(Image: file photo) The clock is ticking for a controversial surveillance provision, which is is set to expire at midnight at the end of the year. But the Trump administration has signaled that it will support its clean reauthorization. Passing a clean version of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, is “necessary to protect the security of the nation,” according to a White House official speaking […]
Yemen, one of the poorest countries in the Arab world, has been convulsed by civil strife for more than two years. In the west, Houthi rebels ousted the government of President Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi, the United States’ main counterterrorism partner in the country, and have been fighting a Saudi-led coalition of mostly Sunni Arab countries that back Mr. Hadi. Continue reading the main story In the […]
JUBA South Sudan has arrested four soldiers after residents accused the army of beating and raping civilians in a small village near the capital last month, a military spokesman said on Friday, in a case that became a symbol of spiralling military abuses. The military launched an investigation after a local bishop brought five victims, including young girls, from Kubi village for medical treatment in the capital. […]
YEMEN: US fighter jets pounded Al-Qaeda targets in Yemen for a second straight day on Friday, security and tribal sources said, as Washington steps up its air war against the jihadists.The Pentagon said it had carried out more than 20 strikes on Thursday targeting Al-Qaeda positions in the southern provinces of Shabwa and Abyan and the central province of Baida.Yemeni officials said at least 12 suspected militants […]
GENEVA Syrian peace talks are expected to conclude later on Friday with an “agreed agenda” and a plan to resume negotiations later this month in Geneva, Western diplomats said. It was not immediately clear whether the issue of fighting terrorism would be part of the terms, as sought by the Damascus delegation led by Syrian Ambassador Bashar al-Ja’afari. A third Western diplomat said there had been movement […]
ERBIL, Iraq Rival Kurdish groups clashed in Iraq’s northwestern Sinjar region on Friday, two Kurdish security sources said, causing deaths on both sides. The fighting erupted when Peshmerga Rojava forces deployed towards the border with Syria, encroaching on territory controlled by a local affiliate of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). The unrest highlights the risk of conflict and turf wars between the multiple forces arrayed against Islamic […]
Palmyra, the storied ancient city that was among prewar Syria’s leading tourist attractions, swung back under government control on Thursday, state media reported, as soldiers and their allies evicted Islamic State militants who had made a sport out of pilfering the city’s antiquities. This was the fourth time in the past two years that control of Palmyra, a Unesco World Heritage Site, changed hands between government forces […]
By Matt Spetalnick | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON With his administration on the defensive over investigations into alleged Russian meddling in last year’s election, U.S. President Donald Trump is no longer tweeting praise for his Kremlin counterpart. Less than five weeks after he took office, the chances of a spring thaw in relations between Washington and Moscow – once buoyed by an apparent “bromance” between Trump and President Vladimir […]
People take part in a protest against corruption in Lima, Peru after a scandal involving bribes Brazil’s Odebrecht distributed in Peru, February 16, 2017 (Guadalupe Pardo/Reuters). A wave of corruption scandals has roiled Latin America in recent years, from Chile’s campaign finance affairs, through Mexico’s Casa Blanca revelations. Most recently, the information divulged in the December Odebrecht settlement has sent a shudder of fear across regional politics […]
In a rash moment of generosity amid the euphoria of victory, he snipped off a negative and gave it to an army spokesman, who promptly handed it to the Israeli Government Press Office. In his 2007 autobiography, “Israel Through My Lens,” written with Ruth Corman, Mr. Rubinger recalled that the press office “in turn made prints and started distributing them to all and sundry for a dollar […]
ABU DHABI // Jet fighters soared across the skies and tanks rolled along the beaches to the delight of the thousands who turned out for the largest military spectacle yet seen in the UAE. Complete with paratroopers, helicopters, surveillance aircraft, fighter jets and ground combat troops, Union Fortress – an Armed Forces event that included a mock hostage rescue from a ship off Abu Dhabi Corniche – […]
Uber’s US rival Lyft is seeking $500m in a new fundraising round to provide fresh ammunition as the transportation company takes its fight with Uber to a growing number of US cities, according to two people close to the process. The fundraising comes at a time when Uber has been struggling with a series of public relations crises, including allegations of sexual harassment and a video of […]
