Trump team urges Israel right to tone down enthusiasm
November 18th, 20161 JERUSALEM — Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Wednesday said Donald Trump's aides were urging right-wing Israeli politicians to curb their public jubilation at his election as US president, Israeli media reported. Trump is seen as likely leading to a far more favorable policy toward Israel, though many analysts have...
Iraqi militia threatens ISIS’ supply route to Syria
November 18th, 20160 BAGHDAD — Iraqi militias said on Wednesday they had driven ISIS fighters from an air base west of Mosul, a victory which would threaten the group's supply route from Syria to its last major stronghold in Iraq. "The airport of Tal Afar has been liberated," Yusif al-Kallabi, a spokesman for Popular Mobilisation, a coalition of mainly...
UN: Arab Spring cost more than $600 billion worth of growth
November 17th, 20160 NEW YORK — A new report from the United Nations suggests that the turmoil in the years since 2010 has left a heavy economic imprint in the Arab region — in particular, leading to a net loss of $613.8 billion in economic activity, or about 6 percent of gross domestic product from 2011 to 2015. The commission noted that it was not...
Turkey aims to fully secure borders early next year with Syria campaign
November 17th, 20160 ANKRA — Turkey aims to have fully secured its borders in the first half of next year, Defence Minister Fikri Isik said on Thursday, as Turkish-backed forces pursue a campaign to clear ISIS and Kurdish fighters from a strip of northern Syria. NATO member Turkey sent tanks, warplanes and artillery into Syria in August in support of...
Yemen’s Houthis say they want to end war, form unity government
November 17th, 20160 HODEIDAH — Yemen's Houthi group said on Wednesday it was ready to stop fighting and join a national unity government, raising hopes of a resolution to a conflict that has killed more than 10,000 people. The announcement appeared to confirm the details of a deal set out by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry a day earlier that he said...
British woman faces jail time in Dubai for reporting gang rape
November 16th, 20160 DUBAI - A British woman who was allegedly gang-raped by two men in Dubai faces jail after police accused her of "extra marital sex". The 25 year old claims she was attacked by fellow British tourists in October while on holiday in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).After she went to the authorities, she was arrested and charged with having...
Chef says he was beaten by Muslim men because he ‘looks like Trump’
November 15th, 20160 SWEDEN - While Muslims are facing a wave of attacks and insults as a result of Trump's election in the U.S., one man in Sweden claims the reverse effect happened to him. A Swedish chef was reportedly assaulted by three Muslim men who punched and kicked him in the face and head, sending him to the emergency room. Writing...
Iraqi forces preparing advance on south Mosul
November 11th, 20160 BAGHDAD — Iraqi security forces are preparing to advance toward Mosul airport on the city's southern edge to increase pressure on ISIS militants fighting troops who breached their eastern defenses, officers said on Thursday. The rapid response forces, part of a coalition seeking to crush the terrorists in the largest city under...
Israeli minister: Trump’s victory ends prospects of Palestinian state
November 11th, 20160 Donald Trump's election victory means the Palestinian people will never have a state of their own, right-wing Israeli government education minister Naftali Bennett has said. He hailed the demise of a "two-state solution" in the Middle East. Bennett is an advocate of expanding Jewish illegal settlements in the West Bank, which...
U.N. says rations run out in east Aleppo, hopes for aid deal
November 11th, 20160 UNITED NATIONS — Aid workers in eastern Aleppo were distributing the last available food rations on Thursday as the quarter of a million people besieged in the Syrian city entered what is expected to be a cruel winter, U.N. humanitarian adviser Jan Egeland said. Speaking in Geneva, Egeland said he was hopeful of a deal on a...
Sandstorm hindering Raqqa offensive
November 11th, 20160 DAMASCUS — A U.S.-backed advance on Raqqa, ISIS de facto capital in Raqqa, was being hampered by a sandstorm on Thursday, a commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said. "The situation is dangerous today because there is no visibility due to a desert sandstorm," the commander said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "We...
Anxious world leaders seek clarity on Trump policies
November 11th, 20160 WASHINGTON — World leaders offered to work with Donald Trump when he takes over as U.S. president, but expressed anxiety over how he will handle problems from the Middle East to an assertive Russia and whether he will carry out a number of campaign threats. Several authoritarian and right-wing leaders hailed the billionaire...
Royal Jordanian offering last minute cheap flights to U.S. “in case Trump wins”
November 8th, 20160 JORDAN - Just in case Donald Trump wins Tuesday's US presidential election, a tongue-in-cheek Royal Jordanian airlines advertisement is offering last minute flights to Muslims in case they are subject to a ban from entering the US. In a Twitter ad, Jordan's flag carrier airline wrote, "Just in case he wins...Travel to the US while...
