Turkish prosecutors yesterday launched a probe into a pro-Kurdish MP suspected of having travelled to a Kurdish-controlled region of Iraq where 13 Turkish hostages were killed in a failed rescue.

A Lebanese court today dismissed a judge who had charged top politicians with negligence over last year’s Beirut port explosion, infuriating families of victims who said it showed that the state would never hold powerful men to account.

Saudi Ambassador to Bangladesh Issa bin Youssef Al-Duhailan today assured that his government will take immediate measures so that Bangladeshi workers stuck in the country due to Covid-19 and workers with new visas can return to the Middle East country.

Turkish border guards have detained five Russians, including a woman suspected of being a member the Islamic State group, and a Libyan who were attempting to cross from Syria, officials said yesterday.

Israeli environmentalists are warning that a UAE-Israeli oil pipeline deal threatens unique Red Sea coral reefs and could lead to “the next ecological disaster”.

At least 100 oil and gas tankers have been destroyed by fire in a “catastrophe” at Afghanistan’s biggest trade crossing with Iran, causing millions of dollars of losses, officials said yesterday.

The UAE’s “Hope” probe sent back its first image of Mars, the national space agency said yesterday, days after the spacecraft successfully entered the Red Planet’s orbit.

At least 400,000 Yemeni children under five could die of starvation this year without urgent intervention amid soaring rates of severe malnutrition driven by war and the coronavirus pandemic, four UN agencies said today.

Turkey yesterday rejected a US call to release jailed civil society leader Osman Kavala, accusing Washington of interference.

At least six Bangladeshis have been killed in a factory fire in Saudi Arabian city of Madina on Wednesday night.

The United Arab Emirates’ first mission to Mars reached the red planet and entered orbit on Tuesday after a seven-month, 494 million-km (307 million-mile) journey, allowing it to start sending data about the Martian atmosphere and climate.

Palestinians opened election registration offices in Gaza and the West Bank on Wednesday, one day after rival factions agreed steps to ensure that the first elections in 15 years go ahead.

Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi group said it carried out a drone attack on Saudi Arabia’s Abha airport which the Saudi-led coalition fighting Houthi forces in Yemen said caused a fire in a civilian aircraft.

Egypt on Tuesday opened its Rafah border crossing with the Gaza strip until further notice, Egyptian and Palestinian sources said, a move described as an incentive for reconciliation between the main Palestinian factions, meeting in Cairo.

The United Nations special envoy on Yemen is visiting Iran for the first time to discuss Yemen’s crisis, Iranian state TV reported, days after Washington announced an end to its support for Saudi-led military operations in Yemen.

The United Nations special envoy on Yemen is visiting Iran for the first time to discuss Yemen’s crisis, Iranian state TV reported on Sunday, days after Washington announced an end to its support for Saudi-led military operations in Yemen

Egyptian authorities on Saturday released a journalist working for Qatar’s Al Jazeera television network who was held in pre-trial detention for more than four years, his brother and a lawyer told Reuters.

Many Palestinians see a ruling by the International Criminal Court that it has jurisdiction over the Palestinian territories as a belated chance of justice for victims of Israeli attacks.

Iran’s foreign minister urged Washington to act fast to return to the nuclear accord, pointing out that legislation passed by parliament forces the government to harden its nuclear stance if US sanctions are not eased by Febuary 21.

President Joe Biden yesterday declared a halt to US support for a Saudi Arabia-led military campaign in Yemen, demanding that the more than six-year war, widely seen as a proxy conflict between Saudi Arabia and Iran, “has to end.”