December 19, 2016 by: Guy Chazan in Berlin and Ralph Atkins in Zürich A truck ploughed into a crowded Christmas market in the German capital Berlin on Monday evening, killing nine people and injuring up to 50 others, in what police described as a deliberate attack. The incident occurred near the fashionable Kurfürstendamm, close to the Kaiser Wilhelm memorial church, one of Berlin’s most iconic landmarks. German […]
Photo Jordanian security forces in the town of Karak on Monday. Credit Ben Curtis/Associated Press KARAK, Jordan — Gunmen involved in a rare terrorist attack in Jordan on Sunday had a large cache of weapons, explosives and suicide vests in the apartment where they had been living, the country’s interior minister said on Monday. The discovery of the cache suggested that the men were preparing for multiple […]
By Michelle Nichols | UNITED NATIONS UNITED NATIONS African states narrowly failed on Monday for a second time to halt the work of the first U.N. independent investigator appointed to help protect gay and transgender people worldwide from violence and discrimination. The attempt was voted down in the U.N. General Assembly 84 to 77 with 16 abstentions, a month after African states made a similar unsuccessful move […]
Convoys of evacuees travelled from a rebel-held area of Aleppo and from two Shi’ite villages besieged by insurgents on Monday after a days-long stand-off. Dozens of buses carrying thousands of people from Aleppo’s tiny rebel zone reached insurgent areas of countryside to the west of the city, according to a United Nations official and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group. At the same time, […]
By Michelle Nichols | UNITED NATIONS UNITED NATIONS The United Nations Security Council on Monday unanimously called for U.N. officials and others to observe the evacuation of people from the last rebel-held enclave in Aleppo and monitor the safety of civilians who remain in the Syrian city. The 15-member council overcame long-held divisions – that have pitted Syrian ally Russia and China against western powers over the […]
VIENNA Austria’s far-right Freedom Party (FPO) offered on Monday to act as a go-between for U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin after signing a cooperation agreement with Putin’s party. Party leader Heinz-Christian Strache and the FPO’s recently defeated presidential candidate Norbert Hofer attended the signing ceremony in Moscow, as did officials of Putin’s United Russia party including Pyotr Tolstoy, a deputy chairman of the […]
About nine months before George W. Bush became president I, along with about 70 others, were asked to join an independent tech advisory board to help Bush, then governor of Texas, understand the role of tech in the new decade and help craft a tech policy should he become president. Our first meeting took place in Austin, and from that came various subcommittees to research […]
By Angus McDowall and Ellen Francis | BEIRUT BEIRUT Thousands were evacuated from the last rebel-held enclave of the city of Aleppo on Monday after a deal was reached to allow people to leave two besieged pro-government villages in nearby Idlib province. Convoys of buses from eastern Aleppo reached rebel-held areas of countryside to the west of the city in cold winter weather, according to a U.N. […]
Photo Buses evacuated residents from Fua and Kfarya, Shiite villages near the Syrian city of Aleppo, on Monday. Credit Agence France-Presse — Getty Images BEIRUT, Lebanon — After days of delays and sporadic violence, the evacuation of civilians and fighters from besieged communities in Syria has resumed, with convoys taking people out of Aleppo and two nearby Shiite villages, Syrian state television and opposition conflict monitors reported […]
DUBAI // Prosecutors have failed to overturn a not guilty verdict given to an office cleaner accused of sexual assault. Dubai Criminal Court cleared the 34-year-old Indian of touching a woman’s breast in October. On May 15, the 28-year-old Filipina was working late at her office in Dubai Healthcare City. “About 9.30pm I went to my desk to take my bag and laptop then leave but I […]
The deal would send United Nations monitors to observe the evacuation process after consultations with “interested parties,” which means that observers could in theory be turned down by soldiers and militias on the ground. Senior United Nations officials have repeatedly said that they have sought Syrian government permission to be present during the evacuation process, and that they have not received it. Continue reading the main story […]
By Ben Blanchard | BEIJING BEIJING An underwater drone taken by a Chinese naval vessel in the South China Sea last week is part of U.S. surveillance efforts in the disputed waterway, but Beijing won’t likely make a big fuss about its handover, Chinese state media and experts said. U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, who has vowed to take a more aggressive approach in dealing with China over […]
