Disney's latest animation "Lightyear," which features a same-sex kiss, has been denied release in more than a dozen mainly Muslim countries, a source close to the company told AFP on Tuesday.
Countries across Asia and the Middle East have refused to give Pixar's "Toy Story" spinoff a showing, in the latest development for parent company Disney as it tries to navigate differing public and political attitudes on LGBTQ issues.
The United Nations special envoy to Yemen called on rebel Huthis on Tuesday to agree to reopen roads into the besieged city of Taez in the southwest of the war-torn country, during a meeting of the UN Security Council.
"It is critical that this truce," which was renewed in June for another two months "can also deliver on easing the suffering of the people of Taez," said envoy Hans Grundberg, noting that for years, Yemenis' "freedom of movement has been greatly impeded by this conflict."
The Venezuelan crew of a cargo plane grounded outside Buenos Aires since last week may not leave Argentina, a judge ruled Tuesday after their hotel rooms were searched in a probe into possible Iran terror group links.
Police raided the 14 Venezuelan and five Iranian crew members' rooms the day after officials raised suspicions of a link to Iran's Revolutionary Guards, listed as a foreign "terrorist organization" by the United States.
Making an about-face by visiting Saudi Arabia, US President Joe Biden is betting he has more to gain than lose even as rights activists accuse him of selling his soul to oil.
Biden joins eight decades of US presidents who have all in due time courted the oil-rich kingdom, which has assiduously cultivated ties in Washington despite repeated crises including the September 11 attacks, carried out mostly by Saudis.
US President Joe Biden will meet with Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman next month, abandoning efforts to ostracize the kingdom's de facto leader over the horrific murder of a dissident.
The White House ended weeks of speculation Tuesday, announcing that Biden will travel to Israel, the Palestinian West Bank, and Saudi Arabia from July 13-16 -- his first trip to the Middle East since taking office.
In addition to meetings with individual leaders in all three places, he will attend a regional Gulf Cooperation Council summit in Saudi Arabia.
Iran on Tuesday said it still believes that negotiations can succeed to revive the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, despite a recent rebuke from the UN nuclear watchdog.
Tehran last week condemned as "unconstructive" a move by the International Atomic Energy Agency to censure the country for failure to cooperate over its nuclear programme.
It also disconnected some of its cameras at nuclear sites, a move the IAEA warned could deal a "fatal blow" to negotiations to revive the nuclear deal.
US President Joe Biden will make history next month with a direct flight between Israel and Saudi Arabia where he will meet Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, abandoning efforts to ostracize the oil kingdom's de facto leader over the murder of a dissident.
The White House ended weeks of speculation Tuesday, announcing that Biden will travel to Israel, the Palestinian West Bank and Saudi Arabia from July 13-16.
The European Union wants to strengthen its energy cooperation with Israel in light of Russia's use of gas supplies to "blackmail" its members over the Ukraine conflict, the European Commission chief said Tuesday.
Ursula von der Leyen's remarks came as Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, also visiting Israel, said Rome was seeking to boost gas supplies from Israel as EU members eye options to diminish their reliance on Russian energy.
The European Union wants to strengthen its energy cooperation with Israel in light of Russia's use of gas supplies to "blackmail" its members over the Ukraine conflict, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said Tuesday.
"The Kremlin has used our dependency on Russian fossil fuels to blackmail us," she said in a speech at the Ben Gurion University in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba.
Avraham B. Yehoshua, one of Israel's most revered and prolific novelists and a vocal supporter of Palestinian rights, has died aged 85, Tel Aviv's Ichilov hospital said Tuesday.
Yehoshua, who was born in Jerusalem in 1936 to parents with roots in Greece and Morocco, published his first collection of short stories in 1963.
Decades of critically-acclaimed writing saw him win a string of international awards and his works translated into more than 30 languages.
