Netanyahu’s Likud, Gantz’s Blue and White party say they will continue negotiations toward “emergency” unity gov’t. Israel’s president has asked the Knesset to choose a new prime minister, giving the parliament three weeks to agree upon a leader or plunge the country into an unprecedented fourth consecutive election in just over a year. President Reuven […]

A bill passed by Turkey’s parliament will see 45,000 prisoners temporarily released to limit the spread of COVID-19. Turkish MPs have agreed to free nearly one-third of the country’s prisoners to reduce the threat from coronavirus in jails, but the move was criticised for excluding government opponents imprisoned on terrorism charges. The bill, introduced by […]

Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gul says another 14 convicts are infected with COVID-19, with one critical. Three Turkish prisoners have died from COVID-19, Turkey’s justice minister has said, as he announced the first cases of convicts diagnosed with the disease. A total of 17 convicts in five open prisons have contracted the virus, Abdulhamit Gul told […]

RIYADH (AFP) – Top oil producers struggled to finalise production cuts during a virtual summit held by G-20 energy ministers on Friday (April 10), despite US President Donald Trump’s mediation efforts to end a standoff with Mexico. The final G-20 communique appeared to gloss over simmering divisions over energy policy, making no mention of output cuts […]

ANKARA (AFP) – Turkey ordered citizens to stay at home for 48 hours across 31 cities starting midnight on Friday (April 10) as it rolled out new strict measures to contain the spread of the new coronavirus. The interior ministry said in a statement the order would last until midnight on Sunday in dozens of […]

BEIRUT (AFP) – A young Syrian girl died in Lebanon after she was reportedly beaten by her father, security forces said on Tuesday (April 7). The girl aged around six was dead on arrival at a hospital in the northern city of Tripoli in the early hours of Tuesday, the Internal Security Forces (ISF) reported. […]

No damage or casualties reported after projectiles land near site of oilfield service company Halliburton in Basra. At least three rockets have hit near the site of an American oilfield service company in southern Iraq without causing any damage or casualties.  The rockets targeted the site of Halliburton in the Burjesia area in oil-rich Basra […]

DUBAI/RIYADH (REUTERS) – Dubai imposed a two-week lockdown Saturday night (April 4) and Saudi Arabia sealed off parts of the Red Sea city of Jeddah as Gulf states tightened measures in big cities to contain the spread of the coronavirus. Dubai had been under an overnight curfew along with the rest of United Arab Emirates […]

Omar Saeed Sheikh and three alleged accomplices in killing of US journalist to remain in detention for three months. A British-Pakistani man and three others accused of the 2002 murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl have been rearrested in Pakistan a day after a court acquitted them. Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh and three […]

TEL AVIV (REUTERS) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is returning to self-isolation for another six days after his health minister was diagnosed with coronavirus, the premier’s office said on Thursday (April 2). Mr Netanyahu, 70, the nation’s longest-serving leader, had just ended a two-day period of isolation on Wednesday night after a parliamentary aide […]