Yemeni government suspends participation in peace talks
May 19th, 20160 KUWAIT — The Yemeni government on Tuesday suspended its participation in U.N.-sponsored peace talks in Kuwait and said it would only return if its opponents, the Houthis, committed to withdraw from cities they have seized since 2014 and hand over weapons.A wide gap still separates the Iran-allied Houthis and the...
Muslim states block gay groups from U.N. AIDS meeting
May 17th, 20160 UNITED NATIONS — A group of 51 Muslim states has blocked 11 gay and transgender organizations from attending a high-level meeting at the United Nations next month on ending AIDS, sparking a protest by the United States, Canada and the European Union. Egypt wrote to the president of the 193-member General Assembly on behalf of the...
Tunisian ambassador to U.S.: Democracy in Tunisia is irreversible
May 11th, 20160 Tunisian ambassador H.E. Fayçal Gouia (L) speaks to the AANewsDEARBORN — While the "Arab Spring" has turned into a desolate winter across the Middle East and North Africa, Tunisia, the cradle of the 2011 popular revolts, seems to have completed a democratic transition that could set an example for rest of the Arab World. H.E....
Reebok cancels shoes celebrating Israel’s independence
May 10th, 20160 The “Israel 68” special edition sneaker from Reebok Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions activists welcomed Reebok's decision to withdraw plans to release running shoes celebrating Israel's 68th independence. The special edition shoes, dubbed "Israel 68", were set to be auctioned on Reebok's Facebook page during the Israeli...U.N. urges Obama, Putin to save Syria truce
GENEVA — The United Nations mediator on Thursday called on the leaders of the United States and the Russian Federation to salvage the "barely alive" two-month-old ceasefire in Syria and revitalize the damaged peace process.U.N. Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura voiced deep concern at the truce unraveling in Aleppo and at least...
Leicester’s Mahrez named player of the year in England
April 25th, 20160 Riyad Mahrez applauds fans after the game, April 24LONDON — Leicester City forward Riyad Mahrez was named English soccer's player of the year by the Professional Footballers' Association on Sunday.The 25-year-old Algerian international, the first Leicester player and first Arab to win the award, has scored 17 goals and made 11 assists...
Court rules Norway violated terrorist Breivik’s human rights
April 21st, 20160 Breivik raises his arm in a Nazi salute at the court room in Skien prison, March 15OSLO — Norway violated terrorist Anders Behring Breivik's human rights by keeping him in a "completely locked world" after being sentenced for killing 77 people in twin attacks in 2011, a court ruled on Wednesday.The ruling, which took many by surprise,...
Afghan Taliban kill at least 28 in suicide bomb in central Kabul
April 19th, 20160 An Afghan man receives treatment after a bomb attack in Kabul, April 19KABUL — A Taliban suicide bomb and gun assault on a government security building during Tuesday morning rush hour in central Kabul killed at least 28 people and wounded more than 320, in the deadliest single attack in the Afghan capital since 2011.President Ashraf...
Pope returns with 12 refugees after visit to Greek island
April 16th, 20160 Pope Francis welcomes a group of Syrian refugees after landing in Rome, April 16LESBOS, Greece — Pope Francis took three families of Syrian refugees back to Rome on Saturday after visiting the frontline of Europe's migrant crisis at a camp in Greece where migrants wept at his feet, kissed his hand and begged for help.At a sprawling...
French PM: The hijab should be banned at universities
April 13th, 20160 Manuel VallsPARIS — French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said Muslim headscarves should be banned from universities and that the majority of French people believe that the values of the Republic are incompatible with those of Islam. Valls told French newspaper Liberation: "It should be done" but conceded that the French constitution...
Panama Papers probes open globally
April 5th, 20160 Authorities across the globe have opened investigations into the activities of the world's rich and powerful after a cache of leaked documents from a Panamanian law firm showed possible wrongdoing using offshore company structures.The "Panama Papers" have cast light on the financial arrangements of high profile politicians and public...
French minister compares women choosing the hijab to “negroes” accepting slavery
March 31st, 20160 PARIS — France's minister for women's rights came under fire on Thursday for saying Muslim women who wear veils were like black slaves in favor of slavery.An online petition with more than 18,000 signatures accused her of racism."Of course there are women who choose (to wear the veil). There were African negroes, American...
