A French soldier who was gravely wounded in an attack on UN peacekeepers in Lebanon last week has succumbed to his wounds, President Emmanuel Macron has said. Another French peacekeeper was killed in the incident and two more were injured; their patrol came under small-arms fire in the village of G»»»

PARIS: Italy has played down suggestions that its national team could replace Iran at the World Cup, following reports that an envoy to US President Donald Trump had asked FIFA to consider the move. US special envoy Paolo Zampolli told the Financial Times it would be a “dream” to see four-time Worl»»»

As US-brokered direct talks between Lebanon and Israel unfold in Washington, Congress is stepping up pressure of a different kind, pushing the Lebanese army to act on pledges to disarm Hezbollah or face a freeze in annual US military aid. Senior congressional sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that Repub»»»

JERUSALEM: Defense minister Israel Katz said on Thursday that Israel was “prepared to resume the war against Iran,” adding that his country was awaiting a green light from the United States to return Iran to “the Stone Age.” “The IDF is ready both defensively and offensively, and the targets have b»»»

Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Thursday that Israel was "prepared to resume the war against Iran", adding that his country was awaiting a green light from the United States to return Iran to "the Stone Age". "The IDF is ready both defensively and offensively, and the targets have been marked,»»»

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel speaks at an event commemorating the 65th anniversary of the proclamation of the socialist character of the Cuban Revolution, in Havana on April 16. Photo by Ernesto Mastrascusa/EPA April 23 (UPI) -- President Miguel Díaz-Canel said any negotiations with the United»»»

Dubai: Iran’s decision-making core has undergone a quiet but profound transformation, with real power shifting away from clerics to a hardened network of military commanders, according to a detailed report by The New York Times. At the centre of this shift is Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamen»»»

RIYADH: Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan discussed efforts being made to achieve a complete cessation of Israeli attacks on Lebanon with the speaker of its parliament Nabih Berri on Thursday. In a phone call with Berri, Prince Faisal also discussed developments in Lebanon and reitera»»»

LONDON: Syrian authorities announced on Thursday the resumption of flights to Damascus International Airport from Doha and Jeddah, beginning May 1, following weeks of stoppage amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran. The Syrian General Authority of Civil Aviation and Air Transport said that Qatar Ai»»»

Italian officials have rebuked a US proposal for their national football team to replace Iran at the upcoming FIFA World Cup. Italy lost the chance to participate at the World Cup for a third successive time after a humiliating penalty shootout defeat to Bosnia and Herzegovina in a playoff last mon»»»

The abrupt departure of US Navy Secretary John Phelan has come at a particularly sensitive moment — with American naval forces deeply engaged in operations linked to the Iran conflict and a fragile ceasefire still holding. The Pentagon announced that Phelan was leaving “effective immediately,” offe»»»

ANKARA: Turkiye is making efforts to revive negotiations between Russia and Ukraine and bring together the leaders of the warring sides, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan told NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in a meeting in Ankara, the Turkish presidency said on Wednesday. Earlier on Wednesday, Ky»»»

BERLIN: The son of the ‌former Shah appealed to Western countries to join the war against Iran and criticised the decision of the German government not to meet him during his visit to Berlin on Thursday. Reza Pahlavi, whose father was deposed in the revolution that brought Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomei»»»

BEIRUT: Lebanon will formally urge Israel to immediately halt attacks on journalists and paramedics during US-sponsored talks in Washington, a day after an Israeli strike killed a Lebanese reporter and wounded another in southern Lebanon. An official source told Arab News that the demand was added »»»

LODNON: Israeli forces fatally shot a 15-year-old Palestinian boy on Thursday during a raid in the Rafidia neighborhood of Nablus, north of the West Bank. The teenager died in hospital from critical injuries after he was shot in the shoulder, according to the Wafa news agency. Israeli forces carry »»»

Senate Republican Leader John Thune, R-S.D., helped the Senate pass a bill to begin the budget reconciliation process early Thursday Morning. File Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo April 23 (UPI) -- Senate Republicans were up all night voting, eventually adopting a budget reconciliation pack»»»

Interim Peruvian President José María Balcázar sought to suspend the roughly $3.5 billion acquisition of 12 F-16s from Lockheed Martin, arguing that the decision should be left to the next administration that takes office in July. File Photo by Ritchie B. Tongo/EPA April 23 (UPI) -- Peru's planned »»»

