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...
Dubai drops case against UK woman charged after reporting rape
November 24th, 20160 DUBAI — Dubai has dropped the case against a British woman who was accused of extramarital sex after reporting that she had been raped by two British men while on holiday in the Gulf state. The Dubai government said the public prosecutor had closed the case against the 25-year-old woman after examining a video on the mobile phone of...
EU lawmakers call for end to Turkey membership talks
November 23rd, 20160 STRASBOURG, FRANCE — The leaders of the European Parliament's two largest groups called on Tuesday for the European Union to halt membership talks with Turkey because of its post-coup purges. "Our message to Turkey is very clear: accession negotiations should be frozen immediately," said Manfred Weber, the head of the largest...
Lebanon building wall near Palestinian refugee camp
November 23rd, 20160 BEIRUT — Lebanon is building wall near the country's largest Palestinian refugee camp to prevent extremists from infiltrating, a military source said Monday. In September, the army said security forces had arrested a Palestinian refugee suspected of links to ISIS who was in the camp. "The construction of the wall began some......
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......
