PARIS: The deadly collapse of a building in southwestern Iran has accentuated anger over price rises and economic deprivation that sparked protests which have now lasted three weeks and show no sign of abating, observers say. With video footage showing the use of bitter slogans against the government and even supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei,…
BEIRUT: The motives behind the horrific quadruple murder in Lebanon of a mother and her three daughters are still unclear. The killings in Ansar, committed 20 days ago by Hussein Jamil Fayyad but discovered last week, are being described as the most serious murders in recent years in Lebanon. Basma Abbas, along with her daughters…
AMMAN: Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque will reopen to worshippers from May 31 after being closed for more than two months due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Islamic Waqf which oversees the city’s holy sites agreed to the resumption of prayers subject to the implementation of preventive measures aimed at stopping the spread of the deadly virus. The…
BEIRUT: Lebanon’s president started consultations Thursday to pick a replacement for Saad Hariri, who resigned seven weeks ago under pressure from an unprecedented wave of protests.Hassan Diab, a professor at the American University of Beirut and a former education minister, was tipped by Lebanese media as Hariri’s likely successor.A new government is urgently needed to…
BELEDWEYNE, Somalia: As Somalia withered from drought early this year, and her goats dropped dead from thirst, Maka Abdi Ali begged for rain. When the skies finally opened, nature was unmerciful. Unrelenting downpours in October turned to flash floods, destroying her meager home and few remaining possessions, and washing away whatever harvest and bony animals…
ANKARA: The waters of the Eastern Mediterranean are heating up with Russia and the Assad regime starting a joint military exercise in the region on Tuesday. The growing presence of Russia around Cyprus and Libya has prompted concerns about the emergence of a geostrategic fault line that divides Ankara and Moscow. Russian warships and fighter jets…
ANKARA: The waters of the Eastern Mediterranean are heating up with Russia and the Assad regime starting a joint military exercise in the region on Tuesday. The growing presence of Russia around Cyprus and Libya has prompted concerns about the emergence of a geostrategic fault line that divides Ankara and Moscow. Russian warships and fighter jets…
UN chief Antonio Guterres: No choice but to ship aid across Syria’s border Four entry points into Syria are currently used to ferry aid to the millions in need after eight years of conflict ‘The United Nations does not have an alternative means of reaching people in need in the areas in which cross-border assistance…
GENEVA: Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan called on Tuesday for the resettlement of 1 million Syrian refugees in a “peace zone†in the northern part of their homeland, on a voluntary basis but in “a very short period of time.â€â€œWe need to find formula to allow refugees… who traveled to Turkey to be resettled in their…
LONDON: Late on Tuesday last week, 20-year-old art student Ceren Ozdemir left her ballet class in the Black Sea province of Ordu to start her walk home. She was followed. The man keeping up with her went undetected. When Ozdemir reached her front door, he stabbed her several times. Left to die in the street, she…
