There are 17996 articles

  • Trump ambassador to Israel: Active donor to settlements

    The choice of US ambassador to Israel has never before incurred such scrutiny or provoked such controversy. Usually, the appointment is approved by the Senate's foreign relations committee by consensus. But David Friedman's confirmation vote in March split largely on partisan lines, with Republicans backing him and all but one Democrat opposing him. Tens.. More

  • Emmanuel Macron takes office as French president

    Emmanuel Macron is being inaugurated as France's president, and will immediately face daunting challenges to rejuvenate the economy and breathe new life into the beleaguered European Union. Macron, a 39-year-old centrist, took over on Sunday from President Francois Hollande, the socialist whose five years in power were plagued by stubborn unemployment.. More

  • Myanmar closes second refugee camp in western state

    A refugee camp housing displaced Buddhist families in Myanmar’s Rakhine state was closed Thursday, officials said. The camp is the second to be closed in recent weeks as part of the government’s effort to resettle people displaced by communal violence since 2012. The authorities started relocating 65 ethnic Rakhine Buddhist households.. More

  • NATO mulls sending more troops to Afghanistan

    NATO has received a request from military chiefs for more troops to be sent to Afghanistan, according to Jens Stoltenberg, the alliance's secretary-general. Speaking after meeting British Prime Minister Theresa May in the UK capital, London, on Wednesday, Stoltenberg insisted this would not mean a return to combat operations. "We have received.. More

  • 250 feared dead in the Mediterranean Sea

    Nearly 250 refugees and migrants are still missing after two boats sank in the Mediterranean Sea over the weekend, bringing the death toll so far this year to more than 1,300 people, according to the UNHCR. Survivors have been taken to Italy, which expects to take in 200,000 refugees over the course of this year. The two shipwrecks took place on Friday.. More

  • Battle for Mosul: 400k Iraqis displaced in two months

    More than 400,000 people have been displaced from western Mosul about two months into the Iraqi army's battle against ISIL, according to the UN. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said, citing the Iraqi government, that 434,775 people have fled Mosul since Iraqi forces launched the western Mosul operation on February.. More

  • Haniyeh: Prisoners issue will remain priority for Hamas

    The issue of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel will remain a top priority for Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, the group’s newly-elected leader, said Monday. Haniyeh made the assertion in his first press statement since his election as head of Hamas’s political bureau, which he delivered while taking part in activities to show solidarity with.. More

  • 113 migrants missing after boat sinks off Libya: IOM

    At least 113 people are missing after a boat carrying migrants sank off the coast of Libya, the Italian ANSA news agency said Monday citing the International Organization for Migration. Six men and one woman were saved by the Libyan Coast Guard with the help of some fishermen, IOM spokesman Flavio Di Giacomo was quoted as saying. According to the.. More

  • Netanyahu's cabinet seeks to downgrade status of Arabic

    Israeli ministers have approved a controversial bill that will downgrade Arabic as an official language and define the country as the "national home of the Jewish people". The Haaretz newspaper reported on Sunday that if the bill were to become law, Arabic would no longer be an official language and would instead be defined as having special.. More

  • Emmanuel Macron elected next French president

    Emmanuel Macron was elected president of France on Sunday with a business-friendly vision of European integration, resoundingly defeating Marine Le Pen, the far-right nationalist who threatened to pull out of the European Union. The centrist's emphatic victory, which also smashed the dominance of France’s mainstream parties, will bring huge relief.. More

  • Polls open in historic French presidential election

    Voters are heading to the polls Sunday to choose between Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen to become the nation’s president in one of the most divisive contests in decades. Approximately 45.7 million voters in mainland France and overseas are eligible to vote, and for the first time since 1974 neither presidential candidate is from a mainstream.. More

  • Ismail Haniya elected new political chief of Hamas

    Ismail Haniya has been elected as the new leader of Hamas's political bureau, according to the Palestinian movement's news agency. Ismail Haniya was born in Gaza in 1962 to parents who fled when Israel was created in 1948. He was jailed several times by Israel during the first Intifada, or uprising, in the late 1980s - and later deported to Lebanon. Haniya.. More

  • Italian coastguard: 3,000 rescued in Mediterranean Sea

    About 3,000 people have been saved in the Mediterranean Sea in a single day while trying to make the journey from northern Africa to Europe, according to the Italian coastguard. They were picked up in more than 20 separate rescue operations on Saturday, involving the Italian coastguard and navy, the EU's EUNAVFOR mission in the Mediterranean, European.. More

  • Ramallah: Mass rally for hunger-striking prisoners

    Thousands of Palestinians have rallied in the West Bank city of Ramallah in solidarity with hunger-striking Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. Protesters gathered in the Nelson Mandela Square on Wednesday, chanting "Freedom, freedom" and waving Palestinian flags and posters of Marwan Barghouti, the leader of the hunger strike, currently.. More

  • Turkey, Russia push for safe-zones in Syria

    The presidents of Russia and Turkey are pushing for the creation of safe-zones in war-torn Syria as talks were expected to resume on Thursday in Kazakhstan between the regime and opposition. Meeting in the Russian resort town of Sochi, Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Vladimir Putin expressed hope on Wednesday the Syrian regime and opposition would adopt this.. More