By April 22, a total of 166 election-related case files have been opened by the Sofia City Prosecution Office, the prosecution said, reacting to allegations regarding its work on cases involving individuals with immunity. In a Facebook post on Tuesday, caretaker Prime Minister Andrey Gurov said tha»»»

Voting in two of India’s most politically significant states — West Bengal and Tamil Nadu — saw exceptionally high turnout on Thursday, signalling strong voter engagement despite a contentious campaign backdrop. According to Election Commission (EC) estimates, West Bengal recorded 89.93 per cent po»»»

Britain's Prince Harry made an unannounced visit to Kyiv on Thursday and called on Russia's President Vladimir Putin to end the war - a week after a massive Russian aerial attack on the country - and on US President Donald Trump to show leadership to help resolve the conflict. By convention, the Br»»»

Secretary's SpeechLebanon PalestineZionist EntityRegional and International International More Video Language Ar En Fr EsSubscribe for Weekly Updates Subscribe Democrats in the US Coalesce Against “Israel” Amid Deepening Party Shift: WSJ 23-04-2026 17:07 PM WASHINGTON, DC - NOVEMBER 19: U.S. Sen. B»»»

DHAKA: Bangladesh has recorded 194 child deaths due to measles in an outbreak that began last month, while the number of suspected child cases has exceeded 28,000, government data showed on Thursday. Between three and five children have died from the disease every day for the past week. Five childr»»»

Lebanese Foreign Minister Youssef Raggi said Lebanon “has started to gradually reclaim its natural right to determine its own fate independently of others’ calculations,” stressing that the Lebanese state “alone holds the decision to negotiate,” and that Lebanon “is not subordinate to anyone and is»»»

For the first time in decades, Israeli and Lebanese civilian officials sat across a table in Washington and began talking. The discussions—convened in the shadow of a wider war with Iran, mediated by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and given a 10-day ceasefire window by Donald Trump—are truly histo»»»

Since the fall of the Assad regime in Syria on 8 December 2024, the country’s border with Lebanon has been subject to an unprecedented mobilisation, with Damascus ramping things up in recent weeks by sending heavy reinforcements to the frontier to confront Hezbollah’s smuggling operations. Under As»»»

Lebanese Foreign Minister Youssef Raggi said Lebanon “has started to gradually reclaim its natural right to determine its own fate independently of others’ calculations,” stressing that the Lebanese state “alone holds the decision to negotiate,” and that Lebanon “is not subordinate to anyone and is»»»

Today (23 April), the US hosts the second round of talks between the Lebanese and Israeli ambassadors to Washington. The first meeting of these diplomats on 14 April was significant, not because it was the first direct legal contact between senior officials of these states since 1993, or because th»»»

MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin can only meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for the purpose of finalizing agreements on the conflict, Russian news agencies quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying on Wednesday. Peskov’s comments on state television, reported by Russian new»»»

LONDON: Independent Arabia has won a Fetisov Journalism Award prize for its investigation into an adoption-brokers network in Egypt, adding to the outlet’s growing list of honors since its launch in 2019. Journalist Salah Labban won the 2025 prize in the civil rights category for his investigation,»»»

Dubai: Iran’s move to impose and reportedly collect tolls from ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz marks a direct challenge to international law and a dangerous escalation in its confrontation with the United States and its allies. A senior Iranian parliament official has claimed that Tehran»»»

Damascus, April 23 (SANA) After one year in power, Syria’s government is focusing on reintegrating the country into the global political and economic system, seeking to end decades of sanctions and isolation. While officials say the most difficult phase has passed, the country still faces deep stru»»»

BELGRADE - Serbian Minister for International Economic Cooperation Nenad Popovic met on Thursday in Belgrade with Russian Deputy FM Alexander Grushko, who is on an official visit to Serbia for a meeting of a Serbia-Russia intergovernmental committee on trade and economic and science and technical c»»»

Our weekly digest of Hungarian politics continues as we report on developments after the historic April election and on the formation of the Tisza government. This week we cover the following topics: After 10 days, outgoing foreign minister Péter Szijjártó has resurfaced. The newly-victorious Tisza»»»

