BenArmani

It has been a year of landmark achievements in sports in the Middle East and North Africa - on and off the field. From Qatar's maiden win at the Asian Cup to Iran allowing women to attend a men's football match after decades, there was plenty to celebrate and talk about. As we reach the finish line for 2019, Al Jazeera takes a look back...

Five Olympic Games, six football World Cups, 10 years. It has been an eventful decade in sport, with records broken and history books rewritten. Here are 10 of the most successful athletes and teams who shook the sporting world. 1. Michael Phelps After sweeping success in Athens and Beijing, United States swimmer Michael Phelps picked up right where he left off at the 2012 Olympic Games in...

New Delhi, India - The Indian capital of New Delhi entered 2020 reeling under an intense cold wave, with the homeless people on its streets bearing the maximum brunt. The Delhi government set up nearly 200 night shelters, but they are not enough to host all the city's homeless, forcing hundreds of them to spend their nights in the open. "We have around 40...

Air travel was safer in 2019 as the number of people killed in large commercial plane crashes fell by more than 50 percent, despite a high-profile Boeing 737 MAX crash in Ethiopia in March, a Dutch consulting company said on Wednesday. Aviation consulting firm To70 said there were 86 accidents involving large commercial planes - including eight fatal incidents - resulting...

Washington, DC - It was another turbulent year for US President Donald Trump. From the conclusion of the FBI investigation into allegations his 2016 campaign colluded with Russia to his impeachment, Trump may have spent as much time defending his presidency and actions as he did governing in 2019. But there were also many decisions his administration made that did not get as much attention. Here...

Drugmakers including Bristol-Myers Squibb Co, Gilead Sciences Inc, and Biogen Inc hiked United States list prices on more than 50 drugs on Wednesday, but they are not the only companies demanding that consumers pay more. The prices of more than 250 drugs increased in price this New Years' Day, according to data analysed by healthcare research firm 3 Axis Advisors. Reuters reported...

Researchers in the United States and the United Kingdom have reported that an artificial intelligence (AI) system from Google proved as good as expert radiologists at detecting which women had breast cancer based on screening mammograms - and that the system showed promise at reducing errors. The study, published in the journal Nature on Wednesday, is the latest to show that AI has the potential to improve the...

Kim Jong Un has made it clear there will "never be denuclearisation on the Korean Peninsula" if Washington adheres to "its hostile policy", as the North Korean leader's year-end deadline for the Trump government to restart negotiations elapsed. Kim and US President Donald Trump met twice last year - in Hanoi and at the Korean Demilitarized Zone, the area dividing the two Koreas...

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday postponed a trip to Ukraine so he could focus on the situation in Iraq after demonstrators attacked the US embassy in Baghdad. Outraged by US air raids in Iraq and Syria that killed 25 fighters from an Iran-backed Shia group, protesters stormed the US embassy's perimeter and hurled rocks during two days of protests over the weekend. They withdrew on...

Three civilians were killed on Wednesday in an air raid on a town south of Libya's capital Tripoli, a spokesman for the United Nations-recognised government said. The deadly violence comes just a day before the Turkish Parliament votes on Thursday to deploy troops to Tripoli following the request of the UN-backed government. More: How Libya spiralled into chaos post-Gaddafi Arab League warns...

The New Year - and fresh decade - was welcomed in across the world with fireworks, dancing and champagne, but Australia's celebrations were overshadowed by deadly wildfires while protests dampened the festive mood in Hong Kong and India. New Zealanders were among the first to welcome 2020 on Wednesday, with fireworks lighting up the sky over the capital, Auckland. More: Residents flee towards the sea as...

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Wednesday said his country would continue developing nuclear programmes and introduce a "new strategic weapon" in the near future, state media KCNA said after the United States missed a year-end deadline for a restart of denuclearisation talks. As the US makes "gangster-like demands" including continuing joint military drills with South Korea, adopting cutting-edge weapons and imposing...

The United States said on Tuesday it is sending hundreds more troops to the Middle East, after protesters stormed its embassy compound in Iraq, setting fires and chanting "Death to America!" Angered by US air strikes that killed two dozen paramilitary fighters on Sunday, hundreds of men spilled through checkpoints in the high-security Green Zone on Tuesday, demanding the ouster...

Pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong held hands and formed human chains across the city yesterday, as they carried their months-long movement and its demands into 2020 with midnight countdown rallies and a massive march planned for New Year’s Day. The financial hub has been battered by more than six months of unrest that has seen peaceful marches attended by millions,...