Abu Dhabi: The Zayed Sustainability Prize has expanded its support framework, announcing funding for all finalists in its 2027 cycle, continuing the approach introduced in 2026. The move reflects the Prize’s shift from a recognition platform into a broader support system that helps projects at diff»»»

Kyiv, Ukraine: A temporary ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine for Orthodox Easter begins on Saturday afternoon, as US-led diplomatic efforts to end the war falter. The Kremlin said it had ordered a temporary truce from Saturday at 4pm (1300 GMT) until the end of Sunday, a 32-hour period. Russia's»»»

Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah on Saturday reiterated his group's rejection of direct negotiations between Israel and Lebanon, where authorities reported 10 people killed in Israeli attacks in the south. The office of President Joseph Aoun said on Friday that officials from Lebanon, Israel and»»»

Washington, United States: A senior US official denied on Saturday a report saying Washington had agreed to release Iran's frozen assets held in foreign banks. Iranian and US delegations have arrived in Islamabad, Pakistan for talks aimed at ending the war in the Middle East. Tehran earlier said an»»»

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Russia has returned 175 military personnel from the Ukrainian captivity, with 175 Ukrainian servicemen handed over in exchange, the Russian Defense Military said on Saturday. "On April 11, 175 Russian servicemen were returned from the territory controlled by the Kiev regime. In e»»»

“My daughter is sleeping in the ICU of a hospital in Mohakhali, Dhaka and I have been in the queue at the Trust filling station since 1:30 AM. It is now a quarter to three... If I cannot get fuel, I will leave the bike on the road and just walk away. I do not have the strength left in my body to pu»»»

Some three-quarters of the airstrikes during the Middle East war targeted sites in Iran or Lebanon, according to an AFP analysis of data from ACLED, a non-profit that tracks political violence worldwide. At least 7,700 strikes or series of strikes by missiles, drones, rockets or bombs, were recorde»»»

Senior Iranian and American delegations met Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in Islamabad on Saturday to begin negotiations towards a deal to end the Middle East war unleashed six weeks earlier by US-Israeli strikes on Tehran. With the talks under way at Islamabad's Serena Hotel, Iranian med»»»

Boston resident Pat Ouedraogo has cut longer-distance trips, while aspiring law student Skyler Burke drives extra miles to avoid pricier gasoline pumps closer to home. In Houston, auto broker David Wright has switched from a gas-guzzling race car to an all-electric vehicle. These struggles are bein»»»

A senior Iraqi security official told AFP that a drone crashed near a group of US diplomats inside the grounds of Baghdad's airport earlier this week as they were escorting an American journalist freed after a recent kidnapping. The account shed light on a statement issued Thursday by the US State »»»

Pakistan Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif held a meeting with US Vice President JD Vance, marking the opening phase of a high-level diplomatic process focused on regional stability and conflict resolution, as the Islamabad talks formally commenced. Get updated faster and for FREE: Download th»»»

Ukraine can play a useful role in international efforts to secure the Strait of Hormuz, Britain's armed services minister said, praising its drone technology as among the best in the world. Britain has organized discussions this month among more than 30 nations on how to reopen the strait, amid an »»»

László Mérő, mathematician and psychologist: “Hungarians are an accepting, tolerant, friendly people. This hatred has been deliberately stoked.” After the 2010 election, you responded to Fidesz’s two-thirds victory in a relatively optimistic article. At the time, you thought it might bring an end t»»»

Khan Yunis, Palestinian Territories: In southern Gaza, aid workers are meticulously assembling fibreglass homes meant to shelter thousands of Palestinians still displaced six months after a ceasefire started between Israel and Hamas. Nearly two million people in Gaza are living in makeshift shelter»»»

Gaza's civil defense rescue service said on Saturday that Israeli airstrikes in the Palestinian territory had killed seven people overnight, despite the fragile ceasefire in place since October last year. Mahmoud Bassal, spokesman for the group, which operates under the authority of the Hamas movem»»»

Houston: When NASA flight director Zebulon Scoville was working a shift during the uncrewed Artemis I test flight, he realized the US space agency wasn't consistently livestreaming the spacecraft's journey to Earth. "They said, well, we don't have bandwidth, we've got to get all this vehicle and en»»»

