World

China, Iran FMs Agree Mideast ‘Not a Battleground for Big Powers'
China, Iran FMs Agree Mideast ‘Not a Battleground for Big Powers'

The top diplomats of China and Iran agreed Saturday that the Middle East is "not a battleground for the big powers" and should not be an arena of geopolitical competition between countries outside the region. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi agreed that "the international community should respect the ...

Trump Asks US Supreme Court to Pause Law Threatening TikTok Ban
Trump Asks US Supreme Court to Pause Law Threatening TikTok Ban

US President-elect Donald Trump filed a brief Friday urging the Supreme Court to pause a law that would ban TikTok the day before his January 20 inauguration if it is not sold by its Chinese owner ByteDance. "In light of the novelty and difficulty of this case, the court should consider staying the statutory deadline to grant more breathing ...

Health Officials Say Israeli Forces Detain Director of Kamal Adwan Hospital
Health Officials Say Israeli Forces Detain Director of Kamal Adwan Hospital

Gaza health officials said on Saturday that Israeli forces detained the director of a hospital in the north, which the World Health Organization said was put out of service by an Israeli raid. "The occupation forces have taken dozens of the medical staff from Kamal Adwan Hospital to a detention centre for interrogation, including the director, ...

Israel Intercepts a Missile From Yemen The Day After a Strike On Sanaa
Israel Intercepts a Missile From Yemen The Day After a Strike On Sanaa

The Israeli military said it intercepted a missile launched from Yemen early Saturday, a day after the Houthi-held capital Sanaa was hit by fresh air strikes. Sirens sounded in areas of Jerusalem and the Dead Sea on Saturday as "a missile launched from Yemen was intercepted... prior to crossing into Israeli territory", the Israeli ...

Last Major Hospital in Northern Gaza ‘Out Of Action’ After Israeli Raid, Says WHO
Last Major Hospital in Northern Gaza ‘Out Of Action’ After Israeli Raid, Says WHO

The WHO announced on Friday that the last major hospital in northern Gaza was ‘out of service’ after an Israeli army raid on Hamas fighters near the hospital, which the Palestinian Islamist movement claims was taken by storm. ‘This morning's raid on the Kamal Adwan hospital has put the last major health centre in northern ...

 UNHCR: 58 000 People Have Returned to Syria since the Fall of the Assad Regime
UNHCR: 58 000 People Have Returned to Syria since the Fall of the Assad Regime

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) announced in a report Friday that some 58 000 people have returned to Syria since December 8, following the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime.   “Refugees have returned from Lebanon, Turkey, and Jordan, with the main destinations being the governorates of Raqqa, Aleppo, Homs, and Daraa, ...

Airstrike Hits Yemen's Capital, Houthis Blame US and UK
Airstrike Hits Yemen's Capital, Houthis Blame US and UK

A fresh air strike hit Yemen's Houthi-held capital Sanaa on Friday, the Iran-backed Houthis said, after they claimed to have carried out new attacks on Israel amid mounting hostilities. The strike comes a day after Israeli air raids hit Sanaa international airport and other targets in Yemen, as the head of the UN's World Health Organization was ...

Zelensky Claims That Several North Korean Soldiers Were Killed in Ukraine
Zelensky Claims That Several North Korean Soldiers Were Killed in Ukraine

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday that "several" wounded North Korean soldiers died after being captured by Ukrainian forces, as he accused Russia of throwing them into battle with "minimal protection." "Today there were reports about several soldiers from North Korea. Our soldiers managed to take them prisoner. But they were ...

Silent Protest in Damascus Demands Justice for Assad Regime's Disappeared
Silent Protest in Damascus Demands Justice for Assad Regime's Disappeared

A silent crowd gathered in the Syrian capital, Damascus, on Friday to press the new authorities about the fate of relatives who went missing under Bashar al-Assad and to demand justice for their loved ones. The fate of tens of thousands of people who disappeared under Assad, who was ousted on December 8 by a coalition of Islamist-led rebels, is a ...

Over 30,000 Syrians Returned Home Through Turkey in 17 Days
Over 30,000 Syrians Returned Home Through Turkey in 17 Days

Nearly 31,000 Syrians have returned home since the fall of strongman Bashar al-Assad, Turkey's interior minister said Friday, the figure rising by about 5,000 in just three days. "The number of people who went back is 30,663," interior minister Ali Yerlikaya told the TGRT news channel, saying "30 percent" of them had been ...

Italy Condemns Journalist Cecilia Sala's Arrest in Iran as \
Italy Condemns Journalist Cecilia Sala's Arrest in Iran as "Unacceptable"

Italy denounced Friday the "unacceptable" arrest of an Italian journalist in Iran, who her employer said was being held in Tehran's notorious Evin prison. Cecilia Sala was detained on December 19 by police in Tehran, the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement, adding that Italy's ambassador, Paola Amadei, had ...