GAZA CITY: A coronavirus vaccination campaign was launched in Gaza Monday using doses provided by the Palestinian Authority and the United Arab Emirates, with health workers set to be inoculated first. The first jab in the Israeli-blockaded territory controlled by Hamas Islamists since 2007 was symbolically given to former Palestinian health minister Riyad Zaanoun at a...

TEHRAN (FNA)- Militants of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which is supported by Washington, steal 140,000 barrels of crude oil on a daily basis from oil fields in Syria's northeastern province of Hasakah, according to a report. Ghassan Halim Khalil, governor of Hasakah, announced the grim news in an interview with the Lebanese al-Akhbar newspaper on...

The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have issued a joint statement after reaching a “temporary bilateral technical understanding” during the visit of the IAEA chief to Tehran. According to the statement released on Sunday night, after bilateral talks between IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi and the AEOI Chief Ali...

BEIRUT, LEBANON (1:40 P.M.) - Thursday saw a Russian mediated prisoner swap with Muhammad Ahmad Hussein and Tariq Ghasab al-Obeidan, both natives of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights of Quneitra province, released. The exchange operation that began yesterday led to the two Syrian captives freed and returned to their hometown in the Quneitra province. Captive Nihal Al-Maqt,...

MOGADISHU Heavy gunfire has broken out in Somalia's capital as opposition leaders defied a ban on public gatherings to protest delayed elections. The president's term expired last week without selecting a successor, throwing Somalia into a crisis. Overnight, the government says militiamen attacked army positions in Mogadishu, close to the presidential palace. Most roads in the...

IPSNEWS Yemen is heading towards the worst famine the world has seen in decades, the United Nations Security Council was warned in a briefing yesterday. “Across Yemen, more than 16 million people are going hungry – including 5 million who are just one step away from famine,” Mark Lowcock, the UN Under Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs...

The Washington Times reports that the U.S. and Israel are collaborating on a groundbreaking missile defense system that can target and eliminate threats in the atmosphere and in space, officials from the two nations said Thursday. The Arrow 4 system represents the next generation of “endo-exoatmospheric interceptors and will be implemented gradually, officials said, ultimately replacing...

BRUSSELS Turkey's permanent representative to NATO Thursday said allies should handle the differences of opinion and respect the security concerns of one another. Speaking to Anadolu Agency on the 69th anniversary of Turkey’s NATO membership, Basat Ozturk said Turkey has been a valuable and important country for the alliance, adding: “Although we have different opinions with some...

ISTANBUL, 18 FEB - A new anti-ISIS raid took place in Turkey on Thursday morning, in which anti-terrorist police in the southern province of Adana near the Syrian border arrested eight suspected foreign jihadists, with a ninth person still being sought. The suspects are five Syrians and four Iraqis accused of spreading terrorist propaganda through...

TEHRAN At least 43 people in Iran have been injured and several properties destroyed in an earthquake that shook the country’s southwestern Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province on Wednesday night, local authorities said on Thursday. According to the Institute of Geophysics of Tehran University, the epicenter of the 5.6 magnitude earthquake, which occurred at 10:55 p.m. local...

Once the governments and the social media battle it out and social media will be banned or limited in your area, what will your daily life look like? Are you addicted to the likes and views and need the constant fix of pseudo fandom, or are you merely relying on the social giants to deliver your...

TEHRAN, Feb. 18 (MNA) –Armed elements affiliated with the UAE in southern Yemen attacked forces of the ousted president Hadi who were going towards the eastern Yemeni province of Marib. According to sources familiar with the matter armed elements affiliated with the so-called "Southern Transitional Council" attacked a convoy of military vehicles belonging to ousted president...

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has labeled Facebook’s decision to ban Australian users from viewing news content as “arrogant” and warned that he is in regular contact with world leaders, who are all contending with how to better regulate Big Tech. “Facebook’s actions to unfriend Australia today, cutting off essential information services on health and emergency services,...

TEHRAN, Feb. 18 (MNA) – Iranian President urged the US administration to fulfill its obligations under the Nuclear Deal and abide by UN Security Council Resolution 2231. Hassan Rouhani made the remarks at the inauguration ceremony of a number of industrial projects on Thursday. Referring to Washington’s pressure on the Islamic Republic of Iran, he expressed...

SOCHI, February 17. /TASS/. Russia, Turkey, and Iran have agreed to continue cooperation aimed at eliminating terrorists of the Islamic State and Al-Nusra Front groups (outlawed in Russia) in Syria. In their joint statement after the 15th international meeting on Syria in the Astana format, the sides "reiterated their determination to combat terrorism in all forms...

