There are 17997 articles

  • Turkey moves to end headscarf ban

    Turkey's governing party has reached a deal with an opposition party to seek to lift the country's decades-old ban on women wearing Islamic head scarves at universities. The two parties together control enough seats to end the ban in a parliamentary vote as early as next week. Attempts to do away with the ban since the Justice and Development Party.. More

  • Scores die in Afghan border clashes

    The Pakistan military says its troops have killed 40 tribal fighters in the country's border region with Afghanistan. Artillery and helicopters attacked positions in tribal regions near the Afghan border and 30 fighters were arrested, the military said in a statement on Thursday. Eight soldiers were killed and 32 wounded, it said. The fighting.. More

  • Polish plane crash kills 20

    A Polish military plane carrying 20 passengers and crew crashed in flames in northwestern Poland, killing all aboard including an air force general, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Thursday. The plane, with 16 members of the Polish armed forces and four crew members aboard, was approaching an air base at Miroslawiec shortly after 7 p.m. Wednesday.. More

  • Iran vows to follow nuclear path despite sanctions

    Iranian leaders vowed on Wednesday to press on with Tehran's disputed nuclear work regardless of any new U.N. sanctions, one day after world powers agreed the outline of a new resolution. "The Iranian nation has chosen its path and will continue with it," President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying by the student news agency ISNA. "Such illegal.. More

  • Gazans flood into Egypt

    Palestinians have poured into the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing through holes blown by explosions along the border wall between the Gaza Strip and Egypt. The scenes came on the sixth day of a blockade of Gaza, imposed by Israel and backed by Egypt, in response to a spike in rocket attacks on Israeli border towns. Before dawn on Wednesday, Palestinian.. More

  • Greek PM in historic Turkey visit

    Costas Karamanlis, Greece's prime minister, has arrived in Turkey for the first official trip by a Greek leader in five decades in an effort to improve relations between the former enemies. Among the issues that Karamanlis and his Turkish counterpart are to discuss is the status of Cyprus, which is currently divided between the two countries. Although.. More

  • Egypt detains Brotherhood members

    Egyptian authorities have detained scores of activists from the opposition Muslim Brotherhood for staging protests against Israel's ongoing blockade of Gaza. The detentions came after a demonstration of several hundred people in the centre of Cairo was violently broken up on Wednesday by police and plainclothes security men. A Brotherhood spokesman.. More

  • Two sentenced for Israeli deaths

    A Palestinian Authority court in the occupied West Bank has sentenced two Palestinians to 15 years in jail for killing two Israelis last month. The Palestinians shot two off-duty but armed Israeli soldiers who were hiking near the city of Hebron. Two other Palestinians were also killed in the gun battle. Speaking on Tuesday, Samil al-Safi, a security.. More

  • Gazans break into Egyptian side

    Hundreds of Palestinians have broken into the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing after fighters set off explosions along the border wall between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, Al Jazeera says. Amr el Kahky, Al Jazeera's correspondent, reporting from a location close to the border, said on Wednesday that Egyptian security forces were trying to control the.. More

  • World powers agree new Iran draft

    All five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany have reached an accord on a new draft resolution against Iran over its refusal to suspend uranium enrichment. Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Germany's foreign minister, said after a meeting in Berlin that the resolution would be presented to the Security Council "in the coming weeks". A.. More

  • Iraq settles flag dispute

    Iraq's parliament has voted to adopt a new, temporary, national flag after the country's Kurdish minority said the Saddam Hussein-era banner is a reminder of his rule. In a rare act of unity, members of parliament agreed on Tuesday on the emotive issue, representing a symbolic break with the past. Without any serious opposition from Shia, Sunni Arab.. More

  • Angry Gazans storm Rafah crossing

    Dozens of Palestinian protesters have stormed the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, demanding that the frontier be opened to ease the blockade imposed on the territory by Israel. Several protesters were wounded as Egyptian police opened fire in the air and used batons and water cannons to push back the protesters. The demonstrations on Tuesday came.. More

  • Israel agrees to ease Gaza blockade after protests

    Israel agreed to allow some fuel, medicine and food into the Hamas-run Gaza Strip on Tuesday, at least temporarily easing a blockade that has plunged much of the territory into darkness and sparked international protests. Monday's decision by Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak means the European Union will be allowed to deliver a week's supply.. More

  • Bomber targets Iraqi mourners

    A suicide bomber killed at least 17 people and wounded 10 others when he blew himself up at a funeral in the northern Iraqi village of al-Hajaj, security officials said. The attack on Monday was the latest in a spate of bombings in the predominantly Sunni northern provinces, where US military officials say al-Qaeda fighters are regrouping. The bomber.. More

  • Militants kill five Pakistani troops in attack

    Militants attacked a Pakistani security force fort in the South Waziristan region on the Afghan border on Tuesday killing five soldiers and wounding seven, the military said. The militants attacked the Ladha fort and an observation post an hour after midnight on Monday. "Security forces retaliated with fire causing heavy casualties ... the attack.. More