Middle East

At Least 14 Dead as Migrant Boat Sinks off Turkey
At Least 14 Dead as Migrant Boat Sinks off Turkey

At least 14 migrants died when their inflatable dinghy capsized in the Aegean Sea off the Turkish resort of Bodrum, the governor's office said Friday, raising an earlier toll of seven dead. "The lifeless bodies of 14 irregular migrants were recovered," the office of the Mugla governorate said on X, saying the coastguard was alerted ...

Jailed Istanbul Mayor Hit by New Charge of Espionage
Jailed Istanbul Mayor Hit by New Charge of Espionage

Istanbul prosecutors have opened a new investigation into the city's jailed opposition mayor Ekrem Imamoglu on charges of espionage, state news agency Anadolu said on Friday. The probe is the latest targeting Imamoglu, who was arrested in March as part of a corruption investigation and has remained behind bars ever since. His jailing, which ...

Gaza Security: Potential Players in the New Peacekeeping Effort
Gaza Security: Potential Players in the New Peacekeeping Effort

As the first phase of US President Donald Trump’s proposed plan moves forward, discussions are intensifying over the possible deployment of an international security force in Gaza, intended to take over from Hamas. The initiative’s first step involves disarming the Islamist movement, a highly sensitive task amid a fragile ceasefire and mutual ...

Trump’s Gaza Plan: Is Erdogan the Other Big Winner?
Trump’s Gaza Plan: Is Erdogan the Other Big Winner?

Long sidelined by the United States on Gaza and in wider regional affairs, Turkey is staging a forceful comeback, driven both by the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the Gaza agreement brokered by US President Donald Trump. Ankara has played a pivotal role as intermediary between Hamas and Washington, helping to persuade the ...

EU Takes Small Step Towards Using Russian Assets for Ukraine
EU Takes Small Step Towards Using Russian Assets for Ukraine

EU leaders Thursday tasked the European Commission to move ahead with options for funding Ukraine for two more years, leaving the door open for a mammoth loan using frozen Russian assets. In broadly-worded conclusions adopted after marathon talks in Brussels, EU leaders stopped short of greenlighting plans for the 140-billion-euro ($162-billion) ...

Rebuilding Wrecked Syria Vital for Regional Stability
InterviewsRebuilding Wrecked Syria Vital for Regional Stability

After 14 years of destruction, Syria must be swiftly rebuilt to bring stability to the country and the wider region, a top UN official in the war-ravaged nation told AFP. Reconstruction is one of the most significant challenges facing Syria's new Islamist authorities after the overthrow of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad last December. "The ...

Trump Completes Demolition of White House East Wing
Trump Completes Demolition of White House East Wing

Demolition workers have finished tearing down the White House's entire East Wing to make way for US President Donald Trump's giant new $300 million ballroom, satellite pictures showed Thursday. The completion of the wrecking work came as the White House released a list of donors to the ballroom including Apple, Google and Meta. A gray ...

Putin says US Sanctions 'Serious' but won't Significantly Hit Economy
Putin says US Sanctions 'Serious' but won't Significantly Hit Economy

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday the latest US sanctions targeting two major oil firms were "serious", but not strong enough to significantly affect the economy. The United States on Wednesday hit Russia's two biggest oil producers -- Rosneft and Lukoil -- with sanctions, the first against Russia since US President Donald ...

Arab and Muslim Countries Condemn Israel's West Bank Annexation Bills
Arab and Muslim Countries Condemn Israel's West Bank Annexation Bills

More than a dozen Muslim and Arab states condemned on Thursday a pair of Israeli bills calling for the annexation of the occupied West Bank, in a joint statement reported by the Saudi state news agency. The 14 countries, including Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Turkey, as well as the Arab League and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, said they ...

In Interview with Time, Trump Says Would Pull US Support if Israel Annexes West Bank
In Interview with Time, Trump Says Would Pull US Support if Israel Annexes West Bank

President Donald Trump said Israel would lose its crucial backing from the United States if it annexes the West Bank, in a Time magazine interview published Thursday. Trump's comments, which Time said were made by telephone on October 15, were published as both Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned against any ...

Syria Urges Banks to Provision Their Claims on Lebanon
Syria Urges Banks to Provision Their Claims on Lebanon

The Central Bank of Syria has given domestic banks a six-month deadline to fully provision their claims on the Lebanese banking sector, estimated at $1.6 billion, according to a circular cited by Reuters. The directive does not specify the exact nature of these claims – whether deposits, placements or financial investments – making their ...

Vance Rejects any West Bank Annexation as Rubio Heads to Israel
Vance Rejects any West Bank Annexation as Rubio Heads to Israel

US Vice President JD Vance said Thursday that Israel would not move to annex West Bank, after Washington warned that such a step could jeopardise a fragile US-brokered truce in Gaza. Israeli lawmakers on Wednesday advanced two bills paving the way for West Bank annexation, days after President Donald Trump secured a ceasefire deal aimed at ending ...