Home / Uncategorized

Uncategorized

Afghanistan-Pakistan quake: Rescue efforts expanded

Rescue efforts are being stepped up to help those affected by the magnitude-7.5 earthquake which hit remote areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan on Monday. More than 360 people are known to have died, most of them in Pakistan, and at least 2,000 were injured. Rescue teams have been sent to remote mountainous areas where the impact of the quake is ...

Read More »

Turkey confirms shelling Kurdish fighters in Syria

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has confirmed that the Turkish military has attacked Kurdish fighters in northern Syria. The Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) said Turkey shot at its forces in the town of Tal Abyad on Sunday. The YPG has been a key ally of the US in fighting the so-called Islamic State (IS) group in Syria. Turkey fears ...

Read More »

UN chief tries to calm Israel-Palestinian violence

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is to visit Israel and the Palestinian territories in an effort to help end the spiralling violence. Mr Ban is expected to hold talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders. In the latest in a wave of attacks, an Israeli soldier was stabbed and wounded and his Palestinian assailant shot dead in the occupied West Bank, ...

Read More »

Turkey arrests prominent lawyer over PKK comments

Head of bar association in Diyarbakir city charged with “promoting terrorism” after saying “PKK is not terrorist group”. Turkish authorities have arrested the head of the bar association in the southeastern province of Diyarbakir on a charge of “promoting terrorism” after he commented on the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) group during a televised debate. Tuesday’s detainment of Tahir Elci, a ...

Read More »

West Bank gripped by fresh violence

Palestinian and settler killed in separate incidents near Hebron, as Israel arrests top West Bank Hamas official. Israeli authorities have arrested Hassan Yusef, here pictured in 2006, several times in the past. A Palestinian man has been killed by Israeli forces near the city of Hebron in the occupied West Bank after he allegedly tried to stab an Israeli soldier, ...

Read More »

Saudi prince avoids charges over alleged sex assaults in LA

Los Angeles prosecutors say they will not press charges against a Saudi prince accused of sexual assault. Majed Abdulaziz Al-Saud, 28, was arrested last month on suspicion of forced oral copulation with a worker at his Beverly Hills mansion. But prosecutors say they do not have enough evidence against Mr Al-Saud. Mr Al-Saud’s lawyer, Alan Jackson, said his client was ...

Read More »

Syria conflict: Russian air strikes ‘kill 45 in Latakia’

At least 45 people have been killed in Russian air strikes on a rebel-held area of north-western Syria, a monitoring group says. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that Russian warplanes bombed the rugged Jabal al-Akrad region of Latakia province on Monday afternoon. The commander of a Western-backed Free Syrian Army brigade and the families of rebels were among ...

Read More »

Japan to pay Fukushima worker cancer compensation

Japan’s government has acknowledged that a worker involved in clean-up work at the Fukushima nuclear plant may have developed cancer as a result. Officials say the man will be entitled to compensation for work-related illness, in the first cancer case linked to the Fukushima plant meltdown. The man, in his 40s, is suffering from leukaemia. The nuclear plant was badly ...

Read More »

France: Marine Le Pen goes on trial over Muslim remarks

French National Front leader Marine Le Pen has arrived at a court in Lyon, to answer charges of inciting racial hatred, for comparing Muslims praying in the street to the Nazi occupation. She made the comments at a rally in the city in 2010 when she was fighting for the leadership of the party. Ms Le Pen’s anti-immigration and anti-EU ...

Read More »

Syria conflict: Shells hit Russian embassy compound

Two shells have struck the Russian embassy compound in the Syrian capital Damascus as hundreds of pro-government supporters rallied outside in support of Russian air strikes. No-one was killed but a BBC Arabic correspondent in Damascus says some people were injured. The explosions triggered widespread panic and smoke was seen coming from the embassy compound. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov ...

Read More »