The evidential burden for cases brought under proposed changes to the Privacy Act — that criminalise the intentional re-identification and disclosure of de-identified Commonwealth datasets — would be reversed, such that defendants would need to prove their innocence. “The defendant entity or agency bears the evidential burden for each of these exceptions, which reverses the criminal law principle that the prosecution must prove every element of the […]
SHAH ALAM: Malaysia is of the opinion that only consistent unity among the 10 ASEAN countries can ensure any dispute in the region, especially involving the South China Sea is free from geopolitic intervention by the world’s superpowers. Defence Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein said ASEAN countries must continue to strengthen their relationship to prevent the occurrence of any disputes that may affect harmony, peace and […]
On Saturday morning, the Pentagon was eager to announce that China would return a U.S. Navy underwater drone after its military scooped up the submersible in the South China Sea late this week and sparked a row that drew in President-elect Donald Trump. As previously reported, Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said that “through direct engagement with Chinese authorities, we have secured an understanding that the Chinese will […]
Senior American officials and top commanders in the Middle East say the brutal urban fight for Mosul is succeeding — however slowly — but is proving to be tougher than expected. These officials predict that the battle to oust the Islamic State from Iraq’s second-largest city could last two to four more months. Continue reading the main story Brett H. McGurk, President Obama’s envoy to the international […]
Image: Sarah Tew/CNET Every week, we sound off on the most important technology trends in our Monday Morning Opener. Looking back on 2016, we’ve identified the five tectonic plate shifts that have made the biggest impact on the industry and our readers who use these tools to drive the progress of the planet. So, without further ado, here are the five big tech trends of 2016 according […]
Underlines the Importance of Strengthening Partnership with the Private Sector to Achieve Strategic Objectives in the UAE Dubai, UAE: December 18, 2016 The Ministry of Climate Change and Environment launched the ‘Environment and Business Majlis’, aimed at boosting the private sector’s contribution and guided private companies to be aligned with the government’s environmental strategies and create new investment opportunities that involved the ministry and the private sector. […]
The evacuation of eastern Aleppo stalled again on Sunday after a convoy heading for two government-controlled towns came under attack by rebel forces. According to Syrian state television, the buses were en route to al-Fuaa and Kefraya to collect the sick and injured when they were attacked and torched by opposition fighters. A video posted online, purporting to be of the aftermath of the convoy attack, shows […]
BENGHAZI, Libya At least seven people were killed and eight wounded when a suicide bomber targeted forces loyal to Libya’s eastern government in Benghazi on Sunday, medical and security officials said. Islamic State said it carried out the bombing, in the besieged district of Ganfouda. The area is one of the last pockets of resistance holding out against the Libyan National Army (LNA), a self-styled force loyal […]
By Stephen Kalin | ERBIL, Iraq ERBIL, Iraq Seven-year-old Anas lies in a hospital bed in the northern Iraqi city of Erbil, his little body wrapped in bandages following four surgeries to remove shrapnel that shredded his intestines. He is considered lucky for being alive. Two of his brothers did not survive the Islamic State mortar attack three weeks ago on their family’s home in Mosul. One […]
AMMAN, Jordan — Four Jordanian police officers and a Canadian tourist were shot and killed by gunmen in the southern city of Karak on Sunday, according to a statement from the Public Security Department. The violence began when a police patrol was sent to check on reports of a house on fire. When the police arrived on the scene, they were met with a barrage of gunfire […]
AMMAN At least 10 people, including foreign tourists, were rescued from a besieged medieval fortress in Jordan on Sunday, but others were still being held by the gunmen who took refuge there after a shooting spree on police, two security source said. A Canadian woman and four police officers were killed, police said. The security sources said the number of tourists remaining in the castle in the […]
AMMAN Unidentified armed gunmen fired at several police patrols in drive-by shootings in the southern Jordanian city of Karak with reports of several casualties, security sources said. They said the attackers were being pursued in an ancient castle in the mountainous city where some of the assailants had taken cover after shooting at a nearby police station. Police dispatched special forces to hunt the attackers with an […]
