China has said it will not attend next week’s G-20 tourism group meeting scheduled to take place in Himalayan state of Jammu and Kashmir. “China firmly opposes holding any form of G20 meetings on disputed territory. We will not attend such meetings,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said at …

On Friday, Basra crude oil prices declined in their last trading session. Basra Heavy crude closed at $72.03, down 6 cents, while Basra Intermediate crude closed at $75.18, also down 6 cents. Despite the daily decrease, both crudes recorded weekly gains. Basra Heavy crude saw a weekly gain of $1.29 …

India will start withdrawing its highest value currency notes from circulation, the central bank said on Friday, in a move that economists said could boost bank deposits at a time of high credit growth. The withdrawal of 2,000-rupee ($24.5) notes – which the finance ministry’s top official, T.V Somanathan, said …

The head of the Popular Mobilization Forces, Falih al-Fayyad, announced on Saturday that the number of ISIS militants in the country has decreased to 700, accompanied by losing their media status. Speaking at a security conference in Nineveh, al-Fayyad emphasized the resolute stance of Iraq, stating, “We will not allow …

Firefighters in Alberta are on high alert for a surge in blazes over a long weekend in the oil-rich Canadian province, which is enduring throttled energy production, home evacuations and property damage after an intense start to the wildfire season. Record-high temperatures and lack of rain this year have led …

A second meeting on Friday between White House and Republican congressional negotiators on raising the federal government’s $31.4 trillion debt ceiling broke up with no progress cited by either side and no additional meeting set. That came at the end of a day of acrimonious talks that were broken off …

Sixteen percent of French people say they did not have enough food to eat at the end of last year, according to a new study. A survey by the Research Center for the Study and Observation of Living Conditions (Crédoc) found the ratio has increased significantly in recent months, from …

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has warned of the enemies’ efforts to stoke tensions between Iran and its neighbors. Ayatollah Khamenei touched on Iran’s long borders with many and sometimes important and influential countries, saying the policy of the government to communicate with its neighbors is …

Airstrikes thumped outer areas of the Sudanese capital Khartoum overnight and on Saturday morning, as the conflict between political rivals which has displaced more than a million and killed hundreds entered its sixth week. According to eyewitnesses in southern Omdurman and northern Bahri, airstrikes were reported in the region, while …

Turkish citizens based abroad began voting on Saturday in Turkey’s presidential runoff election between the incumbent Tayyip Erdogan and his challenger Kemal Kilicdaroglu, who aims to bring an end to the president’s two-decade rule. The runoff election will be held in Turkey on May 28 after Erdogan fell just short …

Western countries ‘are still adhering to the escalation scenario’ that risks widening the Ukraine war in Europe, says deputy foreign minister. Western countries will be running “colossal risks” if they supply Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets, a Russian official says. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko was responding to a …

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived Saturday in Japan for diplomatic talks with leaders of the world’s most powerful democracies participating in the Group of Seven (G7) after the U.S. pledged to train Ukrainian pilots to fly F-16 jet fighters. “Japan. G7. Important meetings with partners and friends of Ukraine. Security …

Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani on Wednesday unveiled an updated National Population Policy crafted to address the nation’s pressing demographic challenges. During the coordinating meeting of the Arab Council for Population and Development in Baghdad, al-Sudani projected on the vitality of revising the original 2013 National Population Policy Document. …

It is near certain that the next five years will be the warmest period ever recorded, the United Nations has warned, as greenhouse gases and El Nino combine to send temperatures soaring. For the first time, global temperatures are now more likely than not to breach 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 …

Two newly discovered skeletons found at the doomed Roman town of Pompeii show that the most famous volcanic eruption of the ancient world also posed a less well-known threat: earthquakes. The Italian Cultural Ministry on Tuesday unveiled the bodies of two men, both probably in their 50s, who died in …

ChatGPT creator and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman urges lawmakers to regulate artificial intelligence during a hearing. Sam Altman, the chief executive of ChatGPT’s OpenAI, testified before members of a Senate subcommittee on Tuesday about the need to regulate the increasingly powerful artificial intelligence technology being created inside his company and …

Three Russian academics who have worked on hypersonic missile technology face “very serious accusations”, the Kremlin said on Wednesday, in a treason investigation that has spread alarm through Russia’s scientific community. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he was aware of an open letter from Siberian scientists in defence of the …

Skip artificial sweeteners if you’re trying to lose weight, warns the World Health Organization (WHO), noting the sugar substitutes aren’t effective for shedding pounds and may also cause harm. Long-term use of sugar substitutes may cause “potential undesirable effects,” according to new WHO guidance. This can include an “increased risk …

Ukraine denied on Wednesday that a Russian hypersonic missile had destroyed a U.S.-made Patriot missile defence system during an air strike on Kyiv. Russia’s defence ministry made the assertion on Tuesday after an overnight air attack on the Ukrainian capital. Two U.S. officials later said a Patriot system had probably …

At least eight people died and thousands were evacuated from their homes as torrential rain battered Italy’s northern Emilia-Romagna region, triggering widespread floods, officials said on Wednesday. Civil Protection Minister Nello Musumeci said some areas had received half their average annual rainfall in just 36 hours, causing rivers to burst …