WORLD

Ukraine this week received the first $2.7 billion tranche under the program, which is a part of a bigger $115 billion global package of support.

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) had said earlier in the day that UN women employees had been blocked from work in eastern Nangarhar province.

Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, called on Palestinians in the West Bank "to go en masse to the Al-Aqsa mosque to defend it".

A few photographers were allowed to capture the drama of the 76-year-old's initial presence in the stiflingly hot room, as the one-time White House resident wearing a blue suit and red tie greeted their lenses with steely eyes.

"The question of our counter-attack is under active discussion by American and European political circles - perhaps to excess," said Serhiy Zgurets, director of the publication Defense Express.

After March's banking sector-sparked turmoil, markets have enjoyed a few bright weeks on optimism the Federal Reserve will temper its interest rate hikes earlier than thought.

Under Pakistan's constitution, elections should have been scheduled within 90 days -- a deadline just days away.

Jerzy Nowak, president and co-owner of Air Res Aviation, said his company's initial investment in the drone project amounted to around $200,000.

Fire service official Rashid Bin Khalid told Reuters 50 fire units were working to douse the fire, the cause of which was not known immediately.

The strike in northwestern Syria on Monday killed senior IS leader Khalid Aydd Ahmad al-Jabouri, US Central Command said.

The Ukrainian leader travelled to Yahidne, where he gave an emotional speech recalling how villagers were kept captive in a space less than 200 square metres during the first month of Russia's February 2022 invasion.

Completing the ratification in well under a year still makes this the fastest membership process in the alliance's recent history.

The alliance was formed at the start of the Cold War to protect Western Europe against the threat of Soviet aggression but its remit and reach have expanded over time.

For refugees, barred from seeking regular work, the project provides them with a way to supplement handouts from the United Nations.

Farmers are wrestling with a rare double whammy: a lethal condition called lumpy skin disease in their cows and a drawdown in market-ready cattle stock after the coronavirus pandemic slowed breeding.

The mosque has numerous boarded-up broken windows and walls pitted by shrapnel. A rocket exploded nearby two days earlier.

Sisi was greeted at Jeddah airport by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and was waved off again several hours later by the 37-year-old, according to the Saudi Press Agency.

"Saudi Arabia is moving from disengagement towards engagement to allow it to focus on pushing ahead on Vision 2030," said Saudi analyst Abdulaziz Sager.

Danish Justice Minister Peter Hummelgaard said in a statement that he understood Dubai authorities' decision was final but must still go via his UAE counterpart.

Economic and trade cooperation - a key driver of the UAE's 2020 normalisation of relations with Israel which broke with decades of Arab policy towards the Palestinian cause - has deepened.

The compound, revered by Jews as a vestige of their two ancient temples, is a flashpoint of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that is monitored especially closely by authorities during religious holidays.

Israel authorised on Sunday a national guard sought by far-right security chief Itamar Ben-Gvir to focus on Arab unrest

The court accepted his petition and posted it for hearing on April 13.

The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei all have overlapping claims in the sea, while the United States sends naval vessels through it to assert freedom of navigation in international waters.

The inflation rate slowed for a fifth consecutive month from a high of more than 85 percent, according to the state statistics agency.

The group said on Twitter it had been "working closely with two of the families".

The Israeli military declined to comment on the reported strikes in Syria, the third since Thursday.

The founder of Russia's Wagner mercenary force, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said his troops had raised a Russian flag on the administrative building in the city.

There was a large crater in a yard and windows were shattered from ground to top floors in two 14-storey tower blocks, while nearby private houses had smashed roofs, AFP journalists saw.