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Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani arrived in Tehran on Sunday, amid rising tension between Iran and the U.S. following the killing of an Iranian general in a drone airstrike. According to a statement by the Qatari Royal Court, Tamim will hold talks with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani …

A volcano south of the Philippine capital Manila has spewed a giant ash plume accompanied by rumbling sounds and tremors, prompting authorities to raise the alert level and order the evacuation of about 8000 residents. The Philippine airport authority also suspended flights at Manila’s international airport. “Flight operations at the …

A senior source from the Iraqi Shia Fatih Alliance (Conquest Alliance) has rejected recent media reports which claimed that the Shia majority factions are working on the return of Adil Abdul Mahdi, the caretaker prime minister who handed in his resignation last November. Struggling over consensus about a successor for …

Two wildfires merged to form a massive inferno in southeastern Australia and a man suffered serious burns protecting a home, in a night of treacherous conditions during the nation’s unprecedented wildfire crisis, officials said Saturday. Authorities were assessing the damage after firefighters battled flames fanned by strong winds through the …

On Iran and the Middle East, the Trump administration is following Israel’s playbook. Supporters of Donald Trump think of the US president as an exceptional one-of-a-kind force of nature – a sui generis leader. His detractors like to compare him to Russian President Vladimir Putin or describe him as a …

A new earthquake of a magnitude of 6 Saturday shook Puerto Rico, a country which since Friday afternoon records aftershocks of different intensity after the 6.4 earthquakes that hit the island last Tuesday and caused one death, about 2,000 refugees, and thousands of damaged homes. The Puerto Rico Seismic Network …

Iraqi news websites have published leaked pictures from inside the US Ain Al-Assad Airbase in the Iraqi governate of Al Anbar, following the Iranian missile strike, media reported on Friday. The pictures show severe damage to the airbase, which hosts US forces. Meanwhile, Iranians have also published videos on social …

The death toll from the bombing of a mosque in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta rose to 15 on Saturday, officials said, in an escalation of militant violence. An improvised explosive device ripped through the mosque during Friday evening prayers, killing 13 people and wounding more than 20, police …

Oman’s Sultan Qaboos bin Said, one of the Middle East’s longest-serving rulers who maintained the country’s neutrality in regional struggles, died on Friday and his cousin Haitham bin Tariq al-Said was named as his successor in a smooth transition. With his death, the region loses a trusted and seasoned leader …

Head of the Aerospace Division of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has accepted full responsibility for the downing of a Ukraine aircraft which crashed near the capital Tehran earlier this week. Speaking on Saturday, General Amir Ali Hajizadeh said he had “wished he could die” after being informed of …

Texas will not resettle refugees in 2020, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott told the Trump administration Friday, citing a responsibility to use state resources for those already residing in Texas. Texas is the first state to decline resettlement, as part of a new executive order that requires state and local governments …

Iraq’s caretaker Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi arrived in Erbil on Saturday for talks with officials in the country’s northern Kurdish region. The talks are expected to tackle recent developments in Iraq and current tensions between Iran and the U.S. following last week’s killing of top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani in …

The Taliban have attacked a convoy of US troops in Afghanistan’s southern province of Kandahar, a couple of days after American airstrikes killed a commander of the militant group and several other militants in the country. A roadside bomb struck one of the armored vehicles of the US forces in …

Iran says a Ukrainian plane that crashed outside Tehran this week had flown close to a sensitive military site and been brought down due to human error “at a time of crisis caused by US adventurism.” In a statement Saturday, the general staff of the armed forces touched on the …

An American warship was “aggressively approached” by a Russian Navy ship in the North Arabian Sea, the U.S. Navy said Friday. Navy Cmdr. Josh Frey, the spokesman for U.S. 5th Fleet, said that the USS Farragut was conducting routine operations Thursday and sounded five short blasts to warn the Russian …

The Trump administration on Friday announced a new wave of sanctions on Iran following this week’s missile strikes by the Islamic Republic on US bases in Iraq. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the new sanctions will target eight senior Iranian officials. Mnuchin said President …

A group of amateur ‘artifact detectives’ in Iraq are on a mission to return countless historical items taken from their country over the years. Leading the charge is Wafaa Hassan, a recovery specialist at the National Museum of Iraq, with her team of archaeologists and lawyers. Together, they scour online …

Tens of thousands of Australians have rallied across the country calling on the conservative government to tackle global warming and cut back on fossil fuels, as deadly climate-fueled bushfires burned out of control. At least 26 people have died, and more than 2,000 homes have been destroyed in the unprecedented …

Boeing has released another trove of internal company messages suggesting it lied to regulators, and showing fierce criticism from an unnamed employee who said the crash-prone 737 MAX aircraft was “designed by clowns.” In its release of the redacted communications on Thursday following an internal probe, Boeing acknowledged some of …

Iran has again rejected suggestions that one of its missiles brought down a Ukrainian passenger jet near the capital, Tehran, on Wednesday. Its civil aviation chief said on Friday he was “certain” that the plane was not hit by a missile. He was responding to claims by Western leaders that …