An economist at Moody’s Analytics, Dominic Bartos, said that the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries are facing an unprecedented crisis due to the Iran war, raising concerns about the potential postponement or cancellation of their previously announced investments in Egypt. Bartos added that t»»»

Top US officials landed in Islamabad ⁠on Saturday to meet with representatives from Iran for ‌peace talks aimed at ending the six-week-old ​war that has killed thousands of people across ​the Middle ​East. Read our liveblog to follow the latest developments.  • US Vice President JD Vance »»»

The war in the Middle East will have a cascading impact on the global economy, even if a ceasefire announced by US President Donald Trump takes hold, World Bank President Ajay Banga told Reuters in an interview on Friday. And the damage will be far deeper if the ceasefire fails and the conflict esc»»»

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un voiced support for China’s push to build a “multi-polar world” and called for deeper ties between the traditional allies during a meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, state media said Saturday. During the meeting Friday, Kim said his government will fully s»»»

Taiwan's defense ministry said on ‌Saturday that it spotted 16 Chinese warplanes operating near the island the previous day, around the same time China's president was meeting the Taiwanese opposition leader. Late on Friday morning, Chinese President Xi Jinping met Cheng Li-wun, chairwoman of Taiwa»»»

US intelligence indicates China is preparing to deliver new air defense systems to ‌Iran within the ‌next few weeks, CNN ‌reported ⁠late on Friday, ⁠citing three people familiar with recent intelligence assessments. The network said there are indications that Beijing is working to route ⁠the shipme»»»

Iran's new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei is still recovering from severe facial and leg injuries ‌suffered in the airstrike that killed his father at the beginning of the war, three people close to his inner circle told Reuters. Khamenei's face was disfigured in the attack on the supreme leader's»»»

The United States and Iran have been sworn enemies since the 1979 revolution and the hostage crisis at the US embassy in Tehran. On Saturday, the arch-foes are set to hold talks in Islamabad to end more than a month of war in the Middle East, as a fragile ceasefire holds despite deep mutual mistrus»»»

A temporary ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine for Orthodox Easter is set to begin on Saturday afternoon, as US-led diplomatic efforts to end the war falter. The Kremlin said it had ordered a temporary truce from Saturday at 4:00 pm (1300 GMT) until the end of Sunday, a 32-hour period, AFP said. »»»

Bogotá: Colombia slapped 100 percent tariffs on Ecuadorean imports on Friday in response to a similar move by its South American neighbor the day before, the Ministry of Commerce said. The two countries have been engaged in a trade war for months, with Ecuador's right-wing President Daniel Noboa cr»»»

Three opinion polls conducted in Tel Aviv on Friday showed that an overwhelming majority of Israelis view the war against Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah as a failure for US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, while supporting a resumption of the fighting to achieve t»»»

More than 125,000 civilian facilities have been damaged or destroyed in the US-Israeli attacks across Iran, the head of the Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS) said on Friday. Pir-Hossein Kolivand told Iranian state television that around 100,000 homes and at least 23,500 shops were hit during the »»»

Diplomatic momentum is building around a Gaza ceasefire, as Hamas and other Palestinian factions prepare their final response to a “Board of Peace” plan on the movement’s disarmament and the second phase of the deal. Talks were set to begin in Cairo on Friday and Saturday, with more meetings possib»»»

Senior US and Iranian leaders were in the Pakistani capital Islamabad on Saturday for negotiations to end their six-week-old war, although Tehran threw the talks into doubt by saying they could not begin without commitments on Lebanon and sanctions. The US delegation, led by Vice President JD Vance»»»

Dubai: Travellers flying between the Philippines and the Middle East are facing disruptions after flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) and low-cost carrier Cebu Pacific (CEB) have suspended several routes due to ongoing security concerns. With many passengers affected, especially overseas Filipin»»»

Dubai: Places of worship across Dubai have announced updated schedules and phased reopenings, reflecting a coordinated effort to balance community access with safety and regulatory compliance under guidelines issued by the Community Development Authority (CDA). The updates include revised visiting »»»

Türkiye and Syria are moving to forge a broad strategic partnership spanning all areas of cooperation, backing reconstruction and efforts to restore stability after 14 years of war. A flurry of meetings in recent days has aimed to accelerate coordination between the neighbors across multiple sector»»»

