The battle for Iraq’s second city Mosul yesterday neared the remains of ancient Nimrud as the offensive against the Islamic State group’s Syrian stronghold Raqa was hampered by a sandstorm.

Donald Trump’s election as US president muddies the outlook for efforts to cut greenhouse gases and could mean US emissions stay flat until 2030, compared with deep cuts planned by President Barack Obama, scientists said yesterday.

HE the Foreign Minister, Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, yesterday participated in the first meeting of the GCC Economic and Development Affairs Authority, which was held in the Saudi capital Riyadh.

Russia’s defence ministry yesterday dismissed as “counterproductive” a request from the United Nations to extend future pauses in fighting to allow aid into rebel-held eastern Aleppo as winter comes.

The battle for Palestinian statehood consumed Yasser Arafat's life and a new museum in his name puts the nature of that fight front and centre - the sub-machine gun on his desk ...

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi telephoned Donald Trump to congratulate him on his election and invite him to Cairo, in what Sisi’s office said was the US president-elect’s first call from a world leader.

US-backed forces pressed offensives yesterday on the Islamic State group’s strongholds in Syria and Iraq, as an air strike by the American-led coalition reportedly killed 20 civilians near the Syrian city of Raqa.

The Yasser Arafat Museum opened yesterday in Ramallah, shedding light on the long-time Palestinian leader’s life and offering a glimpse of history – along with a number of his trademark black-and-white keffiyehs.

Dubai inaugurated a new canal yesterday after a three-year construction project costing $735mn, in a fresh boost for tourism and commerce in the booming Gulf city state.

An elite Yemeni force backed by Saudi-led coalition air strikes killed 30 suspected Al Qaeda fighters in the southeast of the country in a 24-hour operation that ended yesterday, the army said.

Iraqi Kurdish forces came under heavy fire from a salmon-coloured house on the edge of the Islamic State group-held town of Bashiqa, but when they stormed it, it was empty.

Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas's office on Wednesday called on US president-elect Donald Trump to work towards a Palestinian state, with peace efforts with Israel long at a standstill.