Saudi Arabia will allow women to travel abroad without approval from a male “guardian”, the government said Thursday, ending a restriction that drew international censure and prompted extreme attempts to flee the kingdom.

Al-Qaeda gunmen killed 19 soldiers in an attack on an army base in southern Yemen yesterday, security officials said, a day after deadly assaults by rebels and a jihadist bomber.

A Palestinian crossed into Israel from Gaza and shot at troops, setting off a firefight in which he was killed and three Israeli soldiers were

Separate attacks by Shia rebels and a jihadist suicide bomber killed at least 49 people in Yemen’s government-held second city Aden yesterday, many of them newly trained police cadets.

Israeli ministers have given rare approval to 700 Palestinian homes in the part of the occupied West Bank under the country’s full control while also approving 6,000 homes for settlers, an Israeli official said yesterday. The official, speaking on condition of

The estranged wife of the ruler of Dubai has applied for a UK forced marriage protection order relating to their children, a London court heard Tuesday. Princess Haya, 45, a wife of 70-year-old United Arab Emirates Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum,

Saudi Arabia was yesterday gearing up for the funeral of King Salman’s elder brother, the royal court said, after he died at the age of 96.

An internal ethics report has alleged mismanagement and abuses of authority at the highest levels of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees even as the organisation faced an unprecedented crisis after US funding cuts.

Iran said yesterday the US had rejected an offer from Tehran for more robust nuclear inspections in exchange for lifting sanctions because Washington is “not seeking dialogue”.

A powerful explosion hit central Kabul yesterday, wounding Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s running mate in the upcoming election and killing at least two others, officials said. At least 25 civilians were injured in the blast that occurred on a road near the private Ghalib

Five doctors were killed in an air strike by forces of Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar on a field hospital near the capital, the health ministry of the UN-recognised government said. Haftar’s self-styled Libyan National Army launched an offensive in April to try to wrest Tripoli from

Iran yesterday slammed as “provocative” a British proposal for a European-led naval mission to escort tankers in the Gulf, amid soaring tensions over the seizure of ships.

Regime and Russian air strikes yesterday killed 15 civilians, more than half of them children, in northwestern Syria where ramped up

Air strikes by the Syrian government and its allies on schools, hospitals, markets and bakeries have killed at least 103 civilians in the past 10 days, including 26 children, UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet said in a statement yesterday.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Thursday he was willing to go to Iran for talks amid tensions between Tehran and Washington, but also called on Japan, Britain and other nations to join a maritime force to guard oil tankers sailing through the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran’s seizure and continued detention of a UK-flagged tanker deals Boris Johnson an immediate loyalty test: Britain’s new prime minister may have to choose between Gulf escorts led by Europe or by the United States.

A man from the Philippines has been sentenced to 10 years in jail in the United Arab Emirates for being a member of Islamic State and promoting its ideology on social media, Emirati media reported yesterday. State news agency WAM identified the defendant as a 35-year-

At least 116 migrants are missing and another 132 were rescued by Libyan coast guards and local fishermen after a wooden boat capsized off Libya, Libyan navy spokesman Ayoub Qassem said yesterday.

President Donald Trump on Wednesday vetoed three congressional resolutions barring billions of dollars in weapons sales to countries including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which are engaged in a devastating war in Yemen.

The US on Wednesday blocked an attempt by Kuwait, Indonesia and South Africa to get the UN Security Council to condemn Israel’s demolition of Palestinian homes on the outskirts of Jerusalem, diplomats said.