Lebanon's parliament elects army commander Joseph Aoun as president, breaking a two-year deadlock
BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon's parliament elects army commander Joseph Aoun as president, breaking a two-year deadlock.
BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon's parliament elects army commander Joseph Aoun as president, breaking a two-year deadlock.
Violent protests have erupted in China after the death of a teenage boy sparked accusations of a cover-up by authorities, videos from the northwestern region of Shaanxi have shown.
An explosion at a gas station triggered a massive fire in central Yemen, killing at least 15 people, health officials said Sunday. The explosion occurred Saturday at the Zaher district in the province of Bayda, the Houthi rebel-run Health Ministry said in a statement. It wasn’t immediately clear what caused the explosion.
Israeli negotiators attending ceasefire and hostage release talks in Doha have expressed “cautious optimism,” even as some gaps between both sides persist, a source familiar with the matter told CNN.
With the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime, Russia lost a key all in the Middle East - but it still hopes to keeps its military bases in Syria.
STORY: :: Police in Tel Aviv scuffle with protesters at ademonstration calling for an end to the war in Gaza:: January 11, 2025:: Shuli Kislev, Israeli protester “I don't expect anything from my government. That's the that's the point of it. I hope we can still keep the amount of normalization (of Israel's relations) that we have, I hope that it won’t get worse. I hope Trump pushes our government into some type of deal to get the hostages out, 98 of them and probably maybe half alive. Let's save the ones we can. Hopefully Trump can push on that point because unfortunately from my current government, I expect nothing.” Mediators are making renewed efforts to reach a deal to halt the fighting in Gaza and free the remaining Israeli hostages held there before U.S. President-elect Donald Trump takes office on January. 20. A deal would also involve the release of some Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip has killed at least 46,537 Palestinians and wounded 109,571 since Oct. 7, 2023, the Palestinian enclave's health ministry said on Saturday.
The foiled attack will stoke fears that Islamic State is hoping to stage a comeback in Syria following the fall last month of President Bashar al-Assad. Some Syrians and foreign powers have worried that the country's new leaders, who are from the Sunni Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group that forced Assad out on Dec. 8, may impose strict Islamic governance on a country with numerous minority groups such as Druze, Kurds, Christians and Shi'ites.
France on Saturday handed over its second army base in Chad as part of an agreement with the country's authorities to withdraw its military forces.Chad had been a key link in France's military presence in Africa and its last foothold in the wider Sahel region after the forced withdrawal of French troops from Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger in the wake of military coups.
An explosion at a fuel station in Yemen has killed 15 people and left dozens injured. The blast took place on Saturday in the Zaher district in the province of Bayda, the country's health ministry said. Rescue teams were searching for those reported missing, the ministry added.
The protest comes on the same day that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was sending the director of the Mossad foreign intelligence agency to ceasefire talks in Doha.View on euronews
JERUSALEM/CAIRO (Reuters) -U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday amid a push to secure a ceasefire in Gaza, Netanyahu's office said. After the meeting, Netanyahu dispatched a high-level delegation which included the head of the Israeli Mossad intelligence agency to Qatar in order to "advance" talks to return hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza, a statement from Netanyahu's office said.
The Sudanese army has recaptured the city of Wad Madani from rebels. Senior military sources confirmed to Sky News they had made the advance. The general command of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) released a statement early on Saturday afternoon.
Riyadh meeting also discussed keeping pressure on Syria’s new leadership to meet commitment to inclusive transition
The two captured soldiers were fighting alongside Russian troops in Russia’s Kursk border region, Ukraine's president said on Saturday.View on euronews
Ukrainian special forces have captured two North Korean troops, Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday.
In a statement posted on X, Zelenskyy said he had instructed Ukraine's security service to allow journalists access to the captured soldiers.
South Korea's intelligence service on Sunday backed up Ukraine's account of having captured two wounded North Korean soldiers in Russia, after Kyiv said they were being questioned.Seoul's National Intelligence Service (NIS) told AFP it has "confirmed that the Ukrainian military captured two North Korean soldiers on January 9 in the Kursk battlefield in Russia".
Wael Soulaiman picks his way carefully around the edge of the three strips of hardened dirt, each about the length of a cricket pitch and only a little wider.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden spoke on Sunday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the White House said, as U.S. officials race to reach a Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal before Biden leaves office on Jan. 20. Biden and Netanyahu discussed efforts underway to reach a deal to halt the fighting in the Palestinian enclave and free the remaining hostages there, the White House said in a statement after the two leaders spoke by telephone. Biden "stressed the immediate need for a ceasefire in Gaza and return of the hostages with a surge in humanitarian aid enabled by a stoppage in the fighting under the deal," it said.
Syria's new ruler and Lebanon's prime minister pledged on Saturday to build lasting ties during the first visit by a Lebanese head of government to Damascus since the start of the civil war in 2011.After mending ties with Damascus, his son Saad Hariri was the last Lebanese premier to visit the Syrian capital in 2010 before the civil war.
For weeks, Ukrainian troops braced for an unfamiliar enemy: North Korean soldiers sent to bolster Moscow’s forces after Ukraine launched a lightning-fast incursion and seized territory in Russia's Kursk region over the summer. Unlike the Russian troops Ukraine has been battling for nearly three years, Kyiv’s forces were uncertain about what to expect from this new adversary, drawn into the war after Moscow and Pyongyang signed an agreement pledging military assistance using “all means” if either were attacked.