Trump says fresh US sanctions on Iran will target supreme leader, foreign minister WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Monday signed an executive order that would impose fresh sanctions on Iran, amid increased tensions between the long-time foes. Trump initially told reporters the sanctions, which will target Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his…
BEIRUT: Lebanese President Michel Aoun has insisted on the return of Syrian refugees in Lebanon to their country, even if not to where they had been displaced. He told a visiting US delegation on Monday that the return of refugees “can’t wait for a political solution to the Syrian crisis, as it may take time due…
SILIVRI, Turkey: Sixteen leading Turkish civil society leaders went on trial Monday, accused of seeking to overthrow the government during the “Gezi Park” protests of 2013 — charges dubbed an absurd sham by critics.The group includes renowned businessman and philanthropist Osman Kavala, whose detention since November 2017 has made him a symbol of what his…
ANKARA: In the re-run of the Istanbul mayoral elections on Sunday, residents of Istanbul once again voted for the opposition candidate Ekrem Imamoglu, who achieved a clear victory over his rival, Binali Yildirim, by about 54 percent of votes to 45 percent, a margin of 9 percentage points. This was not the first time Imamoglu, a…
AMMAN: While Jordan witnessed a number of protest rallies in opposition to the Bahrain Prosperity to Peace workshop, political pundits were divided over their government’s decision on Saturday to participate with a low-level delegation headed by the director-general of the Ministry of Finance. Adnan Abu Odeh, a former adviser to King Hussein and King Abdullah, told…
ANKARA: In the re-run of the Istanbul mayoral elections on Sunday, residents of Istanbul once again voted for the opposition candidate Ekrem Imamoglu, who achieved a clear victory over his rival, Binali Yildirim, by about 54 percent of votes to 45 percent, a margin of 9 percentage points. This was not the first time Imamoglu, a…
ANKARA: When the offensive in the countryside around Hama and Idlib by Russian and Syrian regime forces resulted in the displacement of about 300,000 people, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) warned that mass refugee waves should be expected if humanitarian conditions get worse.The reaction of Ankara is a key: Will the open-door policy…
TEHRAN: Iran threatened on Saturday to set the Middle East on fire — while US President Donald Trump offered talks to boost the country’s struggling economy and “make Iran great again.” The conflicting messages came amid escalating tension after Iran shot down a US drone over the Strait of Hormuz, and the US came within…
TEHRAN: Iran threatened on Saturday to set the Middle East on fire — while US President Donald Trump offered talks to boost the country’s struggling economy and “make Iran great again.” The conflicting messages came amid escalating tension after Iran shot down a US drone over the Strait of Hormuz, and the US came within…
AMMAN: Two separate demonstrations were held in the Jordanian capital of Amman on Friday in protest against the upcoming Peace for Prosperity economic workshop due to take place June 25 and 26 in Manama, the capital of Bahrain, in which the US will lay out the economic components of President Donald Trump’s administration’s Middle East…
ALGIERS: Hundreds of Algerian protesters gathered on Friday in the capital despite a spate of arrests ahead of the latest weekly rally since the April 2 resignation of longtime President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, AFP correspondents said.The demonstrators in central Algiers brandished the Algerian flag that has been a mainstay of the protests but some also carried…
ALGIERS: Hundreds of Algerian protesters gathered on Friday in the capital despite a spate of arrests ahead of the latest weekly rally since the April 2 resignation of longtime President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, AFP correspondents said.The demonstrators in central Algiers brandished the Algerian flag that has been a mainstay of the protests but some also carried…
AMMAN / SINGAPORE: Attacks on interfaith harmony, mutual respect and trust are the “world’s single most important threat,” King Abdullah of Jordan warned. Speaking on Thursday at the International Conference on Cohesive Societies (ICCS) in Singapore, Jordan’s monarch condemned both “outlaws of Islam and extremist Islamophobes.” “Perpetuators of hate-filled messages are distorting our religion’s great heritage…
CAIRO: A Libyan commander, whose forces are fighting to take the country’s capital of Tripoli from militias allied with a UN-backed government based there, has dismissed an initiative by its prime minister for negotiations to end the crisis. Instead, Khalifa Haftar vowed in comments to a news website on Wednesday that his fighters would press on…
AMMAN, SINGAPORE: Attacks on interfaith harmony, mutual respect and trust are the “world’s single most important threat,” King Abdullah of Jordan warned. Speaking on Thursday at the International Conference on Cohesive Societies (ICCS) in Singapore, Jordan’s monarch condemned both “outlaws of Islam and extremist Islamophobes.” “Perpetuators of hate-filled messages are distorting our religion’s great heritage and…
FOUSSANA/TUNISIA: Standing near the shrine of the Sufi scholar Sidi Boughanem in western Tunisia, Karim points to the earth below his feet. “There are stairs under the ground,” he said. “We started digging, but we had to stop because someone called the police.” At the foot of a mountain covered with Roman villas and antique olive…
FOUSSANA/TUNISIA: Standing near the shrine of the Sufi scholar Sidi Boughanem in western Tunisia, Karim points to the earth below his feet. “There are stairs under the ground,” he said. “We started digging, but we had to stop because someone called the police.” At the foot of a mountain covered with Roman villas and antique olive…
BAGHDAD, Iraq: Iran was accused of sowing further chaos on Wednesday when a rocket hit a site near Basra in southern Iraq used by US and other oil companies. The attack came hours after three rockets landed in the Rumailah oil field in Basra, near a camp used by the US oil services company Baker…
JEDDAH: Iran “will not wage war against any nation,” President Hassan Rouhani said on Tuesday — hours after two drones launched by Iran-backed Houthi militias in Yemen targeted civilians in southern Saudi Arabia. Rouhani's statement sounded a note of restraint after the United States announced more troop deployments to the Middle East. “Iran will not…
ALGIERS: Algeria’s top businessman Ali Haddad, a key supporter of ousted president Abdelaziz Bouteflika, was jailed for six months on Monday for holding two passports, in the first conviction in a string of corruption probes. The business tycoon was arrested in late March on the border with Tunisia in possession of two passports and undeclared currency,…
