Middle East

Turkey Discovers New Natural Gas Reserve in Black Sea

This is Beirut 2025-05-17 17:30 - Reading : less than a minute

Turkey Black Sea Recep Tayyip Erdogan Gas

Turkey has discovered a new natural gas reserve in the Black Sea that will meet its residential energy needs for more than three years, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday. "We have discovered 75 billion cubic meters (2,650 cubic feet) of new natural gas. With this amount, we will meet the needs of our homes alone for about 3.5 ...

Baghdad Declaration Calls for Gaza Ceasefire and Reconstruction

This is Beirut 2025-05-17 17:05 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Arab League Baghdad Declaration Iraq Gaza

Arab leaders urged the international community Saturday to fund their plan to rebuild the Gaza Strip after U.S. President Donald Trump reiterated a proposal to take over the Palestinian territory. An Arab League summit in Baghdad said in its final statement that it urges "countries and international and regional financial institutions to provide ...

Hamas: New Gaza Talks 'Without any Preconditions' Underway in Doha

This is Beirut 2025-05-17 16:20 - Reading : less than a minute

Hamas Qatar Gaza

A senior Hamas official said a new round of indirect negotiations with Israel aimed at ending the war in Gaza started in Doha "without any preconditions" on Saturday. "This round of negotiations began without any preconditions from either side, and the negotiations are open to discussing all issues," Taher al-Nunu said. "Hamas will present its ...

Spain PM Calls for 'Pressure on Israel to Halt the Massacre in Gaza'

This is Beirut 2025-05-17 15:45 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Spain Pedro Sanchez Arab League

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez called on Saturday for pressure to stop Israel's "massacre in Gaza" and said Madrid plans a UN resolution requesting a world court ruling on aid access to the Palestinian territory. Sanchez told an Arab League summit in Baghdad that the war triggered by Hamas's October 2023 attack on Israel has led to ...

Erdogan Sees End in Sight for US Sanctions on Turkish Defense Sector

This is Beirut 2025-05-17 15:07 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Turkey United States Donald Trump Sanctions CAATSA

Turkey has seen an easing of US sanctions on its defense sector since Donald Trump became president, with steps towards ending the measure advancing quickly, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Saturday. "We can easily say that there is a softening in CAATSA," he told reporters while returning from a European summit, referring to US ...

Arab Summit Host Iraq Pledges $40 Million for Lebanon and Gaza Reconstruction

This is Beirut 2025-05-17 14:45 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Lebanon Iraq Arab League Gaza

Iraq Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, whose country is hosting the 34th Arab League summit, said Saturday it would provide $40 million for the reconstruction of Lebanon and Gaza after wars with Israel. Iraq backs the creation of an "Arab fund to support reconstruction efforts" after crises in the region, Sudani told Arab leaders in ...

Israel Launches Expanded Gaza Offensive Aimed at Defeating Hamas

This is Beirut 2025-05-17 14:07 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Nawaf Salam Gaza Palestine Hamas

The Israeli military announced the early stages of an intensified operation in Gaza aimed at defeating Hamas, with rescuers in the besieged Palestinian territory reporting 10 killed Saturday in fresh strikes. The stepped-up campaign came as the humanitarian situation in Gaza continued to worsen amid an Israeli aid blockade, with one of the ...

Kremlin Says Zelensky-Putin Meeting 'Possible' if 'Agreement' Reached

This is Beirut 2025-05-17 12:15 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Russia Ukraine Vladimir Putin Volodymyr Zelensky

The Kremlin on Saturday said a meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russia's Vladimir Putin was "possible," provided the two sides first reach an "agreement," after Moscow and Kyiv held their first direct talks in more than three years. "We consider it possible, but only as a result of the work ...

Arab Countries Gather in Baghdad to Discuss Regional Crises

This is Beirut 2025-05-17 11:20 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Arab League Bagdad Gaza Donald Trump

The Arab League is meeting in Baghdad on Saturday to discuss Gaza and other regional crises, but some key leaders are expected to miss the talks that come straight after US President Donald Trump's Gulf tour. Trump sparked uproar earlier this year by declaring that America would take over Gaza and turn it into the "Riviera of the Middle ...

Republican Infighting Derails Key Vote on Trump’s Signature Mega-Bill

This is Beirut 2025-05-16 22:50 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

United States Republican Party Donald Trump Congress

Republican fiscal hawks on Friday sunk a key vote on advancing the mega-bill that is the centerpiece of Donald Trump's domestic agenda, in a significant setback for the US president's tax and spending policies. Trump is pushing to usher into law his so-called "One Big, Beautiful Bill," pairing an extension of his first-term tax cuts with savings ...

Israel Resumes Strikes Against the Houthis and Threatens Their Leader

This is Beirut 2025-05-16 20:55 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Nawaf Salam Yemen Houthis

Israel threatened to target the leadership of Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis after the air force struck two Houthi-held ports on Friday, following repeated Houthi missile attacks in recent days. The Houthis agreed earlier this month to stop firing on international shipping in the Red Sea after the United States stepped up airstrikes on ...

$UN Rights Chief: Israel’s Gaza Offensive \$

UN Rights Chief: Israel’s Gaza Offensive "Tantamount to Ethnic Cleansing"

This is Beirut 2025-05-16 20:10 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Nawaf Salam Gaza Hamas United Nations

The UN's rights chief on Friday denounced Israel's sharp escalation of attacks in Gaza – and an apparent push to permanently displace the population – as amounting to "ethnic cleansing." "This latest barrage of bombs... and the denial of humanitarian assistance underline that there appears to be a push for a permanent demographic shift in ...