Iraqi citizens choked by worsening pollution problem, government negligence
June 10th, 20190 BAGHDAD —Iraq is suffering from a pollution crisis as citizens struggle with life in the slums where burning trash dumped by city officials is making life miserable. “The dirt, our children are sick, our families are sick,” said 48-year-old Adnan Kadhim, according to a report from Reuters. "My daughter has asthma and I had to...
Legislation introduced to block billions in arms sales to Saudi Arabia
June 10th, 20190 WASHINGTON, D.C. — Republican and Democratic senators said on Wednesday they would introduce legislation to block President Trump's plan for $8 billion in military sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates without congressional review, a report from Reuters said. The legislation includes 22 “resolutions of...
African Union suspends Sudan after death toll rises
June 10th, 20190 KHARTOUM – The official death toll in Sudan from violence that erupted on Monday, June 3, has risen to 61, the director general of the Health Ministry said on Thursday, up from a previous toll of 46, leading to Sudan's suspension from the African Union. The African Union’s Peace and Security Council voted on Thursday, June 6, to...
Khamenei says Iran will not abandon its missile program
June 7th, 20190 Tehran — Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Tuesday that Tehran has no plans to give up its missile program and be deceived by President Trump's offer of negotiations. Trump has condemned the nuclear deal between Iran and global powers signed by his predecessor, Barack Obama. Washington pulled out of this deal...
Militant kills two police, two soldiers in Lebanon’s Tripoli
June 4th, 20190 BEIRUT - A militant attacked a security patrol in Lebanon’s northern city of Tripoli on Monday night, killing two police officers and two soldiers before blowing himself up, officials said. Interior Minister Raya al-Hassan described it as a “lone wolf attack”, though authorities canceled Eid al-Fitr celebrations in the coastal...
Muslims celebrate Eid, ending Ramadan holy month
June 4th, 20190 KABUL - Muslims around the world celebrated the Eid-al-Fitr religious holiday on Tuesday, marking the end of Islam’s holy month of Ramadan. Like the start of Ramadan, during which believers abstain from eating and drinking during daylight hours, Eid-al-Fitr depends on the sighting of the moon and its celebration varies in different...
Yemen death toll could hit 233,000 by 2020
May 31st, 20190 The death toll in Yemen could reach 233,000 by the year 2020 as part of what the United Nations calls “humanity's greatest preventable disaster”, a 60-page report has said. Sixty percent of the projected death toll could be children under the age of 5, according to the report, titled "Assessing the impact of war on development in...
Kushner in Middle East seeking support for “peace plan” that Palestinians reject
May 31st, 20190 WASHINGTON, D.C. — Senior White House adviser Jared Kushner is leading a U.S. delegation to the Middle East this week, seeking support for a late June workshop aimed at "helping the Palestinians", a White House official said on Tuesday. But, Palestinians have been vocally critical of this effort. Kushner, Middle East envoy Jason...
Israel dissolves Knesset after Netanyahu fails to form government, heads for new election
May 31st, 20190 TEL AVIV — Israeli lawmakers voted to dissolve the Knesset on Thursday, paving the way for a new election after Benjamin Netanyahu failed to form a government before a midnight deadline. Netanyahu preferred a new ballot, set for Sept. 17, to the alternative, under which President Reuven Rivlin could have asked another politician to...
Saudi Arabia fails to gather a firm Arab stand against Iran
May 31st, 20190 MECCA — Saudi Arabia’s king told an emergency Arab summit on Thursday that decisive action was needed to stop Iranian “escalations” in the region following attacks on Gulf oil assets, as American officials said a U.S. military deployment had deterred Tehran. King Salman had opened an earlier meeting of Arab Gulf leaders with a...
Iran says it will not surrender in “clash of wills” with U.S., warns against “adventurism”
May 24th, 20190 LONDON — Iran will not surrender to U.S. pressure and will not abandon its goals even if it is bombed, President Hassan Rouhani said on Thursday, stepping up the war of words between the Islamic Republic and the United States. Earlier in the day, Iran’s top military chief said the standoff between Tehran and Washington was a...
DOJ charges WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange with espionage
May 24th, 20190 WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Justice Department unveiled 17 new criminal charges against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on Thursday, saying he unlawfully published the names of classified sources and conspired with and assisted ex-Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning in obtaining access to classified information. The...
Yemen’s Houthis say they launched drone attack on Saudi’s Najran airport
May 24th, 20190 DUBAI — On Thursday, Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement launched a drone attack on a Patriot missile battery in the airport of the Saudi city of Najran near the Yemeni border, the group’s Al-Masirah TV said on Thursday. The Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis said the drone was intercepted and destroyed by the...
