ISTANBUL: Soon after his ruling party faced defeat in Ankara and Istanbul in last Sunday’s election, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was quick to promise reforms to revive the country’s weakened economy.Stung by high living costs and a 2018 currency crisis, voters handed the AKP one of the party’s worst setbacks after a decade and…
DEAD SEA, Jordan: The Middle East has failed its citizens and leaders must do more to meet their demands, a Dutch minister said Saturday, as senior figures from the Arab world insisted that resolving the Israel-Palestine conflict was key to stability in the region. Sigrid Kaag, minister for foreign trade and development cooperation of the…
DEAD SEA, Jordan: The Middle East has failed its citizens and leaders must do more to meet their demands, a Dutch minister said Saturday, as senior figures from the Arab world insisted that resolving the Israel-Palestine conflict was key to stability in the region. Sigrid Kaag, minister for foreign trade and development cooperation of the…
WASHINGTON: The United States is expected to designate Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards Corps a foreign terrorist organization, three US officials told Reuters, marking the first time Washington has formally labeled another country’s military a terrorist group.The decision, which critics warn could open US military and intelligence officials to similar actions by unfriendly governments abroad, is…
TRIPOLI: UN chief Antonio Guterres pushed Friday to avoid a military escalation in Libya, as commander Khalifa Haftar’s forces clashed with pro-government fighters south of the capital Tripoli.Haftar on Thursday launched an offensive to take the capital, held by a UN-backed unity government and an array of militias.The lightning assault was met with international appeals…
ALGIERS: Here is a timeline of the political drama in the north African nation: • On Feb. 22, tens of thousands of people demonstrate in several cities in the first major protests against Bouteflika’s candidacy in planned April 18 elections. After rallying calls on social media, thousands turn out to chant “No fifth mandate!” —…
ALGIERS: A day after Algeria’s Constitutional Council formalized Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s departure Wednesday from the office he held for two decades, the ex-president himself asked the Algerians people for forgiveness. He urged citizens in a farewell letter “to stay united, and never divide yourselves.” A discreet, 77-year-old Bouteflika ally — the president of the upper house…
HEBRON: The bespectacled man was given a hero’s welcome when he arrived for the party on the recent Jewish holiday of Purim, with teenagers singing and applauding around him. Itamar Ben-Gvir was on the streets of Hebron, a flashpoint city in the occupied West Bank, among Israeli settlers reveling while disguised and masked according to Jewish…
MOSCOW: The body of an Israeli soldier missing since the 1982 Lebanon War was found by the Russian and Syrian armies and returned, President Vladimir Putin said Thursday. Sergeant First Class Zachary Baumel had been listed as missing along with two other Israeli soldiers after a deadly battle with Syrian forces in a Lebanese village.…
CAIRO: More than 100 years after it was established, the Commonwealth War Cemetery in Cairo has become a haven of peace honoring the victims of two of the 20th century’s most destructive conflicts. However, the cemetery’s reputation as a place of quiet remembrance is no accident. Dedicated work and constant care across two continents ensure…
CAIRO: More than 100 years after it was established, the Commonwealth War Cemetery in Cairo has become a haven of peace honoring the victims of two of the 20th century’s most destructive conflicts. However, the cemetery’s reputation as a place of quiet remembrance is no accident. Dedicated work and constant care across two continents ensure…
BAGHDAD, Iraq: A “new phase of relations” has begun between the Kingdom and Iraq, a Saudi minister said Thursday, following the inauguration of a new consulate in Baghdad and the announcement of a $1 billion development loan, the Saudi Press Agency reported. “We have seen from the Iraqi side sincere feelings of brotherhood,” said Saudi…
ADEN: Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has stopped admitting patients to its clinic in Yemen’s second city Aden after staff were threatened and a patient kidnapped and killed, the group said Thursday.A group of armed men stormed the hospital in Aden, controlled by the Yemeni government, and threatened guards and staff at MSF’s emergency trauma hospital,…
BEIRUT: Shelling by Syrian government forces of rebel-held areas in the northwest of the country has killed 17 civilians in the past 24 hours, a war monitoring group said on Thursday. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights group said the shelling was in different locations and that more than half the dead were under the…
TRIPOLI: Eastern Libyan forces on Thursday took full control of Gharyan, a town about 100 km (60 miles) south of the capital Tripoli, bringing their conflict with Libya's internationally recognised government to a potentially dangerous new level.The capture of Gharyan after skirmishes on Wednesday with forces allied to Tripoli Prime Minister Fayez Al-Serraj followed a rapid…
JERUSALEM: In a charged election campaign that has been heavy on insults and short on substance, Israel’s conflict with the Palestinians has been notably absent from the discourse. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling Likud Party has offered no plan for what many believe is the country’s most existential problem. His main challenger speaks vaguely of “separation,”…
JERUSALEM: In a charged election campaign that has been heavy on insults and short on substance, Israel’s conflict with the Palestinians has been notably absent from the discourse. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling Likud Party has offered no plan for what many believe is the country’s most existential problem. His main challenger speaks vaguely of “separation,”…
INTERVIEW: Palestinian ambassador to UK braced for Trump’s ‘deal of the century’ LONDON: Like many Palestinian officials, Husam Zomlot is deeply concerned. The US is close to unveiling its new Middle East peace plan. But all the signs so far have deepened concerns that President Donald Trump’s “deal of the century” will be heavily biased toward…
JERUSALEM: In a charged election campaign that has been heavy on insults and short on substance, Israel’s conflict with the Palestinians has been notably absent from the discourse. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling Likud Party has offered no plan for what many believe is the country’s most existential problem. His main challenger speaks vaguely of “separation,”…
JERUSALEM: In a charged election campaign that has been heavy on insults and short on substance, Israel’s conflict with the Palestinians has been notably absent from the discourse. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling Likud Party has offered no plan for what many believe is the country’s most existential problem. His main challenger speaks vaguely of “separation,”…
