Politics
US President Joe Biden said on Wednesday that Israel and Hamas have reached a ceasefire-and-hostage deal that will end fighting in Gaza, and added it was reached by working alongside the incoming Donald Trump administration. “I can announce a ceasefire and a hostage deal has been reached between Israel and
Politics
French leader Emmanuel Macron is slated to visit Lebanon on Friday, both countries said, in the second such trip by a head of state since Lebanon elected a president last week. The office of new Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said he met with the French ambassador to Beirut on Tuesday
Politics
North Korea fired several short-range ballistic missiles into the sea Tuesday, according to Seoul’s military, in what experts said could be a message to US President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming administration. The launch comes as Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya visits South Korea for a series of meetings with
Politics
Iran is set to hold nuclear talks with France, Britain and Germany on Monday, just a week before US President-elect Donald Trump takes office. They are the second round of talks over Iran’s nuclear program in less than two months, following a discreet meeting held in Geneva, Switzerland, in
Politics
Croatia’s populist President Zoran Milanovic was re-elected in a landslide, defeating his conservative rival in Sunday’s run-off, official results showed. Milanovic took more than 74 percent of the vote and Dragan Primorac, backed by the center-right HDZ party that governs Croatia, almost 26 percent, with nearly all the
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New Lebanese President Joseph Aoun will begin parliamentary consultations Monday over designating a prime minister to form a government that will have to face major challenges in the crisis-hit country. The consultations, a constitutional requirement under Lebanon’s sectarian power-sharing system, come just days after Aoun’s election amid foreign
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Somalia and Ethiopia announced Saturday they would restore full diplomatic relations following a visit by Somalia’s president to Addis Ababa to heal a year-long rift that threatened further instability in the Horn of Africa. President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed “agreed to restore and enhance
Politics
The fall of Russian ally Bashar Assad in Syria has disrupted the Kremlin’s strategy not only for the Mediterranean but also for Africa, pushing it to focus on Libya as a potential foothold, experts say. Russia runs a military port and an air base on the Syrian coast, designed
Politics
The Sudanese military and allied armed groups launched an offensive Saturday on key Al-Jazira state capital Wad Madani, entering the city after more than a year of paramilitary control, the army said. The armed forces “congratulated” the Sudanese people in a statement on “our forces entering the city of Wad
Politics
Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Mikati on Saturday told a news conference with Syria’s de facto leader Ahmed Al-Sharaa in Damascus that Lebanon and Syria would work together to secure the land borders and address the delineation of land and sea borders. Mikati arrived in Damascus Saturday in the
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Syria’s new leader Ahmed Al-Sharaa told visiting Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani on Friday that he was ready to stem “illegal immigration” to Europe, the European diplomat said. “Al-Sharaa says he is ready to block illegal immigration, (and) fight against drug traffickers,” Tajani said in the Lebanese capital, the
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Newly elected Lebanese president Joseph Aoun has promised to rebuild what the Israeli occupation has destroyed, in a speech before parliament after taking his oath of office. The Lebanese state will be able to remove Israeli occupation and the effects of its aggression, Aoun said, after hurdling the second round
Politics
Lebanon’s parliament was set Thursday to make yet another effort to elect a president, filling a vacuum that’s lasted for more than two years. While 12 previous attempts have failed to choose a successor to former President Michel Aoun, whose term ended in October 2022, there are indications
Politics
Lebanon’s parliament will try to elect a president on Thursday, with officials seeing better chances of success in a political landscape shaken by Israel’s war with Hezbollah and the toppling of the group’s ally Bashar Assad in neighboring Syria. The post, reserved for a Maronite Christian in
Politics
Jordan and Syria have agreed to form a joint security committee to secure their border, combat arms and drug smuggling and work to prevent the resurgence of Daesh, Jordan’s foreign minister said on Tuesday. Western anti-narcotics officials say the addictive, amphetamine-type stimulant known as captagon is being mass-produced in
Politics
Norway’s Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere said on Monday that he found it worrying that billionaire Elon Musk was involving himself in the political issues of countries outside of the United States. Musk, a close ally of US President-elect Donald Trump, last month endorsed a German anti-immigration, anti-Islamic political