U.S. President Donald Trump insisted Wednesday there was no time pressure to end the war with Iran and no deadline for when American military action would resume in the absence of a deal, saying the Iranians were more fearful of the U.S. maritime blockade than they were of the bombing. Photo by Dan»»»

While the colonialism of old involved “the looting of gold and silver and the ransacking of nations,” digital age neocolonialism is all about “forcing citizens and countries to use certain technology while extracting their personal data,” Facebook whistleblower and censorship expert Ryan Hartwig te»»»

As the United States edges closer to a critical May 1 deadline in its war with Iran, a decades-old law is quietly becoming one of the most consequential forces shaping the next phase of the conflict. Nearly eight weeks after Washington joined Israeli strikes against Iran, President Donald Trump fac»»»

The results of the April 19 parliamentary elections and the resignation of acting Prosecutor General Borislav Sarafov dominate Thursday’s news media. POLITICS & ELECTION RESULTS Dnevnik.bg has an article about the news members of Parliament who were elected on April 19. The 52nd National Assembly w»»»

JOHANNESBURG: The Zambian government says it has taken custody of former President Edgar Lungu’s body from his family in a long-running dispute over where he should be buried after he died in South Africa nearly a year ago. In a statement Wednesday, Zambia’s attorney general said the government had»»»

In January—February 2026, foreign trade in live animals in the Kyrgyz Republic showed a sharp decline in cattle imports while maintaining an export focus on neighboring markets. Data from the National Statistical Committee say. Imports: falling demand In the first two months of the year, cattle imp»»»

BEIRUT: Lebanon and Israel were set to begin a second session of direct talks in Washington on Thursday to discuss the possibility of extending a truce between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group and plans for future negotiations between the two neighbors with a long history of hostile relation»»»

Turkish lawmakers passed a bill late Wednesday that includes restricting access to social media platforms for children under 15, state media reported. The legislation is the latest in a global trend to protect young people from dangerous online activity. Its passage comes a week after a 14-year-old»»»

Amid clear signs of uncertainty and the continued “arm-wrestling”-style negotiations between the United States and Iran, the sudden decline in what only a few days ago was described as an imminent agreement or settlement to end the war between the two sides, mediated by Pakistan, raises many fundam»»»

The European Union voted on April 22 to simultaneously unlock its long-delayed €90bn EU loan for Ukraine and adopt the stalled twentieth sanctions package against Russia, in a diplomatic double act that had been blocked for months by Hungary and Slovakia — both of which finally »»»

The European Union voted on April 22 to simultaneously unlock its long-delayed €90bn EU loan for Ukraine and adopt the stalled twentieth sanctions package against Russia, in a diplomatic double act that had been blocked for months by Hungary and Slovakia — both of which finally »»»

Rivalries within Iraq’s Shiite Coordination Framework have led to a political deadlock over naming a new prime minister, as internal disagreements persist over both the selection mechanism and the division of ministerial posts among the bloc’s factions. According to sources, a meeting of Coordinati»»»

Kyrgyzstan has put new aviation regulations, KRAE-2. Flight Rules, up for public discussion. These regulations significantly tighten requirements for airspace use, especially for drones. The document was developed in accordance with International Civil Aviation Organization standards and proposes a»»»

François Picard is pleased to welcome Tutu Alicante, international human rights lawyer.and anti-corruption activist. According to Mr. Alicante, the Pope's visit to Equatorial Guinea presents a paradox: it offers a rare opportunity to spotlight injustice, yet risks being appropriated »»»

A delegation from the Mouvement des Entreprises de France (Medef) is set to visit Algeria on Thursday, with its president Patrick Martin leading around 40 senior company executives, in an economic push aimed at repairing trade relations strained by political tensions over the past two years. Accord»»»

TradeGlobal issuesCould Iran war trigger bigger trade crisis than COVID?Nik MartinAs the Iran war simmers, trade experts ask whether it could reshape supply chains more deeply than COVID-19, forcing companies to rethink strategies to counter further geopolitical shocks. https://p.dw.com/p/5CGIgThe »»»

New York, April 23 (SANA) Syria’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Ibrahim Olabi, said Wednesday during a UN Security Council session that Syria is advancing efforts to restore stability and development while urging an end to the repeated Israeli violations. Speaking at a special ses»»»