ABU DHABI // As ties between Turkey and the UAE grow increasingly warm, Ankara’s new ambassador — formerly the most senior Middle East official in the Turkish foreign ministry — says his appointment shows his country is serious about improving bilateral ties. “That is my mission here,” Ambassador Can Dizdar, who began his tenure in October, told The National. “I want to increase the pace, and achieve […]
By Hamid Shalizi | WAMA, Afghanistan WAMA, Afghanistan Afghan authorities are appealing to local elders in the remote eastern province of Nuristan to help prevent militants loyal to Islamic State from expanding into new territory. The initiative comes as fighters and their families, scattered in recent months by U.S. and Afghan air strikes and special forces ground operations, seek new safe havens. The mountainous and thickly forested […]
By Sebastien Malo NEW YORK (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – California lawmakers planned on Monday to introduce legislation that would help protect undocumented immigrants under the administration of President-elect Donald Trump, who campaigned on hard-line promises of mass deportations. The bills, if passed, would provide free legal services to undocumented immigrants facing deportation and assist them in criminal court, according to the California Democratic lawmakers introducing the proposals. […]
MANILA – Reuters submitted five questions to the Presidential Communications Office of Rodrigo Duterte for the news agency’s investigation into police killings of drug suspects. The questions and replies are reproduced here in full, edited only for spelling and punctuation: 1. In anti-drug operations in which police say they kill suspects in self-defense (2,004 deaths), almost none of the suspects survive. Why is that? Answer: THE DRUG […]
By Michelle Nichols | UNITED NATIONS UNITED NATIONS Russia and China on Monday vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution that would have demanded a seven-day truce in Syria’s Aleppo, with Russia arguing it would allow rebels to regroup and that time was needed for talks between Washington and Moscow. It was the sixth time Russia has vetoed a Security Council resolution on Syria since the conflict started […]
By Dominic Evans and Ahmed Rasheed | BAGHDAD BAGHDAD Western-backed Iraqi forces have begun shelling parts of west Mosul, residents said, in preparation for a new front against Islamic State seven weeks into a difficult campaign to drive the militants from the city. Federal police forces, stationed a few miles (km) south of Mosul, on the west bank of the Tigris river that divides the city, have […]
Photo Destroyed buildings dominate an eastern Aleppo neighborhood as pro-government troops advanced toward the area on Monday. Credit George Ourfalian/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images BEIRUT, Lebanon — With the Syrian rebel enclave of eastern Aleppo shriveling, Russia said on Monday that it would start talks with the United States this week on a deal for holdout insurgents to leave, and that any who refused would be regarded […]
Good morning. Here’s our daily summary of all the media news you need to know. Want to get this briefing in your inbox every morning? Subscribe here. Fake news is not the sole province of slimeball digital practitioners in faraway lands enabled by the righteous souls at Facebook and Google. There’s also — as has ever been so — the government. “Police investigating a notorious gang in […]
MOSCOW: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday he was confident Moscow and Washington can reach a deal in talks this week on the withdrawal of all rebels from the eastern part of the Syrian city of Aleppo.He told a news conference once the deal was reached, rebels who stay in the besieged eastern part of the city will be treated as terrorists and Russia will […]
By Kiyoshi Takenaka | TOKYO TOKYO Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will visit Pearl Harbor this month with U.S. President Barack Obama, becoming his country’s first leader to travel to the site of the Japanese attack 75 years ago that drew the United States into World War Two. “This will be a visit to console the souls of the victims,” Abe told reporters on Monday. “I would […]
In the United States, too, I found resistance to the idea that Brexit was a harbinger of a Trump victory. I was assured over and over by liberal friends that Trump would never be president. American voters were too sensible to fall for his hateful demagogy. Trump, I was told, was a product of peculiarly American strains of populism that flare up periodically, like the anti-immigrant nativism […]
By Idrees Ali | ABOARD A US MILITARY AIRCRAFT ABOARD A US MILITARY AIRCRAFT While the fight to retake the Iraqi city of Mosul from Islamic State is going to be difficult, it is “possible” it could be complete before President-elect Donald Trump takes office, U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said on Monday. Some 100,000 Iraqi government troops, Kurdish security forces and mainly Shi’ite militiamen are participating […]
