SANAA: A powerful suicide bomb attack on Shiite militia fighters in central Yemen left dozens of people dead on Wednesday, military and tribal sources said. Wednesday’s blast hit a large gathering of Houthis at the residence of a local tribal chief in Rada, a mixed Shiite-Sunni town that has seen

NAYPYITAW, Myanmar: UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon told the Myanmar government on Wednesday he is concerned about the welfare of the country’s Rohingya Muslims and asked officials to ensure access for UN agencies delivering humanitarian assistance to them. Ban, in Myanmar to attend summits of t

JERUSALEM: Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian during clashes on Tuesday in the occupied West Bank, a day after Palestinian assailants fatally stabbed an Israeli soldier and a woman in attacks that raised fears of a new uprising. Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon said the violence was not or

JERUSALEM: Premier Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday publicly challenged Israeli Arabs protesting against a deadly police shooting in one of their villages to go and live in the West Bank and Gaza. Ahmed Tibi, a prominent Arab legislator, said the comments showed the Likud leader had “gone off the rai

BERLIN: As Germany celebrated the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall on Sunday, Elke Rosin recalled how lucky her family had been. Her pet parakeet and a few personal belongings were all that Rosin managed to grab before her family fled from East to West Berlin 53 years ago. Hours af

GAZA CITY: The European Union’s new foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini on Saturday appealed for the establishment of a Palestinian state, saying the world “cannot afford” another war in Gaza. “We need a Palestinian state — that is the ultimate goal and this is the position of all the Europe

The International Union of Muslim Scholars urged all Muslims to mobilise to protect Al-Aqsa Mosque and preserve it. In a statement issued yesterday signed by Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, Chairman of the Union and the General Secretary Ali Al-Qarra Daghi, the group warned against compromising, violating, br

JERUSALEM/GAZA: Palestinian protesters fought with Israeli security forces in East Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank on Friday, the latest clashes in a fortnight of violence over access to Jerusalem’s holiest site. At the Qalandia checkpoint separating Ramallah from Jerusalem, troops fired rubbe

CAIRO: A bomb on a train in Egypt killed four people including two policemen, officials said Thursday, while blasts in the Cairo metro and near a presidential palace wounded several others. The makeshift bomb exploded in a carriage late on Wednesday as policemen inspected it after the train stopp

Jordan has recalled its ambassador to Israel and moved to lodge a complaint at the United Nations amid attacks by Israeli troops on Palestinians at the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East al-Quds (Jerusalem). On Wednesday, Jordanian Prime Minister Abdullah Nsur asked Foreign Minister Nasser Jud

COPENHAGEN: Governments can keep climate change in check at manageable costs but will have to cut greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2100 to limit fast-worsening risks, a UN report showed. The 40-page synthesis, summing up 5,000 pages of work by 800 scientists already published since September 2

An Israeli activist group says the Tel Aviv regime has approved the construction of 500 new illegal settler units in East al-Quds (Jerusalem), despite mounting international criticism of its expansionist policies. Peace Now said the Israeli Interior Ministry gave the go-ahead on Monday for the ne

GAZA CITY: The Hamas militant group says it opposes a UN reconstruction plan for the Gaza Strip following a 50-day war against Israel this summer. Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri on Sunday called the UN mechanism “unacceptable, inefficient.” The UN announced the plan in September, creating a sy

DHAKA: A media tycoon who is a key figure in Bangladesh’s largest Islamist party was sentenced to death Sunday for war crimes, just days after its leader was ordered to hang for similar offenses. A war crimes court found wealthy businessman Mir Quasem Ali, an official of the Jamaat-e-Islami party,

GENEVA: A UN human rights watchdog on Thursday urged Israel to respect the rights of Palestinians, and demanded the country probe violations committed during repeated assaults on Gaza. With tensions soaring in East Jerusalem, and months of almost daily clashes, the UN Human Rights Committee publi

BEIJING - China on Friday hailed an international conference on Afghanistan that it said agreed to launch dozens of programmes to boost development and help the country maintain peace as foreign forces draw down. Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi said that under a “Beijing Declaration” the meeting

OTTAWA: Reports of anti-Muslim harassment have risen in Canada after attacks last week in which two soldiers were killed by people authorities say were inspired by Islamic State. The National Council of Canadian Muslims said it had seen a tenfold increase in reports of harassment, including racia

JERUSALEM: Clashes raged in east Jerusalem Thursday after police shot dead a Palestinian accused of trying to kill a Jewish hard-liner, prompting officials to close the flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound. Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas said the move was tantamount to a “declaration of war.”