-day visit comes alongside a European show of
The shift heralds a new era in which internet access is no longer a right but a government-granted privilege, according to FilterWatch, a US-based group that monitors internet freedom in the Middle East.
Jan 16 (Reuters) - Greece plans to extend its territorial waters further, including potentially in the Aegean Sea, Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis said on Friday, despite Turkey's long-standing threat of war should Athens take such a step. The NATO allies, but historic
LONDON, Jan 16 (Reuters) - Five pro-Palestinian activists pleaded not guilty on Friday to breaking into a British military air base and damaging two planes in protest against Britain's support for Israel. The five are accused of breaking into the Brize Norton Royal Air Force
A French prosecutor Friday sought a one-year jail term for an Iranian woman accused of promoting "terrorism" online in a case linked to a possible prisoner swap with two French citizens. Mahdieh Esfandiari, a 39-year-old Iranian, was arrested in France in February on charges of
The US special envoy to Syria is expected to meet SDF leader Mazlum Kobane in Erbil amid mounting tensions that threaten to unravel a fragile agreement between the Kurdish-led administration and Damascus.
BERLIN, Jan 16 (Reuters) - The Munich Security Conference, one of the world's top security forums, said on Friday it was withdrawing an invitation to Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi after the Tehran government's crackdown on protests across Iran this week. "Several weeks
As the head of Israel's Mossad arrived in Washington on Friday and is expected to meet with Witkoff to discuss Iran, Trump said that over 800 scheduled hangings of Iranian protesters were cancelled by Iranian leadership, amid reports Netanyahu and Arab leaders convinced the
In 1979, the last Israelis were expelled from Iran and the new regime declared a complete severing of ties. Yet this didn't prevent Israel from selling weapons and ammunition to the ayatollahs' regime a few years later. The full details of the secret ties between the two
By Francois Murphy VIENNA, Jan 16 (Reuters) - Regional fears of a U.S. attack on Iran have eased after President Donald Trump said Tehran had assured him that protesters would not be executed, but he is keeping "all of his options on the table", the White House said. The last
DUBAI, Jan 16 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's 90-year-old King Salman was undergoing medical tests in a hospital in Riyadh, the state news agency said on Friday. King of the world's biggest oil exporter and a major U.S. ally in the Middle East, he had received medical care for lung
BERLIN, Jan 16 (Reuters) - German Chancellor Friedrich Merz will raise topics including the political transition in Syria and the return of migrants to their homeland in talks with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa in Berlin next Tuesday, a government spokesperson said on
South Africa's defence minister has ordered an inquiry into reports of Iran's participation in navy exercises, apparently against the instructions of the president, the ministry said Friday. The probe comes after the United States sharply criticised the past week's drills,
The Gulf states and Turkey are mounting an intensive diplomatic push to avert a U.S.–Iran clash that could trigger a costly regional war, offering economic incentives to ensure their territory and interests remain protected. So far, the effort appears to be working
By Suleiman Al-Khalidi, Mahmoud Hasano , Jonathan Spicer and Timour Azhari Jan 15 (Reuters) - Syrian troops are poised to attack towns in the north and east held by Kurdish fighters, sources familiar with the matter said, to pressure autonomy-minded Kurds into making
MOSCOW, Jan 16 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the situation in Iran in separate calls on Friday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, and said that Moscow was willing to mediate in the region, the Kremlin
By Parisa Hafezi and Nayera Abdallah Dubai, Jan 16 (Reuters) - Iran's deadly crackdown appears to have broadly quelled protests for now, according to a rights group and residents, as state media reported more arrests on Friday in the shadow of U.S. threats to intervene if
By Joey Roulette and Cassell Bryan-Low WASHINGTON, Jan 16 (Reuters) - Iran’s crackdown on dissidents is shaping up as one of the toughest security tests yet for Elon Musk’s Starlink, which has served as a lifeline against state-imposed internet blackouts since its deployment
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa will hold talks with Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Berlin Tuesday as Germany seeks to step up deportations of Syrians, despite unease about continued instability in their homeland. On his first visit to Germany since ousting Syria's longtime
Israeli leaders had hoped that the US president would order attacks to help topple the government in Tehran and perhaps target Supreme Leader Khamenei.
JOHANNESBURG, Jan 16 (Reuters) - South Africa's defence ministry said on Friday that Minister Angie Motshekga had launched an inquiry into Iran's participation in the BRICS+ naval exercises held in South African waters over the past week. The defence ministry said in a
The protest movement in Iran has subsided after a crackdown that has killed thousands under an internet blackout, monitors said Friday, one week after the start of the biggest protests in years challenging the Islamic republic's theocratic system. The threat of new military
MOSCOW, Jan 16 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed the situation in the Middle East and Iran by phone on Friday, the Kremlin said. Putin offered Netanyahu Russia's help in mediating in regards to Iran, and told
The toppling of the Iranian regime, if it happens, would be a very positive strategic change in the Middle East. However, the main question which now justifiably troubles Israeli citizens is whether an American attack would in turn lead to an Iranian decision to launch missiles
LESBOS, Greece, Jan 16 (Reuters) - Over two dozen aid workers involved in refugee rescues in Greece were acquitted of migrant smuggling charges in a multi-year case that rights groups said was a baseless attempt to ban aid for refugees heading to Europe. European Union
Witkoff also described Trump's emotional reaction during a November White House visit by Israeli hostages and their families, including 17 of the last 20 hostages released the previous month. 'I saw the tears. He doesn't like anyone to see tears. And he said to me, "This is the
By Emily Rose JERUSALEM, Jan 16 (Reuters) - Israel is grappling with a dramatic increase in post-traumatic stress disorder and suicide among its troops after its two-year assault on Gaza, precipitated by the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on southern Israel. Recent reports by
Jan 15 (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department has approved the potential sale to Peru of $1.5 billion in equipment and services to support the country's efforts to shift its main naval base in the city of Callao, the Pentagon said in a statement on Thursday, so it can expand a
Mouayed Zabtia shoots most scenes for his latest movie in a studio he built at his Tripoli home. For the filmmaker, it is one way to overcome the obstacles he faces in a country where cinema once nearly vanished. Before a 1969 coup that brought Moamer Kadhafi to power, Libya's
US President Donald Trump on Thursday announced the formation of a Gaza "board of peace," a key phase two element of a US-backed plan to end the war in the Palestinian territory. "It is my Great Honor to announce that THE BOARD OF PEACE has been formed," Trump posted on his
Jan 15 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday said he is backing "a newly appointed Palestinian Technocratic Government" in Gaza. "As Chairman of the Board of Peace, I am backing a newly appointed Palestinian Technocratic Government, the National Committee for the
By Kanishka Singh WASHINGTON, Jan 15 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump has made a series of controversial moves that have shaken up the world order, including a military raid that toppled Venezuela's leader and renewed threats to annex Greenland. Trump, who campaigned on