Iran faces severe water crisis, president suggests relocating Tehran
Iran is grappling with a worsening water crisis, with more than 20 of its 31 provinces suffering from severe shortages that have left the capital Tehr...
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan discussed on Friday the need for continued efforts to counter any resurgence of Islamic State in Syria following the fall of Bashar-al Assad.
"Our countries worked very hard and gave a lot over many years to ensure the elimination of the territorial caliphate of ISIS, to ensure that threat doesn't rear its head again, and it's imperative that we keep at those efforts," Blinken said alongside Fidan after they met in Ankara.
Talks also focused on a critical aspect of establishing stability in Syria - clashes in the north of the country between U.S.-backed Kurdish forces and Turkish-backed rebels.
Fidan said after the meeting that Turkey's "priority in Syria is to ensure stability...as soon as possible, to prevent terrorism from gaining ground and to prevent Islamic State and the PKK from dominating there".
"We discussed in detail what we can do about these, what our common concerns are, and what our common solutions should be," he said.
NATO allies Washington and Ankara supported Syrian rebels during the 13-year civil war, but their interests clashed when it came to one of the rebel factions - the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.
The SDF is the main ally in a U.S. coalition against the Islamic State militants. It is spearheaded by the People's Protection Units (YPG), which Ankara sees as an extension of Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants that it outlaws and who have fought the Turkish state for 40 years.
Blinken, who met Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan late on Thursday, also said that there was broad agreement on what Turkey and the U.S. would like to see in Syria after Assad's fall.
Earlier this week, Turkish-backed forces seized the northern city of Manbij from the U.S.-backed SDF, which then headed east of the Euphrates River. A Syrian opposition source told Reuters the U.S. and Turkey had reached an agreement on the withdrawal.
Neither Blinken nor Fidan made any reference to any agreement between Turkey-backed Syrian forces and the SDF.
The world’s biggest dance music festival faces an unexpected setback as a fire destroys its main stage, prompting a last-minute response from organisers determined to keep the party alive in Boom, Belgium.
Australian researchers have created a groundbreaking “biological AI” platform that could revolutionise drug discovery by rapidly evolving molecules within mammalian cells.
Australian researchers have pioneered a low-cost and scalable plasma-based method to produce ammonia gas directly from air, offering a green alternative to the traditional fossil fuel-dependent Haber-Bosch process.
A series of earthquakes have struck Guatemala on Tuesday afternoon, leading authorities to advise residents to evacuate from buildings as a precaution against possible aftershocks.
The U.S. economy faces a 40% risk of recession in the second half of 2025, JP Morgan analysts said on Wednesday, citing rising tariffs and stagflation concerns.
Ukraine and Russia attacked targets on each other's territory on Thursday after brief direct talks between the two sides failed to make any progress on steps to end nearly three-and-a-half years of war.
Nigeria has submitted a formal bid to host a Formula 1 Grand Prix, in what officials are calling a landmark effort to place the country on the global motorsport map.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has sentenced two former Anti-Balaka militia leaders from the Central African Republic to lengthy prison terms for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
At least 14 people were killed on the Thai side — including a soldier and a child — after a day of airstrikes and rocket fire between Thailand and Cambodia, as border tensions over a disputed area erupted into the worst fighting in years.
An Indian company shipped $1.4 million worth of military-grade explosives to Russia late last year, according to Indian customs data obtained by Reuters — despite repeated U.S. warnings that supplying Russia’s war effort in Ukraine could trigger sanctions.
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