Clashes in Damascus after surprise rebel assault
Author: Agence France PresseSun, 2017-03-19ID: 1489922235664736800 BEIRUT, Lebanon: Heavy clashes rocked eastern districts of the Syrian capital on Sunday after opposition forces and jihadists launched a surprise assault on regime forces there, a monitor and state television said. Opposition forces and allied jihadists, led by former Al-Qaeda affiliate Fateh Al-Sham Front, attacked government positions in the Jobar […]
Germany supports group behind Turkish coup attempt — Erdogan spokesman
Author: ReutersSun, 2017-03-19ID: 1489919928654566800 ANKARA: Turkey on Sunday accused Germany of supporting the network of a US-based Muslim cleric it blames for last year’s attempted coup, comments likely to aggravate a diplomatic feud between Ankara and Berlin. On Saturday, German news magazine Der Spiegel published an interview with the head of the BND foreign intelligence agency, who […]
Turkey’s referendum campaign unfair, Erdogan opponents say
Author: SUZAN FRASER | APSun, 2017-03-19ID: 1489919928624566600 ANKARA, Turkey: Opposition figures in Turkey say they have faced threats, violence, arbitrary detentions, a lack of TV airtime and even sabotage in the campaign for a referendum on expanding the president’s powers. The complaints come even as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan himself has slammed European countries for not […]
Iran pre-nups land thousands of men in jail
Author: Eric Randolph and Ali Noorani | AFPSun, 2017-03-19ID: 1489906491903969500 TEHRAN: When Sadegh married his college sweetheart, he never thought he’d end up as one of those Iranians facing ruin and even prison because of huge sums demanded by his wife’s family. But the “mehrieh” (“affection“) system, in which future husbands agree to pay a certain number […]
Hamas sentences 2 drug dealers to death in Gaza
Author: Associated PressSun, 2017-03-19ID: 1489920205284591800 GAZA CITY: A Hamas military court has sentenced two Palestinians to death for drug dealing, in the first-such case since the militant group seized the Gaza Strip a decade ago. The Interior Ministry says Sunday that one would be killed by a firing squad. The other defendant was sentenced in absentia. The […]
Syrians finding refuge in Africa as war at home grinds on
Author: JORDI PERDIGO | APSun, 2017-03-19ID: 1489919928604566500 ACCRA, Ghana: As desperate Syrians flee the devastating war in their country, some are finding refuge in sub-Saharan Africa, including Ghana. One imam from Aleppo, Abdul Ghani Bandenjki, first visited Ghana in 2006 after being invited to officiate at prayers during the Ramadan holy month. When fighting broke out in […]
As Mosul battle escalates, civilians caught in crossfire
Author: ReutersSun, 2017-03-19ID: 1489918495504437100 MOSUL: Shihab Ayed and several other men struggled to push a cart carrying the bodies of his son and wife, wrapped in blankets, through a muddy ditch nearly two miles (3 km) from their destroyed home in Mosul. Four other carts followed, laden with days-old corpses from air strikes which the men said […]
Daughter of late Iran president handed six months
Author: The Associated PressSun, 2017-03-19ID: 1489865515009351500 TEHRAN: The outspoken daughter of Iran’s late President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani has been sentenced to six months in prison for “spreading lies against the judiciary,” a semi-official news agency reported Saturday, as the country prepares for a May presidential election. The report by the Fars news agency comes after rumors of […]
Bahrain hails US declaration of Al-Ashtar members as terrorists
Author: ARAB NEWSSun, 2017-03-19ID: 1489865515049352400 MANAMA: Bahrain has welcomed the decision by the US Department of State to designate individuals affiliated with Al-Ashtar Brigades as Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGT) under Executive Order 13224. “This stance reflects the position of the friendly United States of America to combat terrorism in all its forms and to confront all […]
Quartet backs Libya’s unity govt
Author: AFPSun, 2017-03-19ID: 1489865515059352800 CAIRO: A quartet of international groups said Saturday it supported efforts by Libya’s unity government to assert control over Tripoli after days of fighting with rival militias. The Cairo meeting by representatives of the UN, EU, Arab League and African Union came a day after gunmen opened fire at demonstrators protesting against militias […]
