By Stephanie Nebehay and Joseph Sipalan | GENEVA/KUALA LUMPUR GENEVA/KUALA LUMPUR South Korea called for “collective measures” to punish North Korea for using chemical weapons to kill the estranged half-brother of its leader Kim Jong Un, as Malaysia said on Tuesday it would charge two women with murder over the airport attack. Police have said the women smeared VX nerve agent, a chemical on a United Nations […]
By Tom Miles and John Irish | GENEVA GENEVA Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said on Tuesday that a U.N. Security Council resolution put forward by Western powers to punish Syria’s government over its alleged use of chemical weapons would harm peace talks in Geneva. The resolution, which comes amid U.N.-led peace talks between the warring Syrian parties, seeks to ban the supply of helicopters to […]
At Qayyarah Airfield West, a sprawling Iraq base 40 miles south of Mosul, a United States Army task force fires Himars satellite-guided rockets at targets. Apache attack helicopters, equipped with Hellfire missiles, stand ready to carry out their missions from the base’s airfield. Continue reading the main story Not to mention the punishing airstrikes by American and allied warplanes and drones. A flurry of attacks were carried […]
By Yara Abi Nader and John Irish | GENEVA GENEVA The main opposition group at Syrian peace talks in Geneva wants to meet Russian envoys to discuss what it says are Moscow’s broken ceasefire promises, a move diplomats say aims to put pressure on the Russian-backed Syrian government delegation. Russia has sought to revive diplomacy since its air force helped the Syrian army and allied militias defeat […]
When Turkey’s children returned to school in September, there was something new on the curriculum: a week-by-week syllabus, mandated by the minister of education, celebrating what many call Turkey’s “second revolution”. Course materials included two slickly produced patriotic videos laced with references to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s success in putting down the attempted coup on July 15. The first opens with an image of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, […]
By YARA BISHARA | Feb. 27, 2017 | 2:40 The Syrian Civil Defense, also known as the White Helmets, says it has rescued tens of thousands of people since the start of the civil war in 2011. A film about the group won an Oscar for best documentary short. NYtimes
By Marton Dunai | BUDAPEST BUDAPEST Hungary has begun building a second line of fence along its southern border with Serbia, a government spokesman said on Monday, a move likely to exacerbate criticism from some of the country’s European Union partners. Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s right-wing government considers migration to be one of the largest threats to the status quo in the EU. But officials in Brussels […]
PwC, the accountancy firm that has been responsible for counting Oscars votes for 80 years, has apologised for handing presenters the wrong envelopes for the best picture award, causing the Academy Award’s top prize to be erroneously handed to La La Land. Moonlight, an evocative coming of age story about a young gay black man, was the actual winner of the best picture Oscar but was almost […]
By Tom Perry and Humeyra Pamuk | BEIRUT/ISTANBUL BEIRUT/ISTANBUL Turkey-backed Syrian rebel groups clashed with government forces near a city in northern Syria they captured from Islamic State, the second such confrontation in that region this month. The clash late on Sunday took place in an area where the sides are waging separate campaigns against Islamic State. Russia, which backs the Syrian government, intervened to halt the […]
By Stephanie Nebehay and John Irish | GENEVA GENEVA Syrian activists called on Sunday for the Assad government to engage in serious talks on political transition and for the United Nations to strengthen the fragile ceasefire as violence engulfed parts of the country. U.N. mediator Staffan de Mistura said a militant attack in Homs on Saturday was a deliberate attempt to wreck the Geneva peace talks, while […]
By Stephen Kalin | MOSUL, Iraq MOSUL, Iraq U.S.-backed Iraqi forces pushed deeper into western Mosul on Sunday, aiming to capture a bridge across the Tigris which would link the city’s government-held eastern bank with the ongoing offensive against remaining militants in the west. The bridge is the southernmost of five bridges spanning the Tigris. All were damaged in strikes by the U.S.-led air coalition, and later […]
LONDON Islamic State militants are planning “indiscriminate attacks on innocent civilians” in Britain on a scale similar to those staged by the Irish Republican Army 40 years ago, the head of the country’s new terrorism watchdog said. In an interview with the Sunday Telegraph published on Sunday, Max Hill, the lawyer tasked with overseeing British laws on terrorism, said the militants were targeting cities and posed “an […]
