World news

UN concerned over food shortages in Ebola-hit nations

DAKAR: The UN warned on Tuesday of “grave food security concerns” in the west African countries hardest hit by the Ebola outbreak as the deadly epidemic caused labour shortages and disrupted cross-border trade. Restrictions on movement in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone has led to panic buying,

Ukraine govt warns of ‘great war’ with Russia

KIEV/MOSCOW: Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko accused Russia on Monday of “direct and undisguised aggression” which he said had radically changed the battlefield balance as Kiev’s forces suffered a further reverse in their war with pro-Moscow separatists. Ukraine’s defense minister also warned

Pak violence continues; 3 dead, hundreds hurt

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani opposition leader Imran Khan vowed Sunday to protest “until the last breath” as ongoing clashes between his supporters and police outside the prime minister’s residence left three dead and hundreds injured. The violence began Saturday night after thousands of supporters of Kh

Egyptian court gives life term to Muslim Brotherhood leader

PanARMENIAN.Net - An Egyptian court sentencedMohamed Badie, general guide of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, and seven others to life in prison on Saturday, August 30 for inciting violence during protests last year, judicial sources said, according to Reuters. Badie had already been sentenced to

UN was told Golan peacekeepers seized ‘for their protection’

UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations on Friday said it had been informed that the Islamist militants who seized 44 Fijian peacekeepers in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights did so “for their own protection” and that all the detained blue-helmet soldiers are safe. UN officials had been trying to est

UN: Ebola cases could eventually reach 20,000

GENEVA: The Ebola outbreak in West Africa eventually could exceed 20,000 cases, more than six times as many as are now known, the World Health Organization said Thursday. A new plan released by the UN health agency to stop Ebola also assumes that the actual number of cases in many hard-hi

Poll: Gazans see victory, Israelis feel unsafe

Israeli prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's controversial ceasefire agreement with Hamas on Tuesday night came amid harsh political criticism of his decision from both the right and left sides of the political spectrum as well as a sharp drop in his popularity. A Channel 2 TV poll, published Wedn

Israel, Hamas declare victory in Gaza war

JERUSALEM: Both Israel’s prime minister and Hamas declared victory Wednesday in the Gaza war, though their competing claims left questions over future terms of their uneasy peace still lingering. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s comments, delivered in a prime-time address on national t

Israel, Hamas agree to open-ended Gaza cease-fire

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip: Israel and Hamas agreed Tuesday to an open-ended cease-fire, halting a seven-week war that killed more than 2,200 people, the vast majority Palestinians, left tens of thousands in Gaza homeless and devastated entire neighborhoods in the blockaded territory. Hamas declared v

Israel destroys one of Gaza’s tallest apartment buildings

GAZA: Israeli air strikes launched before dawn on Tuesday killed two Palestinians and destroyed much of one of Gaza’s tallest apartment and office buildings, setting off huge explosions and wounding 20 people, Palestinian health officials said. Israel had no immediate comment on the attacks that

Wave of attacks in Iraq kill at least 43

Baghdad: Iraqi officials say a wave of attacks targeting commercial areas in and outside Baghdad has killed 43 people. They say the deadliest of Monday’s bombings was carried out by a suicide bomber who blew up himself among Shiite worshippers who were leaving a mosque after noon prayers in the

China targets ordinary Uighurs with beards, burkas

AKSU, China: Outside a mosque in China’s restive west, a government-appointed Muslim cleric was dodging a foreign reporter’s question about why young men of the Uighur ethnic minority don’t have beards when one such youth interrupted. “Why don’t you just tell them the truth?” he shouted to the cler

Israeli airstrike kills mother, 4 children in Gaza

GAZA CITY: An Israeli airstrike killed a mother and four children from the same family in northern Gaza on Sunday, medics said. The strike hit a home near Jabalia in the north of the Palestinian territory, emergency spokesman Ashraf Al-Qudra said, as Sunday’s death toll in Gaza reached at least 14.

Egypt calls for Gaza cease-fire as fighting rages

GAZA/CAIRO: Egypt called on Israel and the Palestinians on Saturday to halt hostilities and resume peace talks, but both sides kept up attacks, including an Israeli air strike which destroyed a residential tower block in the center of Gaza City. Hamas also fired rockets at Israel, hitting the south

Friday carnage: Death toll in Iraq mosque attack reaches 73

Baghdad: Iraqi Shiite militiamen opened fire on minority Sunnis in a mosque on Friday, killing more than 70 people just as Baghdad is trying to build a cross-community government to fight Islamists whose rise has alarmed Western powers. A police officer said that local militants broke into the

Europeans in push for new UN resolution on Gaza

UNITED NATIONS: Britain, France and Germany have put forward key points of a new UN Security Council resolution on Gaza in a fresh bid to end six weeks of violence, diplomats said Thursday. The European initiative came as fighting flared in the six-week war, with Israeli airstrikes killing three

New Islamabad police chief ordered to tackle anti-govt marchers

ISLAMABAD: Chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Imran Khan told his supporters on Thursday that the government had removed the Islamabad police chief for not using force against him, and warned the new police chief Khalid Khattak not to follow orders to crack down against the protesters. The

Hamas warns foreign airlines as Israel declares talks over

GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories: The armed wing of Hamas warned foreign airlines against flying into Tel Aviv on Wednesday and declared truce talks in Cairo over as a six-week war with Israel spirals into further bloodshed. Israeli warplanes carried out dozens of air strikes across Gaza again on