Middle East

Israel Attorney General says PM's Nomination for Shin Bet Chief 'Illegal'
Israel Attorney General says PM's Nomination for Shin Bet Chief 'Illegal'

Israel's attorney general has said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's nomination of an army major general as head of domestic intelligence is "illegal", after the supreme court found his move to sack the incumbent chief unlawful. Netanyahu named David Zini as his pick to lead the Shin Bet last week, after months of legal and political wrangling ...

Iraq Sues Kurdistan Region Over US Gas Contracts
Iraq Sues Kurdistan Region Over US Gas Contracts

Iraq's federal authorities have filed a complaint against the autonomous Kurdistan region for signing gas contracts with two US companies, two officials told AFP on Tuesday. Oil exports have been a major point of tension between Baghdad and Arbil, with a major pipeline through Turkey shut since 2023 over legal disputes and technical ...

Judge 'Assassinated' in Southern Iran
Judge 'Assassinated' in Southern Iran

A criminal court judge in the southern Iranian city of Shiraz in Fars province was assassinated Tuesday morning on his way to work, the judiciary said. "This morning, two individuals attacked and assassinated Judge Ehsan Bagheri, head of Branch 102 of the Criminal Court 2 in Shiraz, while he was on his way to work," the judiciary's Mizan Online ...

American Engagement of Syria
Op-edAmerican Engagement of Syria

President Donald Trump's May 15 meeting in Riyadh with Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa and the lifting of sanctions had many Trumpian hallmarks. It was bold. It was unplanned. Its future course is uncharted. It was taken against the advice of his senior foreign policy team. It was the result of encouragement from two American partners with ...

Time to Resettle Palestinians Outside Lebanon
Op-edTime to Resettle Palestinians Outside Lebanon

Lebanon has announced a plan to disarm Palestinian refugee camps, a step in the right direction. But disarmament is not enough. Lebanon needs a hard divorce from the Palestinians and their cause and should ask the UN to resettle 174,000 Palestinians, classified as refugees, in a third country. The founding literature of the UN Relief and Works ...

SpaceX set for Next Starship Launch After Fiery Failures
SpaceX set for Next Starship Launch After Fiery Failures

SpaceX is set Tuesday for the next test flight of its Starship megarocket -- the linchpin of founder Elon Musk's Mars ambitions -- after the vessel's last two outings ended in fiery explosions. A launch window opens at 6:30 pm (2330 GMT) from the company's Starbase facility near a southern Texas village that recently voted to become a city, also ...

Ancient Bread Rises Again as Turkey Recreates 5,000-Year-Old Loaf
Ancient Bread Rises Again as Turkey Recreates 5,000-Year-Old Loaf

In the early Bronze Age, a piece of bread was buried beneath the threshold of a newly built house in what is today central Turkey. Now, more than 5,000 years later, archaeologists have unearthed it, and helped a local bakery to recreate the recipe -- with customers lining up to buy it. Round and flat like a pancake, 12 centimetres (five inches) ...

SE Asian Leaders Meet China's Li and Gulf States to Bolster Ties
SE Asian Leaders Meet China's Li and Gulf States to Bolster Ties

Southeast Asian leaders are looking to insulate their trade-dependent economies from geopolitical uncertainty, in particular US tariffs, as they hold talks with Chinese Premier Li Qiang and Gulf state dignitaries in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday. US President Donald Trump blew up global trade norms in April when he announced a slew of punishing levies ...

Israel Strikes Gaza as PM Vows to Bring Hostages Home
Israel Strikes Gaza as PM Vows to Bring Hostages Home

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Monday to bring back all hostages, "living and dead", as Gaza rescuers said Israeli strikes killed at least 52 people in the war-battered Palestinian enclave. Netanyahu's remarks came amid confusion about the fate of a proposed 70-day ceasefire that was to see the release of 10 Israeli hostages ...

Trump Attacks Opponents, Judges on Day Honoring US War Dead
Trump Attacks Opponents, Judges on Day Honoring US War Dead

President Donald Trump marked the annual day for honoring the US war dead Monday by tearing into his "scum" opponents and judges who don't rule in his favor. Trump performed the traditional presidential duty on Memorial Day of visiting Arlington National Cemetery -- the resting place for some 400,000 fallen soldiers and others. And after laying ...