Lebanon is set to enter direct negotiations with Israel for the first time, marking a fundamental shift in how the state manages the conflict and underscoring its insistence on sovereign decision-making free of external tutelage. The shift follows Iranian attempts to preserve what is known as the “»»»

Social media users are claiming that French President Emmanuel Macron circulated a photo of Melania Trump, the wife of US President Donald Trump, appearing with Jeffrey Epstein. However, the image has been digitally altered and was never shared by Macron. The misinformation began circulating after »»»

Everyday Iranians are awaiting planned negotiations between Washington and Tehran with a mixture of skepticism and outright fear, caught between a government they say does not understand peace and an American president who has threatened to destroy a “whole civilization.” Talks between the US and I»»»

Iranian and US delegations headed for Islamabad on Friday ahead of ceasefire negotiations between the two countries that threaten to be derailed by deep disagreements. While Iran said it would only begin talks if ‌Washington accepted its "preconditions", Vice President JD Vance warned Teh»»»

Three Frenchmen who were taken to Syria by their jihadist parents as children and forced to work for the Islamic State (IS) group are seeking repatriation, their lawyer said on Friday. The men are among thousands of IS group "fighters" who are being held in Iraq after being transferred fr»»»

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has announced a reduction in fuel prices, saying the country is offering relief to the public as regional tensions ease. Addressing the nation, PM Sharif said petrol prices have been reduced by 12 rupees per litre and diesel by 135 rupees per litre, with conti»»»

Lebanon, under sustained Israeli air strikes and an open war, is entering a pivotal week as it prepares for preliminary meetings expected next week that could open a new negotiating track to secure a ceasefire, stabilize the border, and regulate the south. The move brings Lebanese-Israeli negotiati»»»

Speaking to FRANCE 24, Ihor Fedirko, CEO of the Ukrainian Council of Defence Industry, said Kyiv is seeking “sustainable and durable cooperation” with Gulf states on drone defence technology – a partnership he says has accelerated since the war in the Middle East. He added that Ukraine has the»»»

Ukrainian leadership on April 8 hailed the two-week ceasefire reached between the U.S. and Iran but stressed it is time to pressure Russia to end its war in Ukraine as well. Speaking with FRANCE 24's Mark Owen, Peter Zalmayev, Founder and Director of the Eurasia Democracy Initiative, says that the »»»

Lebanon's presidency said Friday that a meeting would be held with Israel in Washington next week to discuss a ceasefire in the Israel-Hezbollah war and the start of negotiations between the neighbors. Lebanese President Joseph Aoun has repeatedly expressed readiness for direct talks with Israel si»»»

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had opted for a gradual approach in negotiations with Lebanon, sources close to Netanyahu said on Friday. This means that Israel will start with technical and procedural issues before moving to major files, depending on the trajectory of US-Iran talks that »»»

US President Donald Trump claims that the Strait of Hormuz will open "automatically" if a deal with Iran is reached. "That'll open up automatically," the US leader told reporters. At the same time, Trump expressed confidence that the strait would be open to shipping anyway. Trump reiterated that th»»»

Lebanon, through US intermediaries, has asked Israel to suspend attacks on its territory ahead of talks, Axios reported citing sources. The US has supported the Lebanese request and is demanding Israel accept it, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not yet made a decisin on the matter»»»

Iran's negotiating team arrived in Islamabad on Friday for peace talks with the United States, even as Tehran insisted on measures it said needed to be addressed first, throwing last-minute doubt over the meetings. US President Donald Trump announced a two-week ceasefire in the six-week war on Tues»»»

The Pakistani Foreign Ministry on Friday confirmed the arrival of an Iranian delegation to participate in talks with the United States and expressed hope for constructive dialogue. "A high-powered delegation of the Islamic Republic of Iran led by Speaker of the Iranian. Parliament H.E. Mohammad Bag»»»

South Korea submitted a KRW26.2trillion ($19.2bn) "war supplementary budget" to the National Assembly that unusually omits surplus funds from the Bank of Korea (BoK), drawing fire from legislative watchdogs on April 9, Chosun Daily reports. »»»

Iran's central military command warned on April 10 that its armed forces remain at full combat readiness and will not relinquish control of the Strait of Hormuz, issuing the statement hours before US and Iranian delegations are due to sit down for ceasefire negotiations in Islamabad. »»»