Jerusalem: Israel’s defense minister resigned Friday, saying extremists had taken over the country, after he clashed with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the army’s handling of a wave of Palestinian violence. Moshe Yaalon said he no longer had any trust in Netanyahu after the hawkish premier

SYDNEY, May 19: Australia’s immigration minister’s comments on refugees drew sharp reactions from Labour Party and the small left-wing opposition Greens Party. Peter Dutton brought border security and immigration to the center of the 2016 election campaign, warning that resettling “illiterate and i

May 16, BEIRUT: Fighting raging between rival rebel factions to control a key opposition stronghold near Damascus since late last month has killed more than 300 fighters, a monitor said on Sunday. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the clashes in Eastern Ghouta pitted the Jaish Al-Islam

ANKARA, May 13: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says Turkish forces have killed some 3,000 Daesh terrorists in Syria and Iraq, insisting that no other country has matched Turkey’s efforts against the extremist group. In an address to the military chiefs of Balkan nations on Wednesday, Er

(May 7, 2016): The Romanian Football Federation (FRF) has postponed all soccer this weekend following the death of Dinamo Bucharest and Cameroon midfielder Patrick Ekeng on Friday. Ekeng, 26, collapsed on the field after suffering a suspected heart attack shortly after coming on as a 62nd-minute

LONDON: With Pakistani-origin Sadiq Khan likely to become London's new mayor, his Conservative foe Zac Goldsmith is using Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's name to woo Hindu and Sikh votes. Balloting is taking place on Thursday in England, Scotland and Wales to elect mayors and fill up assemb

BAGHDAD: The Iraqi authorities are holding often innocent “terror” suspects in dire conditions across the country and have no ability to process cases, Amnesty International said on Monday. A delegation from the rights group, including its secretary general Salil Shetty, was able to visit one suc

AJACCIO: A Muslim prayer hall was ravaged by fire overnight in the capital of the French island of Corsica, local authorities said, four months after a separate Muslim prayer hall there was ransacked. Prosecutors said was probably a criminal attack. The blaze occurred just months after the island

DHAKA: A court has jailed two teachers in southern Bangladesh for making anti-Islam remarks. The case began when students at Hijla High School in Bagerhat district complained that the assistant teacher of a science class made the remarks, Magistrate Anwar Parvez told the Associated Press. The

MOUNTAIN VIEW, California: The two Swiss pilots taking turns to fly a solar-powered airplane around the world said Sunday the endeavor is not only a demonstration of the importance of renewable energy but also of the many challenges the human body can endure. Pilot Bertrand Piccard completed a ri

CAIRO: Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby called Thursday for a special criminal court to be set up for Israel, at a meeting to condemn an announcement that it will never return the Golan Heights. Delegates to the Arab bloc are expected to pass a resolution denouncing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanya

PARIS: Students at an elite Paris university sparked bitter debate Wednesday by inviting classmates to wear the Muslim veil for a day in a bid to “demystify” a practice viewed as highly divisive in France. Students at Sciences Po urged women to take part in Hijab Day “if you too think all women sho

President Rafael Correa said on Twitter that the death toll on Sunday had risen to 233, up from an initial count of 77 dead and 600 injured. He added that Vice-President Jorge Glas was on his way to the hard-hit city of Portoviejo on the Pacific coast. Glas called it the "worst seismic movement w

BEIRUT: Syrian opposition activists say the Daesh group has captured several villages in the northern province of Aleppo during clashes with government forces. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the fighting is concentrated in areas east of the town of Khanaser, which has ex

ABU DHABI: The US Navy is leading a 30-nation maritime exercise across Middle Eastern waters, which it says will help protect international trade routes against possible threats, including from Daesh and Al-Qaeda. The exercise, partly being held in the Arabian Gulf, comes as tensions run high betwe

SEOUL: North Korea said on Saturday it has successfully tested a new intercontinental ballistic rocket engine that will give it the ability to stage nuclear strikes on the United States. The engine's ground test, if true, would be a big step forward for the North's nuclear weapons programme, whic

Tripoli: Libya’s UN-backed unity government moved to cement control over the country’s finances and institutions Wednesday after the rival administration in Tripoli ceded power in a boost to efforts to end years of chaos. The concession late Tuesday by the militia-backed administration that had con

DUBAI: “Daddy, where are you now? In Turkey or Sweden?” a Syrian girl asks her father in her first voice message to him since he joined hundreds of thousands fleeing the war. The recording, sent by smartphone, is one of many messages between Syrians that Jordanian photographer Tanya Habjouqa has co