Video Airstrikes in Syria More than 30 people were killed Saturday in attacks on two Syrian security offices in the central city of Homs. In Douma, on the eastern outskirts of the capital, Damascus, men evacuated children from the rubble of destroyed buildings after a reported government airstrike. By REUTERS and THE ASSOCIATED PRESS. Photo by Sameer Al-Doumy/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images. Watch in Times Video » […]
BEIRUT The Syrian army and its allies made a sudden advance on Saturday and Sunday into areas held by Islamic State in northwest Syria, a war monitor said, as the jihadist group retreated after losing the city of al-Bab to Turkey-backed rebels on Thursday. The eastwards advance in an area south of al-Bab has extended Syrian army control across 14 villages and brought it within 25km (15 […]
KABUL, Afghanistan — At least 10 police officers and the wife of a police commander were killed in an ambush by Islamic State militants in the northern province of Zawzjan, a provincial official said on Saturday. Mohammad Reza Ghafori, a spokesman for the Zawzjan provincial governor, said that the police officers were ambushed Friday as they left a mosque. The wife of the police commander heard about […]
GENEVA A United Nations peace envoy said a militant attack in Syria on Saturday was a deliberate attempt to wreck peace talks in Geneva, while the warring sides traded blame and appeared no closer to actual negotiations. Suicide bombers stormed two Syrian security offices in Homs, killing dozens with gunfire and explosions including the head of military security, prompting airstrikes against the last rebel-held enclave in the […]
PARIS French judges have placed two people under formal investigation and detained them on suspicion of wanting to travel to Syria or planning attacks in France, a judicial source said on Saturday. They were arrested last Tuesday along with a third person by French intelligence agents in the towns of Clermont-Ferrand and Marseille, and in the Paris region. The two are facing charges of criminal conspiracy to […]
Your daily guide to community and cultural activities across the Emirates for February 26, 2017, including performances, festivals, art exhibitions, film screenings, health and fitness events, talks, classes, workshops and family fun. Ellen Fortini rounds up 10 things to do today in the UAE. Want to see your event listed here? Email us with the details and contact information at [email protected] newslide Abu Dhabi Fitness event The […]
More than 30 people were killed Saturday in attacks on two Syrian security offices in the central city of Homs. In Douma, on the eastern outskirts of the capital, Damascus, men evacuated children from the rubble of destroyed buildings after a reported government airstrike. NYtimes
Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir told Iraqi officials in Baghdad on Saturday that the kingdom plans to appoint a new ambassador, an Iraqi foreign ministry official said. Iraq last year asked Saudi Arabia to replace its ambassador, Thamer al-Sabhan, after his comments about Iranian involvement in Iraqi affairs and alleged persecution of Sunni Muslims angered local Shi’ite Muslim politicians and militia leaders. Jubeir’s visit to Baghdad […]
By Tom Miles and Yara Abi Nader | GENEVA GENEVA Syria’s opposition is impatient for face-to-face peace talks in Geneva, but things could fall apart if Russia does not pressure President Bashar al-Assad on holding talks and push it to abide by a ceasefire, an opposition member said on Saturday. The United Nations opened the peace talks with a symbolic ceremony on Thursday, attended by representatives of […]
By Isabel Coles | MOSUL, Iraq MOSUL, Iraq U.S.-backed Iraqi forces pushed deeper into western Mosul on Saturday after retaking the city’s airport from Islamic State and punching into built-up areas of the jihadists’ last major stronghold in the country. Troops advanced in several more populated, built-up southern districts and about 1,000 civilians walked across the frontlines, the largest displacement since fighting began a week ago in […]
Photo Credit Rukmini Callimachi/The New York Times I’m in northern Iraq and spent the day traveling to the front lines of western Mosul, where Iraqi government forces are battling the Islamic State for complete control of this city. Along the way, my colleagues and I met a villager who had just escaped. The villager, Lahib Muhammed Ali, lived on a dairy farm. He said that because the […]
BEIRUT Militants attacked two Syrian security offices in the western city of Homs on Saturday with guns and suicide bombers, killing at least 42 people including a senior officer, a war monitor said. The attackers killed the head of military security and 29 others at one of its headquarters in the city and 12 more people at a branch of state security in attacks that began early […]
