Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammas Asif said Monday that Saudi Arabia has asked that his military provide ground troops, planes and warships to help a coalition battling rebels in Yemen. He spoke at the start of a parliamentary debate on whether to join the Saudi-led effort against the
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President Barack Obama has moved to reassure Israel that the US remains its staunchest supporter, amid Israeli fears over last week’s outline agreement on Iran’s nuclear programme. He said Iran and the rest of the region should know that “if anybody messes with Israel, America will be there”. Critics have accused the president of conceding […]
Thousands of anti-Islam and anti-racism protesters clashed in angry rallies around Australia on Saturday. The most violent clash was in Melbourne, Australia’s second-largest city, where police struggled to separate 3,000 opposing demonstrators. The Victoria state ambulance service treated four people, three for minor injuries from assaults in Melbourne,
Prospects for a new North Korean nuclear agreement have seemingly not improved following the tentative multiparty deal to limit Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for lifting sanctions. The agreement with Tehran is similar to past deals with Pyongyang that ultimately failed, and neither the U.S. nor the Koreans seem motivated or interested in trying again. […]
Pope Francis presided over the solemn Easter Vigil service amid mounting Vatican concern for modern-day Christian martyrs whose deaths have dominated this Easter season. Francis walked in the dark down an utterly silent St Peter’s Basilica at the start of the vigil Mass, which precededed the joyous celebration on Easter Sunday commemorating Christ’s
Peruvian President Ollanta Humala was left scrambling to find a new prime minister on Tuesday after Congress sacked the incumbent, Ana Jara, over allegations of domestic spying. Jara was deposed in a noconfidence vote late on Monday after media reports that the powerful National Intelligence Directorate, or DINI, spied on politicians, journalists, business leaders and […]
China and Singapore have joined Japan and South Korea in restricting flights by Thailand’s airlines as the kingdom scrambles to address “significant safety concerns” by the U.N.’s International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). The January audit in Thailand “revealed some safety concerns, primarily relating to air operator certification
A commercial Air Canada passenger flight is involved in an emergency. Star Alliance member airline Air Canada flight 624 arriving from Toronto in Halifax crashed on the runway at Stanfield International Airport (YHZ, Halifax, Nova Scotia) after midnight local time and slammed into a utility line. As a result of this possibility the air terminal […]
A powerful explosion in New York’s east village on Thursday caused two buildings to collapse and ignited a large fire that quickly spread to neighboring buildings, leaving at least 19 people injured and 4 people in critical conditions. At least one person was reported missing. According to New York Times, as the fire raged in […]
U.S.-led warplanes continued to hammer ISIS positions around the pivotal Iraqi battleground city of Tikrit, stepping in at the Iraqi Prime Minister’s request to get at what a spokesman called “difficult targets.” The U.S. military announced Thursday that it and its allies conducted 17 airstrikes around Tikrit, going after three ISIS checkpoints, two
Police arrested three men on Wednesday for allegedly setting up a network in Italy to recruit Islamist fighters to be sent to Syria and Iraq, Italian authorities said. One was a 20-year-old Italian of Moroccan origin, who faces charges of encouraging terrorism via the Internet, a police statement said. The other two were Albanians accused […]
Thailand’s National Assembly has passed amendments to anti-trafficking laws with harsh penalties. The legislation comes as American media reports put spotlight on slave-like conditions on Thai fishing vessels triggering calls for Thailand to crack down on labor exploitation, especially in the seafood industry. Thailand’s tough new measures to combat human trafficking were
A French prosecutor said Thursday that the co-pilot of the Germanwings passenger jet that crashed in the French Alps this week made a “deliberate attempt to destroy the aircraft.” Marseilles prosecutor Brice Robin said the co-pilot, 28-yearold Andreas Lubitz, locked the pilot out of the cockpit, leaving himself alone in control of the Airbus A320. The […]
Authorities in Pakistan say military jets pounded suspected terrorist hideouts near the Afghan border Wednesday, killing at least 30 militants. An army statement says that “two arms and ammunition dumps” were also destroyed in the air strikes in a remote part of the insurgency-hit Khyber tribal district. Meanwhile, suspected U.S. drone strikes early Wednesday
Yemeni officials have said President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi has fled his palace in the southern city of Aden for an undisclosed location in the city Wednesday as Houthi fighters continued their advance to the south. The officials denied earlier reports that Hadi had left the city entirely. Aden has been a refuge for Hadi since […]
Seven of former Chadian leader Hissene Habre’s security chiefs were jailed for life Wednesday for torture and murder by a special court in the capital N’Djamena. They included the ex-head of the political police Saleh Younous and Mahamat Djibrine, who investigators said was one of the “most feared torturers” under Habre’s eight-year
As tensions mount in Burundi ahead of presidential elections, journalists and activists say they are paying an increasingly heavy price as standard bearers for free speech. Civil rights in the small Great Lakes nation, they say, are on the decline – sacrificed at the altar of President Pierre Nkurunziza’s controversial ambition to defy a two-term […]
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko dismissed the billionaire governor of an eastern region Wednesday following a rancorous dispute pitting the tycoon against the government. Poroshenko’s office said in a statement that Ihor Kolomoysky had asked to be released from his duties as governor of Dnipropetrovsk. The government last week followed through on its plans to
Snoop Dogg is one of the rap tycoons in the US. Snoop, whose real name is Calvin Broadus has come a long way from being the kid who starred in rap megastar, Dr. Dre‘s “Ain’t Nuthin’ But a G Thang” music video. Anyway Snoop is saying that he believes former President Ronald Reagan is to […]
Despite the advocacy for women rights, it’s still a man’s world. An Egyptian woman has had to live her life disguised as a man for 43 years, in order to work and provide for her daughter. Sisa Abu Daooh , now 64-year-old lost her husband while she was pregnant, and following the birth of her […]
