Middle East

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir is planning to skip a UN police chiefs conference in New York this week amid legal pressure over his prison policies and “involvement in war crimes,” Israeli media reported. Ben-Gvir’s office has yet to confirm the cancellation of the visit, the Jerusalem Post reported Saturday. The report came a day after the Israeli daily Haaretz, citing ministry officials, said the decision was made amid planned demonstrations against Ben-Gvir’s visit and gro

US President Donald Trump told Axios on Saturday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked him for a meeting at the White House and it could take place as early as next week, Anadolu reports. “We get along very good. (Netanyahu) knows who the boss is,” Trump said in a brief phone interview. This would be the first meeting between the two leaders since their February Situation Room meeting, when Netanyahu presented his plan for a joint war against Iran. An Israeli official said next we

A mass funeral prayer was held in Iran’s capital Tehran on Sunday for the country’s late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei at Imam Khomeini Mosalla Mosque, Anadolu reports. The funeral ceremony for Khamenei and his family members drew hundreds of thousands of mourners, many of whom arrived at the venue in the early hours of the morning carrying Iranian flags. The prayer at the major prayer complex was led by Ayatollah Jafar Sobhani. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, senior military and political of

Moroccans at home and abroad celebrated on Saturday after their national team’s 3-0 victory over Canada in the Round of 16 of the 2026 FIFA World Cup in Houston, sending the Atlas Lions into the quarterfinals, Anadolu reports. The win over Canada, one of the tournament’s three co-hosts alongside the US and Mexico, made Morocco the first African side to reach the World Cup quarterfinals in back-to-back tournaments. Fans waving Moroccan flags and chanting “Dima Maghreb” – meaning “Always Morocco”

Ben-Gvir’s office has not confirmed that legal pressure caused the reported cancellation.

A Danube cruise from Budapest to Vienna traces Jewish history, from a Jerusalem-born Roman centurion in Aquincum to Holocaust memorials, synagogues, and Jewish museums.

Egypt opened its new Octagon Strategic Command Headquarters, presenting the huge military center as a symbol of modernization and Cairo’s growing influence in the region.

In the same incident, Jonathan Khouri, an 18-year-old Arab Christian resident of the city’s Hadar neighborhood, was killed, while a third young man was hospitalized and remains in serious condition.

"We get along very good. [Netanyahu] knows who the boss is," Trump said in a telephonic interview with Axios.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Saturday criticised international institutions for what he described as their failure to stop Israeli actions in the region, saying global bodies have remained silent while Israel openly speaks of assassinations and targeted killings, Anadolu reports. Speaking at a conference in Tehran’s Summit Hall held in commemoration of slain former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Pezeshkian said international organisations and human rights advocates were expected to preve

Lost for decades, a Torah saved from Nazi Germany is dedicated in Nahal Oz, symbolizing resilience, memory, and hope.

Machlis explained that this comes as countries shift their war strategy, mainly because the "length of conflicts and the scale of the use of munitions require a different industrial readiness.

At least one Palestinian was killed and several others injured in an Israeli strike on Gaza City on Saturday, while the Israeli army continued demolishing buildings and shelling areas across the enclave in the latest reported violations of the ceasefire in force since October 2025, Anadolu reports. The developments came hours after the Palestinian presidency warned that Israel’s “daily killing policy” in the Gaza Strip, along with settler attacks in the occupied West Bank, could lead to an “unco

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – The United States dollar experienced a fresh wave of depreciation against the Iraqi dinar across the parallel exchange markets of Baghdad and Erbil during evening trading on Saturday, July 4, 2026. This downward correction occurred simultaneously with the closing of the regional financial bourses, extending a multi-day strengthening streak for the national currency. Financial analysts attribute this steady realignment to an influx of foreign currency supply and

Lebanese Social Affairs Minister Haneen El Sayed said Saturday that around 400,000 displaced people have returned to their areas in southern Lebanon, while many others remain unable to go back because of widespread destruction or lack of access to their homes, Anadolu reports. El Sayed made the remarks during a visit to the southern city of Tyre, where she met officials from the Union of Municipalities of Tyre district and the region’s disaster management unit, according to Lebanon’s National Ne

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – The Iraqi Ministry of Justice announced on Saturday, July 4, 2026, the successful repatriation of over twenty-five million dollars in stolen state funds that had been illicitly smuggled out of the country over the past two years. Ministry officials emphasized that this milestone is part of a broader, aggressive asset-recovery campaign aimed at executing domestic judicial rulings abroad and reclaiming embezzled wealth, frozen bank accounts, and luxury real estat

The Turkish president added that "any solution that does not rely on the countries of the region will not be sustainable."

Afterward, he is expected to launch a new political party, apparently alongside figures such as Gilad Erdan and Ayelet Shaked.

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – A comprehensive market report published by Reuters reveals a sharp recovery and an expansive surge in Iraqi and Gulf crude oil exports during June, fueled directly by a diplomatic detente between the United States and Iran that resolved a severe maritime crisis paralyzing major shipping lanes. According to consolidated data monitored by international tanker-tracking firms Kpler, Vortexa, and LSEG models, the aggregate exports of the five major Gulf oil producer

"What is happening today is massive surrender by the US to Iran; the Iranians are setting the tone, the US is releasing funds to Iran," he said.