US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen says her country will be careful in how it decides to lift sanctions from Iran if current talks in Austria on reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, better known as JCPOA, bear fruit. Yellen made the remarks on Thursday while answering questions about Iran and …

The Associated Press reported earlier in the day that the Biden administration had informed Russia it had no intent to return the United States in the Open Skies treaty, which provided surveillance flights in both countries. Washington has notified Moscow that it would not return to the Open Skies Treaty, …

The issue has been described as one of the loose ends of the Brexit deal. Being a British overseas territory, Gibraltar shares a border with Spain, an EU and Schengen area member. To avoid a hard border, London and Madrid struck a deal in December that, among other things, stipulates …

Peaceful mass protests in Colombian cities, which were re-convened by the national strike committee, escalated into violent clashes with special forces and left dozens of people injured, the Red Cross said. “The Red Cross has assisted 139 people in the middle of the demonstrations in Bogota, mostly in the Yomasa …

Austria on Thursday slammed Russia after it refused to allow an Austrian Airlines flight to be rerouted to avoid Belarusian airspace, resulting in the Vienna-Moscow service being cancelled. “Based on a recommendation by the EU Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), Austrian Airlines has suspended flights through Belarusian airspace until further notice. …

A group of German scientists claims to have found the cause of the rare blood clots linked to the Oxford/AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccines – and they say the jabs could be altered to prevent the problem The research, led by Professor Rolf Marschalek from Goethe University, in …

Facebook says it will no longer remove claims that Covid-19 is man-made or manufactured from its apps. The change comes “in light of ongoing investigations into the origin of Covid-19 and in consultation with public health experts,” Facebook says. The company based in Menlo Park, California, has long battled a …

The Iraqi Ministry of Oil disclosed the final statistics of the exported quantities of crude oil and the revenues of April 2021. The ministry said in a statement that last April’s revenues amounted to 5,549,517,000 dollars, while crude oil exports amounted to 88,398,319 barrels. The average price per barrel amounted …

A Russian court on Thursday fined Twitter 19 million roubles ($259,000) for failing to delete content considered illegal by Moscow, in the latest episode of a long-running dispute between Russia and the social network operator. Twitter has been subjected to a punitive slowdown in Russia since March, part of a …

Dry weather this year raises the risk of severe fires in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest and Pantanal wetlands, scientists say, warning that drought could fuel the destruction of biomes critical to curbing climate change. Last year, dry weather helped fuel record fires in the Pantanal, while the Amazon experienced the worst …

The United Nations Human Rights Council agreed on Thursday to launch an international investigation into crimes committed during the 11-day conflict between Israel and the Palestinians in Gaza. By a vote of 24 states in favour, 9 against, with 14 abstentions, the 47-member forum adopted a resolution brought by the …

An Iranian official has rejected speculation that the results of the country’s upcoming presidential election could influence the negotiations in Vienna on a potential revival of the 2015 nuclear deal, saying it is in fact the United States’ actions, not the vote, that determine the course of the talks. “The …

The Foreign Ministry announced that the UN Security Council had agreed to send a UN team to monitor the elections in Iraq. “The Iraqi government’s request, in Resolution 2576, was approved unanimously, to renew the mandate of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), until May 27, 2022,” Foreign …

The Secretary General of Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq Movement, Sheikh Qais Khazali, considered the arrest of a leader in the Popular Mobilization Forces, an attempt to push for the cancellation of the elections, forming an emergency government and disrupting the constitution. Khazali said in a tweet on “Twitter”: “The arrest of …

Amnesty International has sharply criticized the planned eviction of several dozen Palestinian families from their homes in the occupied East Jerusalem al-Quds neighborhood of Silwan as “another illustration of Israel’s criminal policy of forced displacement of Palestinians.” Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa in the London-based organization, Saleh …

Iraq recorded 4611 COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, the Ministry of Health said today, Thursday.   The daily epidemiological report on the COVID-19 situation stated that 22 COVID-19 deaths were registered today. On the other hand, 4059 patients achieved full recovery.   Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 …

China has slammed the US for “spreading conspiracy theories and disinformation” following Washington’s latest push to wage a new probe into the origins of the coronavirus, even after a recent World Health Organization (WHO) mission to China proved inconclusive. According to Press TV, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Zhao Lijian once …

Multiple people were killed and injured in a shooting at the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) control center in San Jose, California, according to the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office. According to reports, the number of casualties was not immediately clear, but VTA employees are among the victims, sheriff’s …

More than 20,000 people are homeless and 40 are still missing in the aftermath of a volcanic eruption which killed dozens in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, the UN humanitarian agency says. The UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a statement on Wednesday the …

More than 100 people were missing and feared dead after a boat with more than 165 passengers, including women and children, broke up and sank as it was travelling in Nigeria’s northern Kebbi state. Twenty-two people had been rescued and five bodies recovered, including a baby, according to Sani Dododo, …