Iraqi anti-government protesters blockaded an oil field and rallied in southern cities Sunday while political factions remained paralysed in their attempts to form a new government. Several hundred people demanding jobs shut off access to the Nasiriya field, 300 kilometres (190 miles) south of Baghdad, which produces 82,000 barrels of oil per day, executives said. […]

Dubai unveiled a 2020 budget on Sunday projecting record spending of $18.1 billion, up 17 per cent on this year, as it seeks to revive its flagging economy. The Gulf city-state expects revenues too to rise sharply next year as it hosts Expo 2020, the global six-month trade fair set to open on October 20. […]

An intruder stabbed and wounded five people at a rabbi’s house in New York during a party to celebrate the Jewish festival of Hanukkah late Saturday, officials said. Rabbi’s house is a synagogue located in the Forshay neighbourhood in Monsey, Rockland County, New York, United States. The victims, all Hasidic members of the Jewish faith, […]

Iran accused France on Sunday of “interference” in the case of an Iranian-French academic held in the Islamic republic, saying she is considered an Iranian national and faces security charges. France said Friday it summoned Iran’s ambassador to protest the imprisonment of Fariba Adelkhah and another academic, Roland Marchal of France, saying their detention was “intolerable”. […]

India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was trying to ignore popular concerns over a new citizenship law, an opposition leader said on Saturday. The comment is coming just as thousands joined rallies in protest against the legislation. The Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019, allows Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Christian and Parsi immigrants from three neighbouring Muslim-majority […]