Italian police break mafia ring exporting fake olive oil to U.S.
March 12th, 20171 ROME - Italian police said they have busted a crime ring exporting fake extra virgin olive oil to the United States, highlighting the mafia's infiltration of Italy's famed agriculture and food business. Twelve people with links to the 'Ndrangheta, the organized crime group based in the southern Calabria region, were arrested on a...
74 killed in Damascus bombing targeting Shi’ites
March 12th, 20170 DAMASCUS- According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the death toll of a double bomb attack targeting Shi'ite pilgrims in Damascus has climbed to 74. Yesterday, the Iraqi foreign ministry said that the bombs killed at least 40 Iraqis and wounded 120 who were visiting the Sayeda Zeinab shrine. There was no immediate claim...
Media blackouts muddle objectivity
March 6th, 20171 DEARBORN— In political science, the “CNN effect” refers to the effect of round-the-clock 24 hour coverage on wars and humanitarian crises. The term credits such coverage as being instrumental in mobilizing and manufacturing opinion and influencing foreign policy. Yet, security consultant and analyst Joshua Geis joins numerous...
Gaza’s water shortage worsening
January 29th, 20170
Libyan authorities suspect rival military backers in car bomb blast
January 29th, 20170 TRIPOLI ― A counter-terrorism unit in the Libyan capital Tripoli said it suspected a car bomb that went off on Saturday near the Italian embassy was planted by backers of a rival force in the divided country's east. The blast occurred in central Tripoli about 400 yards from the recently reopened embassy. The bodies of two men were...
Unpaid government workers deepen economic pain in Yemen’s war
January 29th, 20172 SANAA ― Already suffering grievously under nearly two years of civil war, many thousands of Yemeni state workers now face destitution as their salaries have gone largely unpaid for months. The immediate reason is a decision by the internationally-recognized government to shift Yemen's central bank out of Sanaa, the capital city...
Astana peace talks make way for Syrian truce
January 29th, 20170 ASTANA ― Syria's warring sides met for their first talks in nine months on Monday, with their Russian and Turkish backers pushing to cement a ceasefire that could pave the way for political talks. The meeting in the Kazakh capital comes at a time when Turkey, which backs the rebels, and Russia, which supports Syrian President Bashar...
Israel completes testing of missile interceptor
January 29th, 20170 TEL AViV ― Israel has completed successful tests of an advanced version of its 'David's Sling' intermediate missile interceptor system that it is developing jointly with the United States, the Defense Ministry said on Wednesday. The system is designed to shoot down rockets with ranges of 63 to 125 mile) such as those in the arsenal...
Trump says he will ‘absolutely’ order safe zones for Syria
January 29th, 20170 WASHINGTON - Saying Europe had made a tremendous mistake by admitting millions of refugees from Syria and other Middle Eastern trouble spots, Trump told ABC News in an interview: "I don't want that to happen here." "I'll absolutely do safe zones in Syria for the people," he added, without giving details. According to a document...
Obama transferred $221 million to Palestinian Authority in his final hours in office
January 26th, 20170 WASHINGTON — In his last hours in office, the Obama administration transferred $221 million to the Palestinian Authority that despite opposition from GOP members of Congress, officials say. A State Department official and several congressional aides told the Associated Press that the outgoing administration and former Secretary of...
Lebanese security forces foil suicide attack in Beirut’s crowded street
January 21st, 20170 BEIRUT, Lebanon - Lebanese security forces arrested a would-be suicide bomber inside a crowded cafe in one of the busiest neighbourhoods in the capital Beirut on Saturday night, security sources told AFP. The sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a man wearing an explosive bomb belt had been detained by authorities after...
Egypt court rejects transfer of Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia
January 21st, 20170 CAIRO, Egypt — An Egyptian court rejected on Monday a government plan to transfer two uninhabited Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia, in a final ruling that prompted cheers in the courtroom but could deepen tensions with the country's former financial backer, Saudi Arabia. Egypt's government announced during a visit by the Saudi...
Most ISIS leaders in Mosul killed
January 21st, 20170 MOSUL — Most ISIS commanders in Mosul have been killed in battles with Iraqi government forces that raged over the past three months in the eastern side of the city, an Iraqi general said on Thursday. The fight to take the western side of Mosul, which remains under the jihadists' control, should not be more difficult than the...