Mexicans burn Donald Trump to celebrate Easter
March 27th, 20160 MEXICO - Mexicans celebrating an Easter ritual late on Saturday burnt effigies of U.S. Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump, whose anti-immigrant views have sparked outrage south of the American border. In Mexico City's poor La Merced neighborhood, hundreds of cheering residents yelled "death" and various insults as they...
Israeli Minister to Belgium: Scrutinize Muslims instead of eating chocolate
March 23rd, 20160 Yisrael KatzBelgium must scrutinize Muslims instead of just "eating chocolate and enjoying life" to improve security, an Israeli minister said.Yisrael Katz, currently serving as both minister for transport and intelligence, made the comments in an interview with Israel Radio shortly after a number of bombings in Brussels which are...
U.S. commander apologizes for hospital bombing in Afghanistan
March 22nd, 20160 The attack killed 42 people last yearKUNDUZ, Afghanistan — The new commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan apologized on Tuesday for the American bombing of a hospital last year that killed 42 people and wounded 37 more.General John W. Nicholson met family members of victims and the staff of the now-closed Medecins Sans......
ISIS claims Brussels blasts
March 22nd, 20160 Zaventem airport near Brussels, March 22ISIS claimed responsibility for two bomb attacks that killed at least 30 people in Brussels on Tuesday, a news agency affiliated with the group said."Islamic State fighters carried out a series of bombings with explosive belts and devices on Tuesday, targeting an airport and a central metro...Prime suspect in Paris attacks captured
PARIS - The most-wanted fugitive from November's Paris attacks was arrested after a shootout with police in Brussels on Friday, the Belgian federal prosecutor's office said. Local media reported that Salah Abdeslam, the 26-year-old French suspect, was wounded in the operation as EU leaders met on the other side of the city to discuss......
Amal and George Clooney share their immigration stories with refugees
March 16th, 20160 The Clooneys with Syrian refugeesBERLIN — George Clooney and wife Amal Clooney visited Syrian refugee families in Germany as a move to bring greater awareness to their ongoing plight.In a newly released video of the meeting, produced by the International Rescue Committee, Clooney told his family's story of immigration, saying his...
Turkey blames Ankara bombing on Kurdish militants
March 14th, 20160 Emergency workers work at the explosion site in Ankara, March 13ANKARA — Turkish warplanes struck against Kurdish militant camps in northern Iraq on Monday after 37 people were killed in an Ankara car bombing that security officials said involved a female fighter of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).Sunday's attack, tearing through a...Nanny who beheaded Russian girl cites revenge for Putin’s Syria strikes
Gulchekhra Bobokulova at a court hearing in Moscow, March 2MOSCOW — A woman who brandished the severed head of a four-year-old girl in her care outside a Moscow metro station has said she beheaded the child to avenge Muslims killed in the Kremlin's campaign of air strikes in Syria.In video posted online on Thursday and circulated by...Italian student found dead, tortured in Egypt
Giulio RegeniCAIRO — The body of an Italian student who went missing in Cairo was found half naked by the roadside with cigarette burns and other signs of torture, a senior Egyptian prosecutor said on Thursday.In Rome, Italy's Foreign Ministry summoned the Egyptian ambassador to express concern over the death of Giulio Regeni, who......
Netanyahu accuses UN chief of encouraging terrorism
Ban Ki-MoonIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon of encouraging terrorism. Speaking to the UN Security Council in a session on the current situation in the Middle East, Ban condemned Palestinian knife attacks against Israelis, but added that it is "human nature to react to...Canada government to send ‘tough message’ to Israel as a ‘good friend’
Canada's Foreign Minister Stephane DionOTTAWA — Canada's new Liberal government said on Monday it was delivering a "tough message" to Israel as a good friend after expressing concern about Israeli-Palestinian violence, Israeli settlements and unilateral Palestinian moves.The statement came a day after Foreign Minister Stephane Dion......
ISIS strikes in Indonesia
Police officers react near the site of a blast in Jakarta, Jan. 14JAKARTA — Suicide bombers and gunmen attacked the heart of Indonesia's capital on Thursday and the assault was claimed by ISIS, the first time the radical group has targeted the world's most populous Muslim nation.Seven people were killed in Jakarta despite multiple...Charlie Hebdo cartoon featuring drowned Syrian boy causes outcry
"What would little Alan have become if he had grown up?"PARIS — A drawing in French satirical weekly magazine Charlie Hebdo suggesting Alan Kurdi, the 3-year-old Syrian boy found dead on a Turkish beach last year, would have grown up to be a sex attacker caused outrage online on Thursday.The cartoon depicts two male creatures running......