Pakistan says will quit Saudi-led military coalition if it turns 'sectarian'
Wed Apr 12, 2017 12:7PM
Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif
(Photo by AFP)
Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Asif says Islamabad will quit a controversial Saudi-led coalition if it becomes "sectarian," as the military bloc continues its aggression against the impoverished nation of Yemen, particularly the Shia Houthi Ansarullah movement there.
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No military solution to Syria crisis: Mogherini
US Navy guided-missile destroyer USS Porter conducts strike operations while in the Mediterranean Sea on April 7, 2017. (Photo by Reute- goes under the picture
European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini has rejected a military solution to the Syria crisis following a US missile strike which has escalated tensions in the Middle East.
"As for Syria, it was reaffirmed during the Brussels conference organized last week that there is no military solution to the crisis in Syria," Mogherini said at a news conference in Algiers on Sunday.
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Egypt declares 3-month state of emergency
Egypt has announced a three-month state of emergency following twin deadly Daesh bombings in the country.
“Several steps are to be taken, the first of which will be the declaration of a state of emergency after the necessary legal and constitutional procedures are complete, for three months in Egypt. We are announcing this state of emergency only to protect our country and secure it, and to prevent any interference with it," said Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi during a live televised speech on Sunday.
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British foreign secretary cancels Moscow visit
'We deplore Russia’s continued defence of Assad,' says Boris Johnson, urging Moscow to help stop chemical weapons attacks
LONDON
British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has cancelled a visit to Moscow in light of recent developments in Syria, including Tuesday's deadly chemical attack by the Assad regime, a government statement said Saturday.
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Daesh second-in-command killed in Iraqi airstrikes: Report
The second top figure of Daesh terrorist group has reportedly been killed along with two other top brass commanders of the Takfiris during Iraqi airstrikes in the western province of Al Anbar.
Citing the Iraqi intelligence apparatus, the Iraqi State TV announced on Saturday that Ayad Hamid Khalaf Al-Jumaili, the man believed to be the deputy of Daesh leader Ibrahim al-Samarrai, also known as Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was killed
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China claims discovery of its largest gold minewith $22 billion potential
The biggest ever gold deposit of an estimated 380 tons has been discovered in China, announced Shandong Gold Group during a news conference in Beijing on Tuesday.
According to local media reports, the Xiling gold seam in eastern China is more than 2,000 meters long and 67 meters wide. At full capacity, the mine could produce gold for 40 years.
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Gunmen kidnap journalist outside Somali capital
Local journalist kidnapped on his way to work outside capital
01.04.2017
MOGADISHU
Unknown gunmen on Saturday kidnapped a journalist
working for local Goobjoog Radio and Television station outside of Somali capital of Mogadishu.
Hanad Ali Gulled was taken by six unknown gunmen on
the outskirts of the capital while he was on his way to work, according to the station.
In a statement, Goobjoog media group expressed
concern for the Gulled's safety and added: "We request government security agencies to take an urgent action to make sure the journalist to be released from captivity." Guled had reportedly received death threats a day earlier. No group has claimed responsibility for the abduction.
Some 600 mln children to face extremely limited water
resources: UNICEF
A girl fetches water at an Internal Displaced Person (IDP) camp in Mogadishu, capital of Somalia, on March 22, 2017. Some 600 million children, or one in four children worldwide, will be
living in areas with extremely limited water resources by 2040, according to a report released here by the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) on March 22 to mark World Water Day. The report
noted that more than 800 children under the age of five die every day from diarrhoea linked to inadequate water, sanitation and hygiene. Many children in drought-affected areas spend
hours every day collecting water, missing out on a chance to go to school.
(Xinhua)
Global depression numbers surged in past decade: WHO
Cases of depression have ballooned almost 20 percent in a decade, making the debilitating disorder linked to suicide the leading cause of disability worldwide, the World Health Organization says.
By 2015, the number of people globally living with depression, according to a revised definition, had reached 322 million, up 18.4 percent since 2005, the UN agency said on Thursday.
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US focus no longer on removing Assad in Syria: UN ambassador
Thu Mar 30, 2017 8:44PM
The United States is no longer interested in removing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, says the US ambassador to the United Nations, suggesting that the new US administration is changing its priorities in Syria.
"Our priority is no longer to sit there and focus on getting Assad out," Ambassador Nikki Haley told reporters on Thursday, according to Reuters.
"Our priority is to really look at how do we get things done, who do we need to work with to really make a difference for the people in Syria,” she added.
"We can't necessarily focus on Assad the way the previous administration maybe did. Do we think he's a hindrance? Yes," the ambassador stated. "Are we going to sit there and focus on getting him out? No."
Ethiopia: Martial law extended 4 more months
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia
The Ethiopian parliament Thursday has extended by four months the state of emergency put in place last October following series of violent protests in the Amhara and Oromia regional states.
The House of People’s representatives voted unanimously to extend the duration of the state of emergency that was due to end on April 9.
Ethiopia imposed martial law a week after Oct. 2 protests in the south-central town of Bishoftu saw scores killed in a stampede when security forces fired bullets and teargas to disperse protesters.
Many towns in Oromia -- the largest and most populous regional state in Ethiopia -- then witnessed violent protests.
The Bishoftu incidents constituted a high point in a series of anti-government protests that have raged since 2014 in the two states that make up most of Ethiopia’s population of nearly 100 million.
Mid-March, the country announced the easing of some of the restrictions imposed under the state of emergency such as the clause that prohibits movements near factories and major industries from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m
Putin ready to meet Trump at upcoming Arctic summit in Finland
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he would be ready to meet with US President Donald Trump at the upcoming summit of Arctic countries in Finland, if the talks are properly prepared.
“I believe Finland suits this purpose well, and Helsinki is a very convenient platform to organize an event like this,” Putin said, when asked if he thought a meeting between him and Trump was possible in Finland.
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Saudi attack on Somali refugee boat likely war crime: HRW
Mon Mar 27, 2017 1:10PM
Human Rights Watch (HRW) says a recent deadly aerial aggression on a boat carrying Somali refugees off the coast of Yemen, “apparently” carried out by the Saudi-led military coalition, likely amounts to “war crime.”
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Kasich: Trump needs to work with Democrats on health care
Washington (CNN)Ohio Gov. John Kasich said Sunday that President Donald Trump likely learned a lesson from his failed attempt to pass the Republican health care bill and called the lack of bipartisan cooperation in Washington "pathetic."
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Biden regrets not running for US president:
Former US Vice President Joe Biden is remorseful about his decision not to run in last year’s presidential election, claiming that he could have easily defeated Donald Trump.
During a speech at Colgate University in Hamilton, New York, Biden said he only needed to secure the Democratic Party’s nomination in order to win.
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London Attacker Former Teacher in SaudiArabia: Report
