International

Iraqi lawmakers elected Nizar Amedi as the country’s new president on Saturday, following political disputes that delayed the vote and the formation of the next government. Amedi now has 15 days to appoint a prime minister, who is expected to be former head of government Nouri al-Maliki, despite US concerns over the choice in previous weeks. The election came against ...

Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun said on Friday that 13 state security personnel were killed in an ⁠Israeli strike on ⁠a governmental building in the southern city ⁠of Nabatieh. In a statement, Aoun condemned continued Israeli attacks and said targeting state institutions would not ⁠deter ⁠Lebanon from defending its sovereignty. Meanwhile, Iran-backed Hezbollah fired around 30 projectiles from Lebanon into Israel ...

More than 100,000 Muslim worshippers performed Friday prayers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in east Jerusalem, the holy site’s Islamic authority reported, after it reopened the previous day following a truce agreed between the United States and Iran. Jerusalem’s Old City is home to major holy sites for all three Abrahamic religions, which had been shuttered since the start of the ...

Lebanon has signaled its willingness to engage in direct negotiations with Israel as early as next week, provided a comprehensive ceasefire is established beforehand, a senior official from the Lebanese presidency confirmed. The announcement, first reported by the BBC, marks a significant potential shift in diplomatic engagement between the two neighboring nations, who are technically in a state of conflict ...

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) warned ships to keep to a route passing through its territorial waters when crossing the Gulf’s Strait of Hormuz as traffic on Thursday remained well below 10% of normal volumes. Mitsui OSK Lines, one of Japan’s big three shipping firms, is among those caught up in the confusion as firms try to work out ...

US First Lady Melania Trump made a surprise statement on Thursday denying any knowledge of Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse, or that she herself was a victim of the convicted sex offender. The 55-year-old’s rare on-camera remarks at the White House came out of the blue, in an extraordinary intervention in a scandal that has long haunted her husband President Donald Trump. ...

Myanmar junta chief Min Aung Hlaing was sworn in as president on Friday, AFP journalists saw, continuing his rule from a civilian post five years after snatching power in a military coup. “I will dedicate myself to the service of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar,” said Min Aung Hlaing, reading aloud the presidential oath at a parliamentary ceremony ...

Israel and Lebanon will hold talks next week in Washington after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered direct talks, a US official said Thursday. “We can confirm that the Department will host a meeting next week to discuss ongoing ceasefire negotiations with Israel and Lebanon,” a State Department official said, confirming an earlier account from a source familiar with the diplomatic ...

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan held a phone conversation with his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi, the Saudi foreign ministry said Thursday, in the first official contact between the countries since Tehran launched strikes against its Gulf neighbours in retaliation for Israeli-American attacks. “The call focused on reviewing developments in the situation and ways to slow the pace of ...

The United Nations secretary-general on Wednesday warned that deadly Israeli strikes on Lebanon posed a “grave risk” to the fragile US-Iran truce, his spokesperson said in a statement. “The ongoing military activity in Lebanon poses a grave risk to the ceasefire and the efforts toward a lasting and comprehensive peace in the region. The Secretary-General reiterates his call to all ...