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  There must be a stronger "international response " to the threat posed by Iran's ballistic missiles program, French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna told her U.S. counterpart Anthony Blinken, France's Foreign Ministry said on Friday. The French Foreign Ministry said Colonna and Blinken had spoken by phone on Thursday, during which they discussed an array of topics, including Ukraine and Iran. "The minister mentioned Iran's destabilizing activities and the increasing threat posed by the increase of its ballistic missiles arsenal, the proliferation of missiles including towards non-state actors (...) and the need to strengthen the international response to this threat," said the ministry, regarding Colonna's talks with Blinken.  They also discussed the need for Iran to fully co-operate with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which said last week Tehran was  inconsistent in meeting its nuclear obligations . Colonna and Blinken also reite...

  Two earthquakes that occurred in southern Turkey and Syria early on Monday morning and measured 7.8 and 7.5 on the Richter scale are still wreaking havoc around the world. International aid organisations, humanitarian organisations, military forces, government agencies, and business sector organisations have all been working to help the affected areas as the total number of fatalities reached 11,000 by Wednesday. Modern technology has been one area that has offered some solutions. Drones are helpful instruments during natural disasters like earthquakes, despite their growing reputation as weapons in contemporary conflict. Henk Jan Gerzee, chief product officer at the Digital Container Shipping Association, told Arab News on Wednesday at the LEAP conference in Riyadh that "drones for definitely play a big part in Turkiye as we speak." Drones can give a clearer picture of what has transpired, said Gerzee, who was on the panel discussing "Drones and Autonomous ...

In a "race against time," the White Helmets, who are leading efforts to rescue those trapped under debris in rebel-held areas of earthquake -devastated Syria, made an appeal on Wednesday. When a 7.8-magnitude earthquake hit Syria and Turkiye early on Monday, first responders from the organisation that was established ten years ago to rescue the lives of civilians during Syria's civil conflict sprung into action. Since then, they have been working to extricate survivors from beneath the rubble of dozens of destroyed buildings in northwest Syria that are still under the control of the rebels. A video showing the White Helmets rescuing a young girl and her entire family from a fallen building in the province of Idlib was widely circulated on social media. Mohammed Shibli, a spokesman for the organisation formally known as the Syria Civil Defense, declared that "international rescue teams must enter our territory." In a neighbouring country called Turkiye,...

  The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency has said he will need to go to Tehran very soon to restore his inspectorate’s ability to monitor Iran’s nuclear programme. Rafael Grossi also said that Iran should not have carried out recent unilateral changes at the Fordow nuclear plant, which will require increased inspections. The modifications, discovered by the IAEA and reported to the board of governors last month, involved an undeclared change to the interconnection between two machines enriching advanced uranium.  Speaking at Chatham House in London, he said: “There has been a modification that should have been reported. You cannot go back and right this wrong. The thing is that, of course, with this  modification, the facility has new capabilities so we have to inspect more.”  His remarks suggest Grossi was not convinced by the Iranian explanation that the changes at the plant had been due to a human error and had been corrected. But he insisted he wante...

 Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the death toll from the earthquakes rose to 3,549, bringing the total number of casualties, including those in neighbouring Syria, to more than 5,000. A dozen of aid organisations and governments from around the world have pledged support for search and rescue operations that are being terribly affected by cold and snow. 10 Significant Updates: 1) A number of historical monuments, including UNESCO World Heritage Sites, that had survived scores of wars and natural disasters for centuries are known to have suffered significant damage by the deadly tremors. Experts fear the disaster could exacerbate the loss of the region's cultural legacy. 2) Germany has called on "all international actors, including Russia" to pressure war-torn Syria into quickly allowing incredibly urgent humanitarian aid into the country and without additional obstacles. "It's important that weapons are now set aside," said German Foreign ...

    The leader of the Syrian opposition -run civil defence organisation said on Tuesday that there is not much time left to save hundreds of families who are trapped beneath the wreckage of collapsed buildings from the earthquake on Monday. Raed Al-Saleh told Reuters that the rescue operation being carried out by the White Helmets organisation in rebel-held northwest Syria, where hundreds were killed and injured, urgently required assistance from foreign organisations. Every second counts when it comes to preserving lives, thus he urged all humanitarian organisations to provide immediate material assistance and deal with the crisis. Early on Monday, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck Turkey and Syria, destroying hospitals, toppling apartment buildings, and injuring or displacing hundreds of people. Approximately 3,500 people were injured and at least 1,444 people died in Syria, according to data from the Damascus government and rescuers in the insurgent-controlled north...

  The World Health Organization (WHO) expects a significant jump in the death toll following a major earthquake and its aftershocks in southern Turkey and northwestern Syria that reduced many buildings to rubble. The magnitude 7.8 quake , which rattled southern Turkey early on Monday, was the worst to hit the country this century, killing more than 900 people there and about 550 across the border in Syria, according to officials.  I think we can expect the death toll to increase significantly," Rick Brennan, the WHO's regional emergency director for the Eastern Mediterranean, told Reuters. "There's been a lot of building collapses and it will increase more significantly around the epicentre of the earthquake." Brennan said WHO was boosting its staff in the southern Turkish city of Gaziantep, the epicentre of the earthquake, and exploring its options to send emergency medical teams to the area. He said rescue efforts were being hampered by aftershocks from the in...