Middle East

Syrian Authorities Seize 11 Million Captagon Pills Smuggled from Lebanon
Syrian Authorities Seize 11 Million Captagon Pills Smuggled from Lebanon

Anti-narcotics units in Syria’s Homs province intercepted a vehicle carrying roughly 11 million Captagon pills smuggled from Lebanese territory, the Syrian Interior Ministry announced Tuesday. The shipment was seized in the southern rural area of Homs. Security forces confiscated both the drugs and the vehicle used in the operation. According ...

Iraq Heads to the Polls Amid Tension, Fear, and Hope
Iraq Heads to the Polls Amid Tension, Fear, and Hope

Baghdad is preparing to vote. On November 11, nearly 21.5 million registered Iraqis will elect the 329 members of the Council of Representatives. This is a decisive vote in a country caught between political gridlock and hopes for change. Iraq is searching for a new balance, away from sectarian tensions, corruption, and foreign influence. But the ...

Musk Launches Grokipedia to Rival 'Left-Biased' Wikipedia
Musk Launches Grokipedia to Rival 'Left-Biased' Wikipedia

Elon Musk's company xAI launched Grokipedia on Monday to compete with online encyclopedia Wikipedia, which he has accused of ideological bias. The site dubbed version 0.1 had more than 885,000 articles by Monday evening, compared to Wikipedia's more than seven million in English. The launch came with the promise of a newer version, 1.0, which ...

Beef, Defence Deals and Rare Earths: How Japan's New Leader Wooed Trump
SpotlightBeef, Defence Deals and Rare Earths: How Japan's New Leader Wooed Trump

Japan pulled out all stops for this week's visit by US President Donald Trump -- his first with new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. The US president's visit was a major diplomatic test for Takaichi, who has only been in office for a week. From pledges that Tokyo will spend much more on its defense to supporting Trump's Nobel Peace Prize bid, ...

Saudi Hosts World's Business Elite with Eyes on Gigaprojects, AI
Saudi Hosts World's Business Elite with Eyes on Gigaprojects, AI

Saudi Arabia welcomes heads of state and the global business elite at a major investment conference this week as it seeks support for its sprawling "gigaprojects" and sky-high AI ambitions. Chinese Vice President Han Zheng, joined by several ministers and more than 150 business leaders, and Syria's interim president are among the guests at the ...

Hamas to Return Hostage Body as Families Urge Pause to Gaza Truce
Hamas to Return Hostage Body as Families Urge Pause to Gaza Truce

  Hamas handed over the remains of a deceased hostage on Monday as the Palestinian group came under increasing pressure to return its remaining deceased captives as promised under the Gaza ceasefire. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said Israeli forces had received a coffin containing what Hamas said was the sixteenth of 28 ...

6.1-Magnitude Quake Hits Western Turkey
6.1-Magnitude Quake Hits Western Turkey

A 6.1-magnitude earthquake struck western Turkey late on Monday, with tremors felt in Istanbul and other cities, the country's emergencies agency said. The quake struck at 10:48 pm local time (1948 GMT) and was also felt in the tourist hotspot of Izmir, the AFAD agency said. There were no immediate reports of victims. Images of at least one ...

UN probe Finds New Russian Crimes Against Humanity in Ukraine
UN probe Finds New Russian Crimes Against Humanity in Ukraine

Russia has committed a crime against humanity in forcing people to flee Ukrainian-held territory through continual drone attacks targeting civilians, a United Nations-backed investigation said Monday. The UN's Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine also determined that Russia had committed war crimes in deporting and ...

Erdogan Hails Eurofighter Deal as 'New Symbol' of Strategic Ties with UK 
Erdogan Hails Eurofighter Deal as 'New Symbol' of Strategic Ties with UK 

Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday hailed a landmark agreement with London to buy 20 Eurofighter jets, describing the $11-billion deal as a new symbol of defense cooperation with Britain. "We regard this step as a new symbol of the strategic relations between our two close allies," he said after signing the agreement with ...

Trump in Japan as Hopes Grow for China Trade Deal
Trump in Japan as Hopes Grow for China Trade Deal

Donald Trump arrived in Japan on Monday, the next leg of an Asia tour that could see the US president and China's Xi Jinping end their bruising trade war. Speaking on Air Force One, Trump said he was hopeful of a deal when he sees Xi on Thursday in South Korea, while also indicating he was willing to extend his trip in order to meet North Korean ...