Middle East

Israel Identifies Dead Hostage Returned on Friday
Israel Identifies Dead Hostage Returned on Friday

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said on Saturday that the body of a deceased hostage Hamas returned overnight has been identified as 75-year-old Eliyahu Margalit. The Israeli military "informed the family of the abductee Eliyahu Margalit... that (the body of) their loved one has been returned to Israel and his identification ...

Valley of Christians: A Cradle of Faith in Syria
SpotlightValley of Christians: A Cradle of Faith in Syria

Scarred in September by several wildfires and a growing sense of insecurity, including a motorcycle shooting in early October that left three people dead, the Valley of Christians (Wadi al-Nasara) is now facing mounting threats. Located between the Mediterranean coast and the city of Homs, this rural region of Syria, known in Arabic as Wadi ...

Trump Suggests Too soon for Tomahawks in Talks with Zelensky 
Trump Suggests Too soon for Tomahawks in Talks with Zelensky 

US President Donald Trump suggested Friday it would be premature to give Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine, saying as he hosted Volodymyr Zelensky that he hoped to secure peace with Russia first. "Hopefully they won't need it. Hopefully we'll be able to get the war over with without thinking about Tomahawks," Trump told journalists including an AFP ...

Trump Says Venezuela’s Maduro Offered ‘Everything’ To Ease Tensions
Trump Says Venezuela’s Maduro Offered ‘Everything’ To Ease Tensions

US President Donald Trump said Friday that Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro had offered major concessions to ease tensions with Washington and confirmed a new strike on a drug-smuggling vessel, which reportedly left survivors. Washington accuses Maduro of heading a drug cartel and has deployed significant military assets -- including stealth ...

Hamas Says Committed to Gaza Truce and Returning Hostage Remains
Hamas Says Committed to Gaza Truce and Returning Hostage Remains

Hamas insisted it was committed to returning all the hostage remains still unaccounted for under Gaza's ruins, as a Turkish official said specialists dispatched to help find bodies were on Friday awaiting Israeli permission to enter. Responding to a call from Hamas for help locating the bodies of the 19 hostages, buried under the rubble alongside ...

Kabul Accuses Pakistan of Resuming Strikes on Afghan Soil
Kabul Accuses Pakistan of Resuming Strikes on Afghan Soil

Pakistan launched strikes on Afghan soil late Friday, breaking a ceasefire that had brought two days of calm to the border, a senior Taliban official told AFP, warning that Kabul would "retaliate." The 48-hour truce had paused nearly a week of bloody border clashes that killed dozens of troops and civilians on both sides. "Pakistan has broken ...

EU Eyes Helping Disarm Hamas Under Trump Plan
EU Eyes Helping Disarm Hamas Under Trump Plan

The EU is looking at providing funding and expertise to help disarm Hamas under US President Donald Trump's peace plan for Gaza, a document seen by AFP Friday said. The 27-nation bloc is discussing what role it can play after Europe was left on the sidelines as Trump sealed a ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel. The agreement has so far seen ...

Republicans Warn US Shutdown Could Force Layoffs of Nuke Workers
Republicans Warn US Shutdown Could Force Layoffs of Nuke Workers

The US government shutdown could force the layoffs of most of the employees handling the nation's nuclear weapons, the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee warned Friday. "We were just informed last night (that) the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) -- the group that handles and manages our nuclear stockpile -- that the ...

Leonardo, Callas, Beethoven… Could Europe’s Icons Appear on Euro Banknotes?
SpotlightLeonardo, Callas, Beethoven… Could Europe’s Icons Appear on Euro Banknotes?

Nearly a quarter of a century after their introduction, euro banknotes are set to be completely redesigned, both aesthetically and in terms of security. If the ECB stays on schedule, the new banknotes are expected to be unveiled from 2026, following an unprecedented public consultation and design process. Since 2002, euro banknotes have depicted ...

Syria: Arrest of Nemir al-Assad and Qossay Ibrahim
Syria: Arrest of Nemir al-Assad and Qossay Ibrahim

Syrian Interior Minister Anas Khattab announced the arrest of Nemir al-Assad and Qossay Wajih Ibrahim, the former commander of the Mountain Brigade under the ousted regime of Bashar al-Assad. In a post on X, Khattab said, “Nemir al-Assad and his terrorist group, as well as the criminal Qossay Wajih Ibrahim, former commander of the Mountain ...

Trump Says to Meet with Xi at South Korea Summit
Trump Says to Meet with Xi at South Korea Summit

Donald Trump will hold talks with China's Xi Jinping during the upcoming APEC summit in South Korea, the US president said in a Fox interview excerpt released Friday. "We're going to meet in a couple of weeks. We're going to meet in South Korea, actually with the President Xi and other people, too," Trump said in an interview with Fox News show ...