U.S. President Barack Obama has said that a weakened Israel would be a "fundamental failure of my presidency," affirming solidarity with its long-time ally despite recent differences over the Iran nuclear deal.  

Obama said while Israel has reason to be concerned about foe Iran, he defended the framework agreement on Iran's nuclear program that negotiators drew up last week.

The Saudi ambassador to the U.S., Adel al-Jubeir, slammed Hizbullah for depicting the Yemen crisis as a sectarian conflict, accusing the party and its longtime ally the Islamic Republic of Iran of being behind the Shiite Huthi rebellion in Sanaa.

“In Lebanon, Hizbullah controls a state, and we do not want such a situation to develop in Yemen through Huthis,” al-Jubeir said during a symposium at the U.S. Congress on “Chaos in Yemen: Analysis, diagnosis and prospects”, which was organized by the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations in Washington.

A year since the start of the fighting in eastern Ukraine, Vladimir Putin may not have emerged the winner in his showdown with the West but he has not lost either, analysts say.

By supporting Ukrainian separatists, they say, he took a huge risk but it largely paid off as it allowed him to punish Kiev's pro-Western authorities for seeking to turn their back on Russia and stand up to the West.

In this hi-tech age of gadgets and gizmos, a simple whiteboard found in classrooms around the globe was the tool that helped negotiators seal the complex parameters of a Iran nuclear deal.

Until the final hours, U.S. diplomats who had spent eight days locked in a Lausanne hotel hammering out the outlines of what could be one of the most complex arms-control treaties ever feared their efforts would be in vain.

President Barack Obama now has a framework nuclear deal with America's Iranian foe, but as he tries to build it into a binding accord he faces enemies closer to home. 

Can he prevent the U.S. Congress from torpedoing his diplomatic efforts to contain Tehran?

EU heavyweights Germany and France on Friday cautiously welcomed the framework nuclear agreement struck with Iran but Berlin's chief diplomat warned there was "no guarantee" it would ultimately succeed.

"It's good, but at the same time it's too early to celebrate. We laid the corner stone yesterday," German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said following talks with his French and Polish counterparts in Wroclaw, Poland.

Chairman of the Board of Directors and General Manager of Bank Audi Raymond Audi strongly slammed media reports claiming that the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) is using the bank's branches abroad to channel funds in favor of the organization.

“Reports published in al-Akhbar daily on Thursday and attributed to American and Lebanese banking sources involved in a meeting between U.S. Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorist Financing Daniel Glaser and the Board of Directors of the Association of Banks in Lebanon, are completely unfounded,” said Audi in a clarification letter to al-Akhbar newspaper.

Weary negotiators hoped Thursday to see the light at the end of the tunnel after talking until dawn, but midway through an eighth day were still haggling over the outlines of a deal curtailing Iran's nuclear program.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif talked through the night, going line by line over their differences in a bid to agree a framework for an accord to cut back Iran's nuclear ambitions, diplomats close to the talks said.

President Barack Obama's Kenyan grandmother, known as Mama Sarah, has welcomed his planned visit to the East African nation saying it will fulfill a promise he made to her years ago.

"He told me that he was waiting for political stability in the country before he can come," said Sarah Onyango Obama, who is in her early 90s, speaking of the July visit announced earlier this week.

The U.S. Deputy Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, is expected to carry out a two-day visit to Lebanon to discuss the latest developments and the bilateral ties.

Local newspapers said that Blinken, who will arrive on Sunday, will hold talks with Speaker Nabih Berri, Prime Minister Tammam Salam, Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi, Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Latif Daryan, Army Commander General Jean Qahwaji and Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh.