RAFAH: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres visited Egypt’s border with the Gazan city of Rafah on Saturday to reiterate pleas for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. His visit comes after the UN Security Council’s failure to pass a resolution to halt the Israeli offensive on Gaza, which is now entering its sixth month with … Read more
RIYADH: Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan, Saudi Arabia’s culture minister, received his French counterpart Rachida Dati, who is currently on a visit to the Kingdom. Prince Badr commended the robust cultural relations between the Kingdom and France, emphasizing their recent development and the Saudi leadership’s commitment to further strengthening bilateral cultural connections. The discussions … Read more
KYIV: Ukraine’s army chief said Wednesday the situation on the battlefield was “difficult” and that Russian forces could be poised to strike deep into Ukrainian lines in the eastern Donetsk region. Kyiv’s forces are on the defensive across the 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front lines in the east and south after Moscow made its first territorial gains … Read more
KYIV, Ukraine: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday said his troops were facing complicated fighting along sections of the sprawling front line, with delays in Western military aid impacting his army. Moscow’s forces are back on the offensive in eastern and southern Ukraine, and captured Avdiivka in the eastern Donetsk region, securing their first major … Read more
BERLIN: German police said Friday they had arrested a man as he allegedly attempted to flee with a hostage from a store in the Ulm city center. Contacted by AFP, a police spokesman in the southwestern city declined to give details about the hostage or the possible motivation behind the incident. “At 8:20 p.m. (1920 … Read more
WASHINGTON: President Joe Biden’s top budget official warned in stark terms Friday about the rapidly diminishing time that lawmakers have to replenish US aid for Ukraine, as the fate of that money to Kyiv remains tied up in negotiations over immigration where a deal has so far been out of reach.
BEIRUT: Tensions rose on the Lebanese southern front following a short period of cautious calm lasting until the early hours of Monday in many border villages. Lebanon’s caretaker social affairs minister, Hector Hajjar, on Monday visited the border region and toured several towns to assess the situation of people forced to leave their homes. The … Read more
Ramallah: The Israeli army on Tuesday said it arrested senior Palestinian politician Khalida Jarrar in the occupied West Bank, along with other activists of her leftist party.Jarrar, 60, is a prominent figure in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a faction in the Palestine Liberation Organization considered a “terrorist” group by Israel, … Read more
US, Venezuela swap prisoners: Maduro ally for 10 Americans, plus fugitive contractor ‘Fat Leonard’ MIAMI: The United States freed a close ally of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in exchange for the release of 10 Americans imprisoned in the South American country and the return of a fugitive defense contractor known as “Fat Leonard” who is … Read more