Two new characters have been added to Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite. These are Captain America and Morrigan, revealed via an extended gameplay trailer shown during ESPN2’s rebroadcast of the Capcom Cup. The two join Iron Man, Captain Marvel, Ryu and Megaman X in the roster. The extended gameplay trailer reveals a number of things too such as Captain America’s Charging Star move and Morrigan’s winged acrobatics, which […]
ISLAMABAD A fire at a luxury hotel in the Pakistani city of Karachi killed at least 11 people on Monday and injured dozens, media reported. The blaze broke out in a ground floor kitchen of the Regent Plaza hotel and trapped guests in upper floors, the English-language Dawn newspaper reported. The hotel has more than 400 rooms. Video footage showed some hotel guests using a chain of […]
In late July, Moussa Aksar, the director of Niger’s L’Évènement newspaper, answered his phone and heard a familiar voice warning him that he was, once again, in danger. “Be careful,” a friendly source told Aksar. “Look out for yourself and be careful what you say on the phone.” Aksar had just published Niger’s first exposé from the Panama Papers, the investigation based on a leak of documents […]
In late July, Moussa Aksar, the director of Niger’s L’Évènement newspaper, answered his phone and heard a familiar voice warning him that he was, once again, in danger. “Be careful,” a friendly source told Aksar. “Look out for yourself and be careful what you say on the phone.” Aksar had just published Niger’s first exposé from the Panama Papers, the investigation based on a leak of documents […]
The Department of Human Services (DHS) has implemented an online compliance system that is using automation to help locate funds owed to the Commonwealth. Approximately AU$4.5 million that has gone awry is being pointed to each day by the online compliance system, allowing DHS to kick off the process to reclaim the funds. Before the new system, only AU$295,000 in missing funds was highlighted every 24 hours. […]
BEIRUT, Lebanon — Syrian government troops pushed deeper into the rebel-held section of Aleppo on Sunday, now controlling about half of what had been for years the rebels’ enclave in the divided northern city. Also on Sunday, airstrikes apparently carried out by the government or its ally Russia hit the towns of Maarat al-Noaman and Kafr Nabl in rebel-held Idlib Province. The strikes killed at least 20 […]
Your daily guide to community and cultural activities across the Emirates for December 5, 2016, including performances, festivals, art exhibitions, film screenings, health and fitness events, talks, classes, workshops and family fun. newslide Abu Dhabi Heritage performance Attend Hekayah the Story, a multiple-artist event under the stars in celebration of National Day, featuring poetry, prose and songs by performers from diverse backgrounds selected through a collaborative curatorial […]
Every morning in the Philippines, a handful of bodies are found littering the streets. Their faces are often covered in black plastic tape. Sometimes there are signs of torture. Usually, they have been shot in the head. Few bother police – they are usually suspected of being responsible. No one, frankly, should be surprised that it is happening. The country’s democratically elected leader, after all, was elected […]
BEIRUT As Syrian government forces advanced into Aleppo’s rebel-held al-Sakhour district, Hasan al-Ali said he faced the choice of staying put and being caught by the army, or fleeing into a shrinking rebel enclave under relentless bombardment. A father of three children, he opted for the latter, though food, fuel, water and medicine are running critically low in rebel-held areas, such is his fear of the Syrian […]
By Tom Perry and Suleiman Al-Khalidi | BEIRUT/AMMAN BEIRUT/AMMAN As the Syrian government and its allies prepared to ramp up their attack on Aleppo in November, one of the rebel groups defending the opposition-held part of the city took up arms against another, seizing its stores of ammunition, fuel and food. The incident near an Aleppo frontline underlined the rebel rivalries that only worsened in the face […]
Europe’s mainstream political parties have voiced their relief after Austria voted against a far-right nationalist becoming president in an election that had been seen as the first of two tests of populism on the continent on Sunday. Alexander Van der Bellen, a Green politician who ran as an independent, won 53.3 per cent of the vote while his far-right opponent, Norbert Hofer of the Freedom party, won […]
PANAMA CITY: Getting rid of tax havens depends on the United States and Europe, but is unlikely to happen anytime soon, journalists behind the publication of the Panama Papers said Friday. “The biggest tax haven in the world today is probably in the United States,” Jake Bernstein, a US investigative reporter with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), told a conference in Panama hosted by anti-corruption […]
