By Andrew Osborn and Orhan Coskun | MOSCOW/ANKARA MOSCOW/ANKARA Syria would be divided into informal zones of regional power influence and Bashar al-Assad would remain president for at least a few years under an outline deal between Russia, Turkey and Iran, sources say. Such a deal, which would allow regional autonomy within a federal structure controlled by Assad’s Alawite sect, is in its infancy, subject to change […]
In the latest snub of president Obama and the US State Department, on Wednesday Turkey and Russia reached an agreement for a ceasefire in Syria, Turkey’s foreign minister said, and according to Anadolu News Agency, will aim to put it into effect by midnight. Anadolu, citing sources, said the two countries have reached a consensus that will be presented to participants in the conflict on expanding the […]
DOHA A leading Bahraini activist was granted bail on Wednesday after months of detention while facing trail over a series of tweets. Nabeel Rajab, founder of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, said on his Twitter account he had been released after a court hearing on Wednesday and would appear in court again on Jan. 23. There was no immediate comment from Bahraini authorities. Rajab was arrested […]
Photo Construction this week in the settlement of Har Homa in Jerusalem. Credit Atef Safadi/European Pressphoto Agency JERUSALEM — Israeli leaders postponed plans on Wednesday to move ahead with new housing in East Jerusalem, just hours before Secretary of State John Kerry was scheduled to deliver a much-anticipated speech outlining an American vision for peace with the Palestinians. The Jerusalem city planning committee, reportedly acting at the […]
When the direct trading link between stock markets in Shenzhen and Hong Kong opened this month, local dignitaries were easy to spot at the launch events. Less conspicuous were international investors ready to take advantage of what was billed as a big opportunity to buy into Chinese equities. The link offers foreign investors greater access to shares on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, home to some of China’s up […]
By Erik Kirschbaum | BERLIN BERLIN Nearly 55,000 migrants who were not eligible for or were likely to be denied asylum left Germany voluntarily in 2016, up by 20,000 from the number who left of their own volition in 2015, the government said on Wednesday. “That’s a considerable increase from last year,” Interior Ministry spokesman Harald Neymanns told a news conference, saying the 2016 figure had climbed […]
DUBAI Iran has warned off foreign surveillance planes that have tried to approach its forces during air defence exercises on the Gulf coast, an Iranian military spokesman said on Wednesday. “In the past three days, more than 12 warnings have been issued to aircraft from outside the region to refrain from approaching the airspace of the manoeuvre area,” said Brigadier-General Abbas Farajpour Alamdari, quoted by the official […]
By Jeffrey Heller | JERUSALEM JERUSALEM Jerusalem’s city hall cancelled a vote on Wednesday on applications to build nearly 500 new homes for Israelis in East Jerusalem, a municipal official said, plans that had drawn U.S. criticism in a raging dispute over settlements. The proposed settlement is part of building activity that the U.N. Security Council demanded an end to on Friday, a resolution that a U.S. […]
JAKARTA, Dec. 28 (UPI) — A judge overruled Jakarta Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama’s appeal to have his trial on blasphemy charges thrown out, instead setting a date and new location for the next hearing in the trial. Purnama’s next hearing is set for Jan. 3 at the Agriculture Ministry’s building in south Jakarta, a relocation from the Central Jakarta District Court in central Jakarta in an effort […]
The remaining population of the cheetah in the wild hints that the world’s fastest mammal is heading toward extinction. Only 7,100 Cheetahs Left In The Wild A new study that looked into the number of the speedy big cat estimated that there are only 7,100 of these animals left in the wild. The findings prompted calls for the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) to re-categorize the […]
28 December 2016 The UAE Banks Federation (UBF), the professional body representing 49 banks in the UAE, announced today its whole weight contribution as strategic partner for the 2017 ACFE Fraud Conference Middle East, set to take place in Dubai from 29-31 January 2017 at Atlantis, the Palm. Held under the patronage of His Excellency AbdulAziz Al Ghurair, Chairman of UAE Banks Federation (UBF), the event is […]
MOSCOW Russian investigators said on Wednesday they had opened a criminal case into a group of men who filmed themselves crushing a bear to death by repeatedly driving over it in off-road vehicles in the Siberian tundra. A video posted on YouTube on Monday, apparently shot on a mobile phone, showed men in two heavy trucks shouting “Crush him! Crush him!” and poking the bear as it […]
