AFP news

Last week Daei said he had been targeted by threats after backing the protests triggered by the death of Mahsa Amini.

Rabat is using the leverage especially in the decades-old fight over the disputed desert territory of Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony also claimed by Algeria-backed rebels, analysts say.

Netanyahu is expected within days to return to power after sealing a coalition deal with extreme-right movements including Religious Zionism, which is set for a post in charge of settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Turkey's inflation has risen steadily since reaching a low of 16.6 percent in May 2021.

The moves helped offset a forecast-busting US jobs report that dented hopes that the Federal Reserve will take a softer approach to hiking interest rates in its battle against inflation.

Total will cut its North Sea investment by ?100 million ($123 million) in 2023, impacting work on new wells, after finance minister Jeremy Hunt ramped up a windfall tax on oil and gas giants, whose profits have surged on fallout from the Ukraine war.

Another 90 villages were cut off in the Donetsk and Kherson regions, he said, with others in the regions of Mykolaiv, Zaporizhzhia and Lugansk.

French fashion house Dior debuted its latest collection Saturday at the Giza pyramids, after Italian designer Stefano Ricci held a show at Luxor's dramatic Temple of Hatshepsut in October.

The Israeli army reported on Saturday evening a rocket had been fired from the Gaza Strip towards Israel, the first in a month.

The 34-year-old, his wife and two children live in Sandaf in Syria's Aleppo province -- just south of the border with Turkey, and under the control of Turkish-backed rebels.

The Gulf emirate is the first Muslim nation to stage a football World Cup and its gas riches have endowed it with an array of grand mosques to pique the curiosity of visitors.

Women-led protests, labelled "riots" by the authorities, have swept Iran since the 22-year-old Iranian of Kurdish origin died on September 16, three days after her arrest by the morality police in Tehran.

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, which is funded by the US Congress but editorially independent, confirmed that Azadi was taken off the AM and FM dials and vowed to expand efforts so Afghans can access the service through other means.

Closing ranks, Biden and Macron both vowed long-term support to Ukraine as it fights off Russian invaders.

Deadly violence has surged in the territory since March when Israel launched near-daily raids following a series of deadly attacks targeting Israelis.

The Iranian toll includes those who have taken to the streets as well as dozens of police, troops and Basij paramilitary force members who have died in clashes with demonstrators or who were killed elsewhere.

In October, the IMF cut its projection for the world's number two economy to 3.2 percent this year as it is weighed down by Covid-zero policies, as well as a slowdown in the property sector.

Qatar's Energy Minister Saad Sherida al-Kaabi, who is also QatarEnergy's chief executive, said so many European and Asian countries now want natural gas that he did not have enough negotiators to cope.

A Norway-based Iran Human Rights group says more than 410 people have been killed in a government crackdown.

"The airport project is in line with Saudi Arabia's vision to transform Riyadh to be among the top ten city economies in the world and to support the growth of Riyadh's population to 15-20 million people by 2030," SPA said.

The arrests were the latest in a series that followed a police hack of sophisticated encrypted telephones used by organised crime networks,

The Islamic Republic of Iran has been torn by over two months of protests sparked by the death in custody of Kurdish-Iranian woman Mahsa Amini, 22.

Saqafi and his friends bristle at European media suggestions that they are "fake fans" but readily acknowledge that they buy counterfeit team shirts for $3 or less, instead of the $90 which official kit costs.

Demonstrators in Kurdish-controlled Qamishli, in Hasakeh province, brandished photos of people killed during recent strikes in the semi-autonomous region, an AFP correspondent said.

The diminutive superstar with magic in his boots insisted he was in fine shape physically ahead of his last World Cup.

Millions of Ukrainians spent Thursday without power, after Russia launched attack drones at water and electricity facilities across the country.

Power cuts and trench foot: winter bites on Ukraine's Donbas front

The Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24 upturned global energy markets, sending prices soaring and confronting Europe with the possibility of shortages over the winter.

Voria Ghafouri, an outspoken figure who appeared 28 times for Iran up until 2019, was arrested after a club training session over accusations that he spread "propaganda" against the Islamic republic, the Fars news agency reported.