U.N.: Solution is needed by this Friday to curb escalating violence in Jerusalem
July 24th, 20170 NEW YORK - United Nations Middle East envoy Nickolay Mladenov warned on Monday that a solution was needed by Friday to the Jerusalem mosque crisis, which he said threatens to have "potential catastrophic costs well beyond the walls of the Old City." Israel installed metal detectors at entry points to Al-Aqsa mosque compound in...
Hezbollah says battle with Nusra Front almost won at Syria-Lebanon border
July 24th, 20170 BEIRUT – Hezbollah said on Monday its battle with Nusra Front jihadists at the Syria-Lebanon border was almost over and urged remaining insurgents in the area to give up, pressing its campaign to take their last foothold at the frontier. With the Nusra Front almost beaten in the mountainous area on the outskirts of the Lebanese town...
Free Iranian citizens, Iran tells U.S. in response to Trump
July 22nd, 20170 BEIRUT - Iran demanded on Saturday that the United States release Iranians detained there, a day after U.S. president Donald Trump called on the Islamic Republic to release three U.S. citizens. "America should quickly release Iranian prisoners in the country," foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi said, according to the Iranian...
Lebanon names former Bloomfield Hills resident Gabriel Issa as its ambassador to Washington
July 20th, 20170 BEIRUT — On Thursday, the Lebanese Cabinet passed long-awaited diplomatic appointments as President Michel Aoun called for “improving the state's revenues” in the wake of parliament's approval of a new wage scale for civil servants and the armed forces. As per protocol, the names of the appointed ambassadors will be announced...
Saudi prince arrested over bloody “assault” video
July 20th, 20170 DUBAI - A Saudi prince was arrested after a video that appeared to show him assaulting a bloodied man stoked outrage online, Saudi police said, in a rare airing of public anger at a member of the royal family. The clip, apparently filmed by the attacker, shows a Yemeni driver berated for parking in front of the man's house and being...
Saudi-led air strikes kill at least 20 Yemeni civilians
July 19th, 20170 DUBAI - At least 20 Yemeni civilians were killed and many others were wounded when a Saudi-led coalition air strike hit a village in the south, officials from the armed Houthi movement and the government said on Wednesday. The U.N. said the victims of Tuesday's bombing, which hit al-Atera village in Taiz province where fighting between...
Palestinian driver shot dead after ramming car into Israeli soldiers
July 18th, 20170 JERUSALEM - A Palestinian driver rammed his vehicle into a group of Israeli soldiers in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday and was shot dead by the troops, the Israeli military said. There was no immediate comment from Palestinian officials. According to Israel's Magen David Adom, two of their soldiers were slightly wounded. "In...
Grandmas, grandpas from travel ban states now welcome
July 18th, 20170 WASHINGTON - Grandparents of U.S. citizens from six Muslim-majority countries are now eligible to receive U.S. visas, according to a State Department memo seen by Reuters that reflects the latest court ruling on U.S. President Donald Trump's travel ban. The memo, or cable, from U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was sent to all U.S....
North Korea may have more nuclear bomb material than thought
July 16th, 20170 WASHINGTON - Thermal images of North Korea's main nuclear site show Pyongyang may have reprocessed more plutonium than previously thought that can be used to enlarge its nuclear weapons stockpile, a U.S. think tank said on Friday. The analysis by 38 North, a Washington-based North Korean monitoring project, was based on satellite images...
Iran jails U.S. dual national for 10 years for spying
July 16th, 20170 IRAN- An Iranian court has sentenced a U.S. dual national to 10 years in jail on spying charges, Iran's judiciary spokesman said on Sunday, the latest case involving dual nationals held on security charges in the country. The spokesman did not name the person or give details about when the sentence was passed but said the person was a...
Iraqi PM declares victory over ISIS in Mosul
July 10th, 20170 MOSUL/ERBIL, IRAQ - Iraq's prime minister declared victory over Islamic State in Mosul on Monday, three years after the militants seized the city and made it the stronghold of a "caliphate" they said would take over the world. "I announce from here the end and the failure and the collapse of the terrorist state of falsehood and...
Iraqi Prime Minister congratulates armed forces for Mosul ‘victory’
July 9th, 20170 MOSUL, IRAQ- Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi arrived in Mosul on Sunday and congratulated the armed forces for their victory over ISIS after nearly nine months of urban warfare. ISIS's defeat in Mosul three years after taking the city is a major blow for the terrorist group, which is also losing ground in its operational base in...
