Biden to talk oil at Arab summit concluding Middle East tour

Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, July 16 (AFP/APP): US President Joe Biden is set to discuss volatile oil prices during a summit with Arab leaders on Saturday in Saudi Arabia, the final stop of his Middle East tour. The meeting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia’s second city on […]

Peacekeepers to leave strategic Red Sea Island by year’s end: White House

Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, July 16 (AFP/APP): A multinational peacekeeping force will leave a strategic Red Sea island by the end of the year, the White House said Friday, potentially boosting opportunities for future contact between Saudi Arabia and Israel. “International peacekeepers, including US troops, will […]

Sri Lanka president submits resignation from Singapore: official

Colombo, July 14 (AFP/APP): Sri Lanka’s president submitted his resignation shortly after reaching Singapore on Thursday, the parliamentary speaker’s office said, days after the head of state fled protests triggered by his country’s worst-ever economic crisis. Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s emailed resignation would be examined before a […]

US, China top diplomats hold ‘constructive’ first talks in months

Bali, Indonesia, July 9 (AFP/APP):The United States and China held “constructive” talks Saturday, Washington’s top diplomat said, after an unusually long meeting aimed at preventing bilateral tensions from spiralling out of control. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Foreign Minister Wang Yi held their first […]

Libya’s Bashagha says to enter Tripoli ‘in coming days’

Tunis, July 9 (AFP/APP): Libya’s Fathi Bashagha, appointed as prime minister in a challenge to a unity government in Tripoli, plans to take office in the capital “in the coming days”, he told AFP. Libya’s parliament picked the former interior minister in February to lead […]

Daughter of Angola’s Dos Santos demands autopsy on foul play fears

Madrid, July 8 (AFP/APP):A daughter of Angola’s former president Jose Eduardo Dos Santos, who died Friday in Barcelona, has demanded the hospital retain his body for an autopsy following fears of foul play. Tchize dos Santos “has requested… that the Teknon medical centre hold onto […]

Israel PM, defence minister talk to Abbas ahead of Biden visit

Ramallah, Palestinian Territories, July 8 (AFP/APP):Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas spoke with Israel’s prime minister after a rare meeting with the Jewish state’s defence minister, Israeli officials said Friday, days ahead of US President Joe Biden’s regional visit. The phone call between Abbas and Prime Minister […]

UN Security Council at impasse over cross-border Syria aid

United Nations, United States, July 8 (AFP/APP): Russia on Friday vetoed a UN Security Council resolution that would have extended cross-border aid to Syria by one year without Damascus’s backing. Western powers then voted down a competing resolution put forward by Moscow that proposed extending […]