Middle East

Gaza Civil Defense Says Israeli Fire Kills 73 Aid Seekers
Gaza Civil Defense Says Israeli Fire Kills 73 Aid Seekers

Gaza's civil defense agency said Israeli forces opened fire on a crowd of Palestinians waiting to collect humanitarian aid in the territory's north on Sunday, killing 73 people and wounding dozens more. Further to the south, the Israeli military ordered Palestinians to leave Deir el-Balah, in the center of the Strip, before launching ...

European Powers Plan Fresh Nuclear Talks with Iran This Week
European Powers Plan Fresh Nuclear Talks with Iran This Week

The United Kingdom, France, and Germany are planning to hold fresh talks with Iran on its nuclear program in the coming days, a German diplomatic source told AFP on Sunday. The European powers, known as the E3, "are in contact with Iran to schedule further talks for the coming week", the source said, following warnings from the trio ...

Pope Urges Immediate End to 'Barbarity' of Gaza War
Pope Urges Immediate End to 'Barbarity' of Gaza War

Pope Leo XIV slammed the "barbarity" of the war in Gaza on Sunday and urged against the "indiscriminate use of force," just days after a deadly strike by Israel's military on a Catholic church. "I once again ask for an immediate end to the barbarity of the war and for a peaceful resolution to the conflict," Leo ...

Calm Returns to South Syria after Violence that Killed 1,000
Calm Returns to South Syria after Violence that Killed 1,000

Calm returned to southern Syria's Sweida province on Sunday, a monitor and AFP correspondents reported, after a week of sectarian violence between Druze fighters and rival groups that killed more than 1,000 people. A ceasefire announced on Saturday appeared to be holding after earlier agreements failed to end fighting between longtime rivals ...

Tsunami Alert Lifted after Powerful Quakes Off Russian Coast
Tsunami Alert Lifted after Powerful Quakes Off Russian Coast

A tsunami alert was lifted after a series of powerful earthquakes off the coast of Russia's far east on Sunday did not result in deadly waves, according to the Russian emergencies ministry. Earlier on Sunday, the US Geological Survey (USGS) issued a tsunami alert, forecasting "hazardous waves" after a 7.4-magnitude quake at 0849 ...

Israel Orders Civilians Out of Central Gaza Ahead of New Campaign
Israel Orders Civilians Out of Central Gaza Ahead of New Campaign

The Israeli military on Sunday issued an evacuation order for Palestinians in the central Gaza Strip, warning of imminent action against Hamas militants in an area "where it has not operated before". The military's Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee said in a post on X that residents and displaced Palestinians sheltering in ...

Rubio Demands Syrian Government Forces Intervene To Prevent Jihadist Attacks
Rubio Demands Syrian Government Forces Intervene To Prevent Jihadist Attacks

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Saturday called on the Syrian government's security forces to prevent jihadists from entering and "carrying out massacres" in the conflict-stricken south of the country. "If authorities in Damascus want to preserve any chance of achieving a unified, inclusive and peaceful Syria... they must ...

Druze Fighters Regain Control of Syria’s Sweida City
Druze Fighters Regain Control of Syria’s Sweida City

Druze fighters pushed rival armed groups out of Syria's Sweida on Saturday, a monitor and an armed group said, regaining control of the city even as clashes persisted in other parts of the violence-hit province. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said that "tribal fighters withdrew from Sweida city on Saturday evening" after Druze ...

Ukraine Proposes Fresh Peace Talks With Russia Next Week
Ukraine Proposes Fresh Peace Talks With Russia Next Week

Kyiv has proposed to Moscow a new round of peace talks next week, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said Saturday, after negotiations stalled in early June. Two rounds of talks in Istanbul between Moscow and Kyiv have failed to result in any progress towards a ceasefire, instead yielding large-scale prisoner exchanges and deals to return the ...