Muslim leaders begin European tour to protest against terror
July 8th, 20170 Dozens of religious leaders boarded a bus on the Champs Elysees in Paris on Saturday to kick off a European tour of the sites of recent ISIS attacks to remember the victims and condemn violence. Imams from countries including France, Belgium, Britain and Tunisia were joined by representatives of other religious communities at the spot...
Qatar Airways joins major Middle East rivals in lifting laptop ban on U.S. flights
July 6th, 20170 DUBAI- Qatar Airways said on Thursday passengers traveling to the U.S. can now carry their laptops and other large electronics on board, ending a three month in-cabin ban on devices for the Doha-based airline. Qatar Airways joins Emirates, Turkish Airlines and Etihad Airways, which have also announced this week a lifting of the ban on...
Assad appears on Syrian currency for first time
July 4th, 20170 President Bashar al-Assad has appeared on the Syrian currency for the first time, his portrait printed on a new 2,000-pound banknote that went into circulation on Sunday. Central bank governor Duraid Durgham said the 2,000-pound note was one of several new notes printed years ago but the decision to put it into circulation was delayed......
Nearly half a million Syrians return to own homes this year
July 2nd, 20170 Nearly half a million Syrians have returned to their homes so far this year, including 440,000 internally displaced people and more than 31,000 returning from neighboring countries, the U.N. refugee agency said on Friday. Most returned to Aleppo, Hama, Homs and Damascus, it said, on the view that security had improved in parts of the...
Three car bombs hit Syria, at least seven people killed
July 2nd, 20170 SYRIA- Three car bombs exploded in Damascus on Sunday, state media said, killing at least seven people in the first suicide bombings in the Syrian capital since March. A police officer at the scene of one of the blasts put the death toll there at seven with 13 more people wounded. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based......
Acid attack on Muslim cousins in London investigated as hate crime
July 1st, 20170 LONDON- On June 21, a White man in London threw acid on Muslim cousins Resham Khan, a 21-year-old aspiring model, and Jameel Muhktar, 37 through their car window. According to police, the "horrendous act of violence" is now being investigated as a hate crime as they had found new information that led them to that conclusion. Police...
Saudi Arabia’s King Salman elevates son to crown prince
June 25th, 20170 RIYADH — Saudi Arabia's King Salman made his son next in line to the throne on Wednesday, handing the 31-year-old sweeping powers as the kingdom seeks a radical overhaul of its oil-dependent economy and faces mounting tensions with regional rival Iran. Although Mohammed bin Salman's promotion to crown prince had long been expected...
Van rams Muslim worshipers in London
June 19th, 20170 LONDON ― A van plowed into worshipers near a London mosque in the early hours of Monday, injuring 10 people, two of them seriously, in what Prime Minister Theresa May said was a sickening, terrorist attack on Muslims. The vehicle swerved into a group of mainly North and West African people shortly after midnight as they left...
Iraqi forces to enclose on ISIS in Mosul’s Old City
June 19th, 20170 ERBIL, IRAQ — Iraqi forces said they were about to complete the encirclement of ISIS's stronghold in the Old City of Mosul, after taking control of a neighboring district on Thursday. Iraq's military said it had captured Bab Sinjar, north of the historic, densely-populated district where the militants launched their cross-border......
Syrian refugees head home on foot from Turkey for Eid holiday
June 19th, 20170 CILVEGOZU, TURKEY — Carrying suitcases, shopping bags and toddlers, thousands of refugees walked back home into Syria from Turkey on Thursday ahead of the Eid festival that marks the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Turkey has taken in some 3 million Syrian migrants since the start of civil war in 2011, making it home to the...
FIFA: Qatar World Cup not under threat
June 19th, 20170 DOHA — FIFA president Gianni Infantino does not believe that the diplomatic crisis which has embroiled 2022 World Cup host nation Qatar will threaten its staging of the tournament, he said on Sunday. The global soccer body also confirmed that it had replaced a Qatari refereeing team who were due to officiate at a World Cup......
Lebanese cabinet approves electoral law for parliamentary election next May
June 19th, 20170 BEIRUT — Lebanon is likely to hold long-delayed elections in May 2018, ministers said on Wednesday, after the cabinet approved a new law for a legislative vote that has spared the country a major political crisis. Recent disputes over an election law that is at the heart of the nation's sectarian political system had pushed Lebanon...
Muslims observing Ramadan saved residents in London high-rise fire
June 19th, 20170 LONDON — Early Wednesday morning, a 24-story high-rise in London caught fire, killing at least 12 people and injuring dozens more. Most people were asleep when the fire broke out, but Muslims awake early for Ramadan helped usher people out of the building. Residents reported that fire alarms didn't go off when the fire broke out......
