US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said yesterday that Hamas had proposed numerous changes, some unworkable, to a US-backed proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza, but that mediators were determined to close the gaps.

A fire in Kuwait killed 49 people, all Indian nationals, when it ripped through a building housing nearly 200 foreign workers yesterday, the government said.

A merchant ship issued a distress call after being struck in the Red Sea off Yemen, a security firm said yesterday, in what appeared to be the latest attack by Iran-backed Houthi rebels.

Violence against children in armed conflicts reached “extreme levels” in 2023, particularly in Gaza and Sudan, according to a forthcoming UN report obtained by AFP on Tuesday.

No Bangladeshi casualties were reported in the fire that broke out at a hostel in Mangaf, southern Kuwait, early today, which killed at least 41 people, according to the Bangladesh Embassy in Kuwait

At least 35 people were killed in a building fire in the city of Mangaf in southern Kuwait, the country's state media reported on Wednesday

A boat carrying more than 200 migrants sank off Yemen, leaving at least 49 dead, mostly women and children, in the latest disaster on the perilous migration route from Africa, a UN agency said yesterday.

Hamas accepts a UN resolution backing a plan to end the Israeli offensive in Gaza and is ready to negotiate details, a senior official of the Palestinian group said yesterday in what the US Secretary of State called “a hopeful sign”.

Hezbollah said yesterday that it targeted an Israeli military position following overnight strikes in eastern Lebanon that killed three of its fighters, hours after the Iran-backed group downed an Israeli drone.

Israel’s relentless bombardment and obstruction of humanitarian efforts are making it nearly impossible for aid agencies to reach starving Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in the Middle East yesterday hoping to deliver the ceasefire that President Joe Biden proposed last month, in an all-out push by Washington to secure an end to the Gaza offensive.

Yemen’s Houthi rebels said yesterday they targeted three ships off the country’s coast with missiles and drones after maritime security firms said two vessels had caught fire after being hit by projectiles.

India’s Narendra Modi was sworn in as prime minister yesterday for a third straight term, a rare feat that will also come with new challenges as the populist leader is forced to rely on allies to form a government. Here are some key issues Modi will need to tackle in office.

The UN’s special rapporteur on the right to housing has rebuked countries he accused of bias on Israel’s offensive on Gaza following a deadly attack by Tel Aviv on the Nuseirat refugee camp in the enclave.

Israeli forces pounded eastern and southern Gaza anew yesterday, a day after killing 274 Palestinians during a hostage rescue raid, and tanks advanced into further areas of Rafah in a bid to seal off part of the southern city, residents and Hamas media said.

Iran yesterday announced the six candidates, mostly conservatives, approved for the June 28 election to replace president Ebrahim Raisi, who was killed in a helicopter crash.

Israeli forces rescued four hostages held by Hamas since October in a raid in Gaza yesterday while over 200 Palestinians were killed in airstrikes in the same area, according to Hamas officials, in one of the bloodiest Israeli assaults of the war.

An alliance of mostly Muslim-majority countries including Turkey, Egypt and Iran yesterday demanded full Palestinian membership of the United Nations and greater international pressure on Israel amid the Gaza war.

With no sign of progress in mediators’ arduous efforts to broker a ceasefire in the Gaza offensive, Israeli tanks and warplanes blasted central and southern areas of the enclave overnight, killing at least 23 Palestinians, local medics said yesterday.

Saudi Arabia said the hajj will start on June 14 after astronomical observatories spotted the crescent moon Thursday evening, signalling the beginning of the month in which the annual pilgrimage falls.