Orthodox Jews in black coats and skullcaps danced with Arabs in flowing robes and checkered kaffiyehs at a Hanukkah celebration over the weekend in Bahrain, a Muslim-majority monarchy whose king has sanctioned celebrations of the Jewish holiday. Video of the celebration, which included a Jewish delegation giving a large silver menorah to Arab dignitaries and members of both groups dancing together, appeared on Monday on YouTube, where […]
$6.2 million: Amount former World Wrestling Entertainment executive Linda McMahon, who Trump picked to serve in his Cabinet as the Small Business Administration administrator, donated to pro-Trump political groups ahead of the election 33: Number of states that will be led by a Republican governor in 2017 3-to-1: Factor by which Team Clinton outgunned Team Trump on the TV airwaves during the general election 11: Percentage of TV ads sponsored by […]
RAMALLAH: The Palestinian president said Tuesday that he hopes the upcoming Mideast conference in France will set a timetable to end settlements, as Israel advances plans for thousands of new homes in parts of Jerusalem claimed by the Palestinians, despite the recent UN Security Council resolution condemning construction there.The developments came just days after the United States broke with past practice and allowed the UN Security Council […]
As president-elect Trump plays Boeing and Lockheed off against each other, China flexed its military muscles once again – after sending its aircraft carrier Liaoning into the western Pacific – by testing the latest version of its fifth-generation stealth fighter, state media reported on Monday, as it tries to end the West’s monopoly on the world’s most advanced warplanes. As The South China Morning Post reports, the […]
BEIJING The eastern Chinese city of Wuxi will suspend poultry trade from Thursday amid fears about bird flu, becoming the second city in Jiangsu province to halt live poultry markets, it said. The city will close live poultry wholesale markets, restrict vehicles carrying live poultry from entering Wuxi markets and temporarily ban the entry of outside poultry, the city’s information office said on Wednesday on its official […]
BEIRUT An explosion hit a bus in Lebanon’s northern Bekaa Valley region, killing one person and wounding another on Wednesday morning, the National News Agency (NNA) said. The attack took place in the town of al-Ain, some 20 km (13 miles) west of the Lebanese-Syrian border, NNA reported. Lebanese television station al-Manar said a bomb exploded inside the passenger bus, killing the town’s deputy mayor and severely […]
By Mayank Bhardwaj | NEW DELHI NEW DELHI A train derailed in Uttar Pradesh (U.P.) on Wednesday injuring at least 43 people, police and rail officials said, at least the third such accident in recent weeks that has raised concerns about the safety of the ageing rail network. The train derailed near Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh state early in the morning. All the injured, several of whom […]
KABUL An explosion went off in a crowded area of the Afghan capital, Kabul, on Wednesday, causing some casualties, witnesses said, while a police officer said it appeared to have been a bomb attack aimed at a member of parliament. The police official, who declined to be identified because he is not authorized to speak to the media, also said there had been some casualties but he […]
CBC’s I-Team tackles a wide variety of stories in any given year. There are hidden camera shoots, accountability interviews, court cases, long hours on the phone with tipsters who want to remain anonymous, dozens upon dozens of freedom of information requests, and data-mining on all manner of topics. This year, the investigative team tackled everything from health and safety issues in the nail salon industry to doctors who […]
At this late date, weeks ahead of the inauguration of Mr. Trump, who openly lobbied on Israel’s side against the United Nations resolution, it is unclear what Mr. Kerry hopes to achieve from the speech, other than to leave a set of principles that he believes will one day emerge as the basis for talks, if and when they resume. Continue reading the main story Mr. Kerry, […]
Qualcomm has been fined 1.03 trillion won ($865 million) by the South Korean Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) over antitrust violations, with the regulator finding the chip giant’s business practices to be in violation of competition law. Qualcomm’s business model includes collecting royalty payments from clients, which are calculated on the price of the handset using the chip, rather than the price of the chipset itself, and royalties […]
BEIJING The Vatican should take steps to improve relations with China, the Chinese head of religious affairs said on Tuesday, a week after the Roman Catholic Church said it was hoping for “positive signals” from Beijing. Pope Francis is trying to heal a decades-old rift with China where Catholics are divided between those loyal to him and those who are members of a government-controlled official church. One […]
