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US negotiator says odds against reviving Iran deal

The US pointman on Iran warned Wednesday it was more likely than not that talks would fail to revive a nuclear deal as he vowed no let-up in pressure if Tehran clings to its demands.

Rob Malley, who has led more than a year of indirect talks with Iran in Vienna, nonetheless told lawmakers that President Joe Biden's administration still supported the 2015 nuclear accord and was ready to lift sanctions if it secures an agreement.

Robe Malley, the US special envoy on Iran, prepares to testify at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee

Turkey says warming Israel ties will help Palestinians

Turkey's diplomatic thaw with Israel will help the Palestinians, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Wednesday during the first trip to Israel by Ankara's top diplomat in 15 years.

Cavusoglu, who met Palestinian officials in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, was in Jerusalem as Turkey and Israel seek to mend ties which began to fray following an Israeli military operation in the Gaza Strip in 2008.

Ties fully collapsed in 2010 when Israeli forces stormed a Turkish aid ship bound for the blockaded Gaza Strip, in a botched operation that claimed the lives of 10 Turks.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and his wife Hulya visit the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in the Old City of Jerusalem

Yemenis protest Taez blockade as talks get underway

Hundreds of protesters in war-torn Yemen marched Wednesday against the years-long blockade of a major city by Huthi rebels, as UN-brokered talks to end the siege started in Jordan.

Demonstrators in Taez, Yemen's third biggest city, chanted "Oh, you Huthi, you backstabber".

Among the crowds, which included women and children, some held up signs in English that read: "End Taez seige".

Holding talks to end the blockade was agreed as part of a two-month renewable truce that began in April, and which has significantly reduced fighting in the seven-year civil war.

Yemeni protesters on Wednesday called for the lifting of a seige of the country's third city

Seeking new start, Russian professionals set up shop in Dubai

As the Ukraine war drags on, more and more Russian professionals are moving to Dubai, the business-friendly Gulf emirate that offers an escape from the impact of Western sanctions.

Entrepreneurs, lawyers and art dealers are among those flocking to the financial hub in the oil-rich United Arab Emirates, which frustrated Washington and other Western allies by refusing to join a UN Security Council vote condemning Russia's war.

Daria Nevskaya, a partner at Russian law firm, poses for a picture in the Gulf emirate of Dubai, on May 24, 2022

Turkey says warming Israel ties will help Palestinians

Turkey's diplomatic thaw with Israel will help the Palestinians, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Monday, in the first trip to Israel by Ankara's top diplomat in 15 years.

Cavusoglu, who met Palestinian officials in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, was in Jerusalem as Turkey and Israel seek to mend ties following a breakdown that began during an Israeli military operation in Gaza in 2008.

Cavusoglu and his Israeli counterpart Yair Lapid stressed that economic ties had continued to grow despite years of acrimony between the two countries.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu visits Palestinian officials in the West Bank city of Ramallah ahead of his Wednesday talks in Israel

Oil, gas firms use Ukraine war to resist climate efforts: report

US oil and gas firms took advantage of energy worries over the Ukraine war to push their fossil fuel products and resist climate change regulatory measures, an analysis showed on Wednesday.

The London-based think tank InfluenceMap analysed advertisements and declarations by the companies in the weeks before and after Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 24.

It said the companies spread the misleading message that US climate change policies were to blame for rising energy prices and that more US-produced oil and gas was the solution.

US oil and gas companies spread the misleading message that US climate change policies were to blame for rising energy prices

US warns Turkey against new Syria offensive

The United States on Tuesday warned Turkey against launching a new military operation in northern Syria, saying the uneasy NATO ally would be putting US troops at risk.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Monday that Turkey would soon launch a new military operation into northern Syria to create a 30-kilometer (19-mile) "security zone" along the border.

US soldiers patrol between areas held by the Syrian Kurdish forces and Turkish-backed fighters in northeastern Syria in December 2021

Iraqi arrested in plot to kill ex-president Bush

An Iraqi man who sought political asylum in the United States plotted to kill former president George W. Bush, the Justice Department said Tuesday.

Shihab Ahmed Shihab, 52, told an FBI informant that he wanted to smuggle at least four other Iraqis into the country over the border with Mexico to undertake the plot, according to an FBI affidavit filed in federal court in Columbus, Ohio.

Two of the hit team would be former Iraqi intelligence agents, while the others would be members of Islamic State or another Qatar-based hardline group Shihab called "al-Raed."

Target of plot: former US President George W. Bush

Turkish minister aims to boost Palestinian economy in rare West Bank trip

Turkey's top diplomat announced Tuesday a raft of new agreements to bolster the struggling Palestinian economy, during the first high-level Turkish visit to the Israeli-occupied West Bank in 15 years.

During Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu's trip to Ramallah, Turkey signed nine new pacts with the embattled Palestinian Authority, ranging from agriculture to education and trade.

Turkey's top diplomat Mevlut Cavusoglu (L) attends a news conference in Ramallah with Palestinian foreign minister Riyad al-Maliki (R)

Death toll from Iran tower block collapse rises to 14

The death toll from the collapse of a tower block in southwestern Iran rose to 14 on Tuesday, as the authorities announced the arrest of officials accused of being "responsible" for the tragedy.

State television had said Monday that the 10-storey unfinished Metropol building in Abadan, the capital of Khuzestan province, had partially collapsed.

"According to the latest figures, 14 people died and 32 were injured," rising from Monday's death toll of six, Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi told the official IRNA news agency from Abadan.

Iranians gather at the site where a 10-storey building collapsed as rescue operations continue in the southwestern city of Abadan