An Arab Bedouin village in the southern Negev region has been demolished by Israel for the 183rd time, a local Palestinian source said on Wednesday. The al-Araqib village, home to some 22 Palestinian families, has been destroyed eight times since last year, Aziz al-Touri, a member of the Committee for the Defense of al-Araqib, told Anadolu...

KADUNA, Nigeria (Reuters) - Unidentified gunmen attacked a secondary school in Nigeria’s Niger state overnight and abducted many students, the state governor’s spokeswoman said on Wednesday. The attackers stormed the Government Science college in the Kagara district at around 2 a.m., overwhelming the school’s security detail, local residents said. The spokeswoman said a mass abduction of...

AP, GAZA. The Palestinian Authority sent the first shipment of coronavirus vaccines to the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip on Wednesday, two days after accusing Israel of preventing it from dispatching the doses amid objections from some Israeli lawmakers. Palestinian Health Minister Mai Alkaila said in a statement that the PA sent 2,000 doses of the Russian Sputnik...

TEHRAN, Feb. 16 (MNA) – Afghan Special Forces released 42 persons who were taken hostage by the Taliban during a night operation. In an operation in Baghlan province, Afghan special forces were able to free 42 people held hostage by the Taliban, the Independent reported. In this regard, the Afghan Ministry of Defense announced that 42...

Seoul: North Korea has attempted to steal COVID-19 vaccine technology by hacking Pfizer Inc according to South Korea's National Intelligence Service (NIS), Yonhap news agency reported on Tuesday. South Korea's Yonhap did not report when the alleged hacking took place or whether it was successful. Last year suspected North Korean hackers tried to break into at least nine...

Scientists are baffled by the relatively low rate of coronavirus infections in India after at one point it looked as though it might surpass the US as the country with the biggest case toll. Infections began to plummet in September, and now the country is reporting about 11,000 new cases a day, compared to a peak...

TEHRAN, Feb. 16 (MNA) – A UN spokesman has reacted to Iran's decision to limit the International Atomic Energy Agency's inspection of the country's nuclear facilities. The United Nations is calling on Iran to fully cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), UN spokesman Farhan Haq said, commenting on Tehran's plan to limit IAEA inspections...

Turkey on Tuesday condemned Monday’s rocket attack near Erbil International Airport in northern Iraq, which left 1 civilian contractor dead, 5 other contractors, and 1 US service member wounded. "We strongly condemn the rocket attacks in Erbil, which are thought to have targeted civilian settlements," the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement. “We express our condolences...

TEHRAN, Feb. 16 (MNA) – Seven Afghan police forces were killed in a car bomb in the northern province of Faryab on Tuesday. According to local sources, the explosion occurred while a police Humvee truck crashed into a roadside bomb in a market situated in the Almar district of Faryab province. No group or individual has...

DUBAI (Reuters) – Iran said on Monday that a U.S. move this month to seize a cargo of oil on the grounds that it came from Tehran was an act of piracy, adding that the shipment did not belong to the Iranian government. Washington filed a lawsuit earlier this month to seize the cargo, alleging that...

HEWLÊR-Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan region,— A group of journalists and activists from Duhok who were arrested last year and accused of endangering national security, went on trial on Monday in Erbil. Activist Badal Barwari and journalists Sherwan Sherwani and Omed Baroshki are among those set to stand trial and are accused of serious charges of undermining state independence, unity, or...

MANILA (Reuters) - The United States is providing the Philippines with military aid that amounts to “loose change” compared to other Asian countries, a top official said on Monday, justifying demands by President Rodrigo Duterte for Washington to pay more. Duterte last week said the United States should fork out more if it wants to maintain...

Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg says that there has been "great progress" in talks between the tech giants and Australia in regards to the new Australia’s News Media Bargaining Code, which first emerged in 2019. The purpose of the bill is to establish reciprocity for news and media organizations mandating the tech companies to pay for content...

BEIRUT, LEBANON (9:40 P.M.) - Two Turkish-backed militant groups clashed in northwestern Syria this weekend, causing a new wave of violence in the western countryside of the Aleppo Governorate. According to local reports from the Aleppo Governorate, the clashes broke out between Jabhat Al-Shamiya (Levant Front) and Jaysh Al-Islam (Army of Islam) in the Afrin region,...

The US has finished selling the 1.2 million barrels of fuel it seized from tankers purportedly sent by Iran to Venezuela, spokesman for the Department of Justice, Marc Raimondi, said in an interview with Reuters. The US official did not mention the sale price of the petroleum, but if it was anywhere near the price tag...