By Ayesha Rascoe | NEWPORT NEWS, Va. NEWPORT NEWS, Va. President Donald Trump said on Thursday he wants a U.S. military buildup of more ships and planes to “project American power in distant lands,” making his case for a proposed $54 billion increase in defense spending that has U.S. lawmakers squabbling. Wearing an olive military jacket and hat aboard a new aircraft carrier, the Gerald R. Ford, […]
NOUAKCHOTT Mali’s main jihadist groups said on Thursday they will merge under Islamist leader Iyad Ag-Ghali whose fighters have claimed multiple attacks on Malian, French and U.N. peacekeeping forces, Mauritania’s Nouakchott News Agency (ANI) reported. ANI said Ag-Ghali’s Ansar Dine would join with al-Mourabitoun, led by Algerian jihadist and smuggler Mokhtar Belmokhtar, which claimed responsibility for a suicide bomb attack on a military camp in northern Mali […]
All branches of the Armed Forces participated, including the Quick Reaction Force of the Presidential Guard, supported by the UAE Joint Aviation Command, the Navy, the Air Force, Air Defence and the Army. Antonie Robertson / The National The event was attended by Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, and sheikhs, military commanders and officials. Ryan […]
The war is not over yet — the battlefield has just gotten bigger. On February 28, publisher EA and developer DICE unveiled four major expansions for Battlefield 1 included in the Premium Pass offer. These expansions will extend the flames of World War I around Europe with a focus on French and Russian armies in their respective lands. You can also engage in thrilling amphibious and naval battles, and […]
WASHINGTON — The United States conducted airstrikes overnight Thursday against several suspected Qaeda targets across south-central Yemen, according to American and Yemeni military officials, the first American attacks in the country since an ill-fated Special Operations raid in January. The coordinated series of attacks against Qaeda militants occurred in three Yemeni provinces that have been areas of suspected terrorist activity — Abyan, Shabwa and Baydha — according […]
The founders of Mossack Fonseca, the law firm at the centre of the Panama Papers scandal, were arrested in Panama City on Thursday as the country’s attorney general launched a probe into their alleged connections with Brazil’s sprawling Lava Jato corruption scandal. Juergen Mossack and his colleague Ramon Fonseca, a former adviser to Panama’s president Juan Carlos Varela, were taken into custody and transferred to police cells […]
BERLIN A Christian cleric on Thursday criticised Chancellor Angela Merkel for kowtowing to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and downplaying human rights concerns as she headed to north Africa to expand trade and investment ties. Joachim Schroedel, a German cleric who has worked in Egypt for more than two decades, expressed anger at Merkel’s assertion that Egyptian Copts were in a “very good situation” and her description […]
BEIRUT Villages controlled by the Manbij Military Council will be handed to the Syrian government in the coming days under a deal agreed with Russia, an official from the council said on Thursday. The Manbij Military Council is part of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a group of U.S.-allied militias including the powerful Kurdish YPG, which is fighting against Islamic State group but is regarded by Turkey […]
By John Ruwitch | SHANGHAI SHANGHAI The fortunes of the richest 100 members of China’s parliament and its advisory body – all dollar billionaires – grew about 64 percent in the four years since Xi Jinping rose to power, according to data from an organisation tracking wealth in China. Xi has overseen a crackdown on corruption and decadence, and made the fight against poverty a top priority […]
BAGHDAD A number of civilians and Islamic State members were killed in an attack that hit a mosque run by the militants and damaged neighbouring houses in the west of the Iraqi city of Mosul on Wednesday, three residents said on Thursday. The Omar al-Aswad mosque, in the al-Faruq district of the old city centre, was hit by an airstrike, three residents in the same area told […]
The raid is a delicate issue in the Trump administration because the president authorized it five days into office, over dinner at the White House with Mr. Mattis and several other senior officials. But in an interview with “Fox & Friends” on Tuesday, Mr. Trump seemed to distance himself from the operation, saying that responsibility for the decision to go forward rested with his generals. “This was […]
SEOUL Isolated North Korea is developing sophisticated tools to digitally spy on its citizens, who are increasingly using mobile devices to connect to each other, a U.S. government-funded report released on Wednesday says. The report, “Compromising Connectivity”, says North Korea has allowed the growing use of mobile phones and domestic internet access in return for the detailed information the network feeds Pyongyang’s surveillance state. “By giving citizens […]