Saudi Arabia shows signs of accepting U.N. plan for Yemen
November 3rd, 20160 SANAA — Diplomats promoting a U.N. plan to end Yemen's war detect cautious support for its ideas from Saudi Arabia, raising hopes the proposals might unlock stalled efforts to end the 19-month-old conflict and a worsening humanitarian disaster. The kingdom leads a mostly Gulf Arab military alliance which has launched thousands of...
Rebels step up Aleppo offensive, clash with each other
November 3rd, 20160 DAMASCUS — Syrian insurgents stepped up a week-long offensive on government-held areas in the city of Aleppo on Thursday, detonating three car bombs and firing shells which killed at least a dozen civilians, state media and a monitor said. Rebel groups detonated three large car bombs near pro-government forces on the western edge of......
ISIS leader says ‘no retreat’ from Mosul, as Iraqi troops close in
Iraq's flag is seen during a sand storm in Bartilla, east of Mosul, Iraq Nov. 1MOSUL — ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi told his followers on Thursday there could be no retreat in a "total war" against the forces arrayed against them, as advancing soldiers battled the terrorists inside their northern Iraqi stronghold. Expressing...Lebanon’s Hariri named new PM after Aoun’s election
BEIRUT — Lebanon's president asked Saad al-Hariri to form a new government on Thursday after he won the support of a majority of MPs and the endorsement of the influential parliament speaker. Hariri's nomination is part of a political deal that resulted in the election of Michel Aoun, a close ally Hezbollah, as head of state on......
EU grants 348 million euros in aid for Syrian refugees in Turkey
September 9th, 20160 ANKARA — The European Union on Thursday announced it was contracting 348 million euros to the U.N. World Food Program (WFP) for humanitarian aid to Syrian refugees in Turkey, part of the bloc's migration cooperation with Ankara. The money comes as part of a 3 billion euro support for some 3 million Syrian refugees living in Turkey,...
British Labor leader Corbyn appear to compare Israel to ISIS
July 1st, 20160 LONDON — Jeremy Corbyn was engulfed in a fresh row over Israel when he appeared to compare the government of Benjamin Netanyahu to Islamic extremists at the launch of an independent review into antisemitism in the Labor party. In prepared remarks, Corbyn said: "Our Jewish friends are no more responsible for the actions of Israel or...
U.N.: Violence, settlements, Gaza undermine hope for Mideast peace
July 1st, 20160 UNITED NATIONS — Violence and incitement, settlement expansion and a lack of control of Gaza by the Palestinian Authority are undermining hope for Middle East peace, a senior U.N. official said on Thursday, citing a report by the Middle East peace "Quartet." U.N. Middle East envoy Nickolay Mladenov briefed the U.N. Security Council...
Syrian refugee returns €150,000 he found in a cupboard
June 28th, 20160 Police in Minden, Germany, say a Syrian man who arrived last year as a refugee is their “hero of the day” after he found €150,000 ($166,000) and handed it to authorities.The 25-year-old discovered the money in a cupboard he had been given by a charitable organisation.Minden police said on Tuesday that the man had found......
Turkey “sorry” for shooting down Russian jet
June 27th, 20161 "I say: I'm sorry." -ErdoganMOSCOW — Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has apologized to Russian leader Vladimir Putin over last year's shooting down of a Russian air force jet by Turkey's military, the Kremlin said on Monday, opening the way for Russia to lift economic sanctions.The Russian jet was shot down, with the loss of the...
Yemeni Government: Nothing has been agreed in talks
June 24th, 20160 KUWAIT CITY — The Yemeni government said Thursday Houthi rebels must withdraw from all territory they have seized since 2014 and hand back control of state institutions ahead of any political settlement. It added that nothing has been agreed upon in two months of negotiations. The statement from the government delegation to......
Police fatally shoot man who took hostages in German cinema
June 23rd, 20160 A German policeman after a masked man opened fire in the town of Viernheim, June 23VIERNHEIM, Germany — A masked man took hostages at a cinema in western Germany on Thursday before police stormed the complex and shot him dead, police said.No other people were injured, a police spokesman said.The attacker, who carried a rifle or "long...
Muslim woman attacked at a supermarket in London, Canada
June 22nd, 20160 Photo of the suspect provided by London Police ServiceLONDON, CANADA — A Muslim woman shopping with her infant son was attacked in a London, Ontario, supermarket Monday, CBC reported.The woman was at the Superking Supermarket at approximately 5 p.m. when another woman approached her and began yelling at her for no apparent reason,......