Poll: Half of American adults expect war with Iran ‘within next few years’
May 24th, 20190 NEW YORK — Half of all Americans believe that the United States will go to war with Iran “within the next few years”, according to a Reuters/Ipsos public opinion poll released on Tuesday amid increased tensions between the two countries. While Americans are more concerned about Iran as a security threat to the United States now...
New survey finds Americans are among “most stressed” population worldwide
May 20th, 20190 NEW YORK — According to an annual Gallup poll Americans are some of most stressed people in the world. Last year, Americans reported feeling stress, anger and worry at the highest levels in 10 year, according to the survey released Thursday. In the poll Gallup asks individuals about whether they have experienced various positive......
The two narratives of Palestine: The people are united, the factions are not
May 20th, 20190 The International Conference on Palestine held in Istanbul between April 27-29 brought together many speakers and hundreds of academics, journalists, activists and students from Turkey and all over the world. The conference was a rare opportunity aimed at articulating a discourse of international solidarity that is both inclusive and...
Saudi-led coalition strikes Sanaa’s densely-populated district, civilian casualties reported
May 17th, 20190 SANAA – The Saudi-led military coalition carried out several air strikes on the Yemeni capital of Sanaa on Thursday after the Houthi movement claimed responsibility for drone attacks on Saudi oil installations. The Sanaa strikes targeted nine military sites in and around the city, residents said, with humanitarian agencies......
Trump hopes not to go to war with Iran, Pelosi welcomes lack of appetite
May 17th, 20190 WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Trump said on Thursday he hoped the United States was not heading to war with Iran as he met with Swiss President Ueli Maurer, whose nation has served as a diplomatic conduit between the two countries. Asked by reporters if Washington was going to war with Tehran, Trump responded, “Hope not” as he...
Is America ready for John Bolton’s war with Iran?
May 17th, 20190 National Security Advisor John Bolton’s announcement this week that the U.S. is deploying a carrier strike group and a bomber task force to the U.S. Central Command region seemed perfectly framed to put America on a war footing with Iran. And it is. Claiming that the decision was made in response to “a number of troubling and...
Lebanon mourns former Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir
May 17th, 20190 BEIRUT — Political leaders and thousands of Lebanese gathered on Thursday for the funeral of the former Maronite patriarch, Cardinal Nasrallah Sfeir. Ten black-clad priests with purple scarves bore his wooden coffin, marked with a cross, out of a chapel and along a purple carpet through crowds of mourners as incense wafted...
Palestinian foreign minister: U.S. crafting surrender plan, not peace deal
May 10th, 20190 UNITED NATIONS — The United States seems to be crafting a plan for a Palestinian surrender to Israel instead of a peace deal, Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki told a meeting at the United Nations attended by U.S. Middle East peace negotiator Jason Greenblatt. Greenblatt and senior White House adviser Jared Kushner have......
Trump urges Iran to talk over nuclear program, cannot rule out military action
May 10th, 20190 WASHINGTON, DC — On Thursday, President Trump urged Iran’s leadership to sit down and talk with him about giving up Tehran’s nuclear program and said he could not rule out a military confrontation given the heightened tensions between the two countries. At an impromptu news conference at the White House, Trump declined to say...
Russia, Syrian army step up attacks on rebel-held northwestern Syria
May 10th, 20190 AMMAN - Russian and Syrian forces intensified air strikes and shelling in rebel-held northwestern Syria overnight, the heaviest assault since the area was declared a demilitarized zone under a Russian-Turkish deal, residents and medics said on Thursday. The targeted villages and towns in northern Hama and southern Idlib fall within a......
Gaza laments deadly start to Ramadan, amid funerals and destruction
May 6th, 20190 GAZA - After two sleepless days and nights of Israeli shelling and Palestinian rocket fire, Gazans on Monday faced a first day of Ramadan overshadowed by funerals and the grim task of pulling bodies from collapsed buildings. As dawn brought a ceasefire of uncertain duration, few Palestinians in the impoverished coastal enclave were...
Trump administration deploying carrier and bombers to Middle East, escalating tension with Iran
May 6th, 20190 WASHINGTON, DC - The Trump administration is deploying a carrier strike group and bombers to the Middle East in response to troubling “indications and warnings” from Iran and to show the United States will retaliate with “unrelenting force” to any attack, national security adviser John Bolton said on Sunday. Though Bolton cited......
