Banking giant HSBC said on Monday that pre-tax profit rose 4.58 percent to $10.7 billion in the first six months of the year and voiced “cautious optimism” despite the China-US trade row. After wide-ranging cutbacks that saw 50,000 jobs axed in an overhaul announced in 2015, the bank said it was now hiring again as […]

Saudi Arabia said it has expelled Canada’s ambassador and recalled its own envoy from the North American country after the government in Ottawa expressed concern over recent arrests of civil-society and women’s rights activists in the kingdom, adding it retained “its rights to take further action.” Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry early Monday said the kingdom […]

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has vowed that Turkey will freeze assets of US ‘justice and interior’ secretaries in Turkey as the fight over release of US pastor intensifies. The Turkish president said Saturday they will freeze assets of the US “justice and interior” secretaries in Turkey. “I am instructing my friends today. We will freeze assets, […]

 Afghan authorities have announced April 20, 2019 as the date for next presidential election, when the five-year term of President Ashraf Ghani-led national unity government (NUG) comes to an end. The announcement was made by Abdul Badi Sayed, chairman of the Afghanistan Independent Election Commission, who said many factors, including security, had to be taken […]

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said Saturday he escaped an “assassination” attempt using an explosive-laden drone, after a live broadcast showed him looking confused when a bang went off during a Caracas military parade and dozens of soldiers scuttling for safety. His government said seven soldiers were wounded in the incident. “It was an attack to […]

TEHRAN – Mehran Kamrava, a professor of the Middle East Studies in Georgetown University of Doha, tells the Tehran Times that attempts to form a military alliance against Iran (Arab NATO) will fail. Director of the Center for International and Regional Studies at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service in Qatar also adds “Washington has […]

 The number of Palestinians injured in clashes with the Zionist regime’s forces on Gaza border on Friday has increased to 220, Gaza Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf Kidra told Sputnik. Kidra told Sputnik earlier in the day that a Palestinian was killed and 120 others were injured in clashes. The Israeli Defense Forces issued a statement earlier on Friday […]

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Friday that the so-called “White Helmets” organization had close ties with terrorists in Syria and contributed to prolonging the crisis in it. In her weekly press conference, Zakharova said that the ‘White Helmets’ turned out to be foreign agents serving anti-Syria interests for huge amounts of money, […]

A North-Korean state news agency, KCNA, has confirmed the upcoming visit of the country’s foreign minister to Iran after the ASEAN Regional Forum meeting hosted by Singapore. State-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Friday that North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho will make an official visit to Iran soon, after participating in Saturday’s […]

TEHRAN – Less than a year ago, the political and verbal tensions between the United States and North Korea peaked. At that time, Pyongyang, with its nuclear and missile tests, made the smell of the war reach the U.S. allies in East Asia (Japan and South Korea), and it was possible at any moment that […]