World news

Government air raids kill 60 civilians in Syria

Beirut: Syrian government warplanes killed at least 60 civilians including a dozen children in two days of air strikes on Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil)-held territory at the weekend, activists said on Monday. President Bashar Al Assad’s military has stepped up an aerial campaign o

Saudi King invites Palestine’s martyred families for free Hajj

RIYADH: King of Saudi Arabia Shah Abdullah Bin Abdul-Aziz has invited 1000  martyred families of Palestinians for performing Hajj and the Saudi government will bear all expenses. According to Al-Arabia.net the Saudi King has instructed Hajj department to make government arrangements for Hajj of 1

'Meteorite' Smashes into Nicaraguan Capital

MANAGUA:  A mysterious explosion that rocked Nicaragua's crowded capital Managua, creating a large crater, appears to have been caused by a meteorite, officials said on Sunday. Amazingly, in a sprawling city of 1.2 million people, the impact near the international airport did not cause any known

Mursi charged with passing state secrets to Qatar

CAIRO: Egypt charged ousted president Mohamed Mursi and several other people on Saturday with endangering national security by leaking state secrets and sensitive documents to Qatar, dealing a further blow to his outlawed Muslim Brotherhood. Relations between Qatar and Egypt have been icy since Jul

One in 10 girls sexually abused worldwide, says UN report

United Nations: About one in 10 girls around the world experiences serious sexual violence, the UN children’s agency has said in a major report detailing the “staggering extent” of sexual, physical and emotional abuse faced by young people. The Unicef report found that 120 million girls and fem

Heavy monsoon rains kill more than 30 in Pakistan

Lahore, Pakistan: More than 35 people have been killed as a result of heavy monsoon rains in Pakistan, officials said on Thursday, as authorities warned more intense rainfall and flash floods could be imminent. Most of the deaths were caused by roof collapses in buildings in Punjab, Pakistan’s

Gaza reconstruction to cost $7.8bn

RAMALLAH: Rebuilding Gaza will cost $7.8 billion, the Palestinian Authority said on Thursday, in the most comprehensive assessment yet of damage from a seven-week war with Israel during which whole neighborhoods and vital infrastructure were flattened. The cost of rebuilding 17,000 Gazan homes ra

Syria air strike kills 13 civilians

Beirut: A Syrian government airstrike hit a bus carrying civilians in eastern Syria on Wednesday, killing at least 13 people, most of them children, opposition activists said. But the government in the capital, Damascus, blamed Isil for the incident, describing it as “yet another massacre” comm

Find Out This 127-Year-Old Mexican Woman's Secret to Longevity

LONDON:  A Mexican woman who is celebrating her 127th birthday today is believed to be the oldest human to have ever lived - and the secret to her long life may be chocolate and lots of sleep. Leandra Becerra Lumbreras, from the western Mexican city of Zapopan, was born on August 31, 1887 and has

Turkey's new premier says 'no hope' of normalizing ties with Israel unless Gaza blockade lifted

Turkey's new prime minister said on Monday he would pursue strong economic growth and EU ambitions, while in the Middle East he saw no hope of "normalizing" ties with Israel unless it ended a blockade of the Gaza strip. Ahmet Davutoglu offered no suggestion of any change of emphasize in policies

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