Pew Research Center: Democratic support for Israel plummets
January 21st, 20170 WASHINGTON — A recent study by the Pew Research Center has shown that support for Israel plummeted nearly 25 percent among members of the Democratic party in the last nine months. Democratic party allegiance towards Israel has dropped 43 to 33 percent, according to the study. For decades, Democratic support for Israel has...
Assad hopes for ‘reconciliation’ deals with rebels
January 19th, 20170 DAMASCUS — Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said he believed peace talks in Kazakhstan would lead to local "reconciliation" deals with rebels, a sign of his confidence in a process launched by his Russian allies after the opposition's defeat in Aleppo. Assad told a Japanese TV station he hoped the conference would be a platform......
Twelve detained after Turkish dormitory fire kills schoolgirls
December 2nd, 20160 ISTANBUL — Police in southern Turkey detained 12 people on Wednesday and sought two others over a fire in a dormitory that killed 11 schoolgirls and one other person and injures 24 others, an official at the prosecutor's office handling the investigation said. Flames swept through the mostly wooden interior of the two-story...
Palestinian president seeks Trump support for independence
December 2nd, 20161 RAMALLAH — On Wednesday, the Palestinian president on Wednesday expressed hope that President-elect Donald Trump will support the Palestinian quest for independence, saying little is known about the incoming American leader's policies. In a sprawling speech that lasted well over three hours to his Fatah Party, President Mahmoud......
Syrian government forces, rebels fight in southeast Aleppo
December 2nd, 20160 ALEPPO — Syrian government forces and their allies clashed with rebels in southeast Aleppo on Wednesday, a rebel official and a monitor said, as Damascus and its allies try to build on major gains in the city. There were conflicting accounts of the fighting in Sheikh Saeed, on the southeastern edge of Aleppo. A Syrian military...
Paris opens reception center to help solve migrants crisis
December 2nd, 20160 PARIS — French authorities opened up a brand new refugee camp center last month in the north of Paris. The 400-bed center, located in a vast concrete warehouse on a former industrial zone, offers single men a temporary refuge for up to 10 days, until the government has worked out a more permanent solution for them. "I came to...
UN: Formation of new Houthi government does not help Yemen
December 1st, 20160 SANAA — The formation of a new government by Yemen's armed Houthi movement and its political allies will hinder peace efforts in the country, the U.N. special envoy to Yemen said on Tuesday. The move, reported by the Houthi-run state news agency on Monday, has been seen as a blow to U.N.-backed efforts to end 20 months of war in...Armed groups mobilize, exchange fire in tense Tripoli
TRIPOLI — Gunfire could be heard over Tripoli on Thursday as armed groups mobilized heavy weapons and took up positions in several parts of the Libyan capital. Militias that hold effective power across the city clash frequently, but the shooting was heavier than usual and tanks and armed convoys could be seen in some areas. The......
Saudi Prince: It’s time to let women drive
November 30th, 20160 SAUDI ARABIA - Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal has said it is time for Saudi women to get behind the wheel, calling a ban on female drivers in the kingdom an infringement of women's rights. Saudi Arabia is the only country to bar women from driving and requires them to have a male "guardian" who can stop them traveling,...
UN: No more working hospitals in eastern Aleppo
November 24th, 20160 GENEVA — There are no more functioning hospitals in the eastern part of Syria's Aleppo, where more than 250,000 people are living under siege and many need urgent medical care, the UN has said. Health facilities have repeatedly been targeted during the country's brutal civil war, a pattern that has continued in a ferocious......
Iran warns of retaliation if U.S. breaches nuclear deal
November 24th, 20160 BEIRUT — Extending U.S. sanctions on Iran for 10 years would breach the Iranian nuclear agreement, Iran Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei said on Wednesday, warning that Tehran would retaliate if the sanctions are approved. Last week the U.S. House of Representatives re-authorized the Iran Sanctions Act, or ISA, for 10 years. The...
Israel proposes 500 new settlement homes near Jerusalem
November 24th, 20160 JERUSALEM — Jerusalem's municipality has proposed building 500 more housing units in an area of the city annexed by Israel after the 1967 Arab-Israel war, a settlement monitoring group said on Wednesday. There was no immediate confirmation of the move by the Israeli government, but France condemned it. The proposal is the first......
