Erbil, Baghdad, Tehran- The Iraqi Kurdistan Region’s High Council for the Independence Referendum rejected on Sunday calls to postpone the independence referendum scheduled for next Monday and instead said that it was sending a delegation to Baghdad in the coming two days to negotiate the issue. The
London- Sheikh Abdullah bin Ali Al-Thani has called on the ruling family and the people of Qatar to a national, family and fraternal meeting to discuss the crisis and set the record straight. Sheikh Abdullah said in a statement on Sunday that he “felt pain at seeing the dispute going from bad to wor
Yangon- Aung San Suu Kyi is preparing to address Myanmar on the violence against Rohingya Muslims for the first time in an attempt to soothe global outrage. The nationally-televised turn will break a near silence since the ulcerous ethnic and religious hatreds in western Rakhine state erupted into k
Kabul- Afghanistan is considering training and arming 20,000 civilians to defend territories where extremists have been driven out, officials say, sparking fears the local forces could become another thuggish militia. The proposal for a government-backed armed group that would protect its own commu
Irbil, Baghdad – Even though Kurdish President Masoud Barzani confirmed that it was too late for an alternative for the independence referendum, senior Kurdish official of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) Mala Bakhtiyar asked Kurdish authorities to seriously consider the proposal suggested by
Algeria – The “work plan” of Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia is expected to garner wide support at parliament where it will be up for a vote on Sunday, predicted observers of the political situation in the North African country. The premier’s document acknowledges that the Algeria people will fac
London- British journalist who works for the Financial Times was killed by a crocodile while holidaying in Sri Lanka, BBC reported Friday. Paul McClean, an Oxford University graduate joined the FT as a graduate trainee two years ago. The BBC quoted an eyewitness as saying local people had heard him
Geneva- Arab Federation for Human Rights (AFHR) refuted allegations made by Qatar’s National Human Rights Commission about what it described as violations of Qatari rights and alleged violations of international law by regional countries. The Federation, which includes more than 40 human right
London- US space agency NASA’s Cassini spacecraft will end its groundbreaking 13-year mission to Saturn on Friday with a meteor-like plunge into the ringed planet’s atmosphere, transmitting data until the final fiery moment. Cassini, the first spacecraft to orbit Saturn, is expected to lose contact
Washington – US retail sales unexpectedly fell in August, US Commerce Department figures showed Friday. The Commerce Department said on Friday retail sales dropped 0.2 percent last month. Data for July was revised to show sales increasing 0.3 percent instead of the previously reported 0.6 perc
Riyadh- Attorney General of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Sheikh Saud bin Abdullah al-Muajab has announced the establishment of a permanent committee to coordinate with the competent government authorities and implement requests for mutual legal assistance relating to criminal matters, especially inte
Tel Aviv- Russia has rejected a request made by Israel to create a large buffer zone on the border of the Golan Heights in an attempt to keep Iranian forces and their militias around 70 kilometers away from Israeli territories, political sources in Tel Aviv have said. Israel had asked Russia and the
US president Donald Trump was roundly criticized last month for his failure to condemn the white supremacist rally and the killing of a woman in Charlottesville, Virginia in August by a man who drove through a crowd of counter-protesters. On Thursday, the White House announced Trump signing the reso
Jeddah- The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud sent on Friday a cable to British Prime Minister Theresa May following the terrorist attack in London. In his cable, the King said: “We have learned of the terrorist act that took place in London and the resulting
Tel Aviv- On the eve of a planned visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the US, sources revealed that the Israeli military and intelligence brass are odds with him over the nuclear deal with Iran. The sources said that mainly the premier and Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman have di
London, Erbil- The executive committee of the Kurdish-controlled Democratic Federal System of Northern Syria encouraged Syrians on Friday to participate in the elections of bodies running local communities scheduled for Sept. 22. For its part, Russia’s Hmeimim air base in Syria wrote on its Fa
Aden- Three suspected al-Qaeda militants were killed in a drone strike in southern Yemen late on Thursday, a local security official and residents said. The strike in Mudiyah district in Abyan province on the Arabian Sea coast had targeted a motorcycle which the suspected militants were riding, Reut
Tel Aviv- Tens of thousands of Africans who fled misery at home for safety in Israel are living in limbo, fearing deportation though some have lived in the country for more than a decade, AFP reported. Recognising a rising tide of discontent among Israelis over the migrants’ presence in south
Beirut- Lebanese President Michel Aoun on Friday welcomed the renewal of the mandate of the UN peacekeeping force in the country and said he was satisfied with the international community’s favorite response to Lebanon’s demands on allowing UNIFIL to function in line with the standards it was establ
London- Ford Motor Co and Virginia Tech Transportation Institute are testing a way to enable self-driving vehicles to communicate their movements visually to pedestrians, cyclists and to human drivers, the researchers said on Wednesday, according to Reuters. The new communications method, which uses
