CAIRO (AFP) – A road crash in Egypt killed six people, including tourists from India and Malaysia, and injured at least 24 others on Saturday (Dec 28), security and medical sources said. The accident occurred when two buses carrying tourists crashed into a truck east of Cairo on the road to the Ain Sokhna resort […]

Over a dozen members of staff at English-language daily do not go to work after not being paid for months. Beirut, Lebanon – Members of staff at Lebanon’s The Daily Star newspaper have gone on strike, saying salaries had gone unpaid for months. More than a dozen reporters and editors at the English-language daily did […]

ANKARA (REUTERS) – Turkey will send troops to Libya at the request of Tripoli as early as next month, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday (Dec 26), putting the North African country’s conflict at the centre of wider regional frictions. Libya’s internationally recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli has been struggling to […]

Japan, a US ally, is launching its own operation rather than join a US-led mission to protect shipping in Gulf region. Japan will send a warship and patrol planes to protect Japanese ships in the Middle East as the situation in the region, from which it sources nearly 90 percent of its crude oil imports, […]

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tried to rally support yesterday as he faced a leadership challenge from within his own Likud party. Mr Netanyahu (70) is up against Gideon Saar, an ambitious former minister who says the premier is no longer capable of winning elections after a series of disappointing results and a corruption investigation. […]

GENEVA (REUTERS) – Iranian protesters chanted political slogans under the eye of security forces during a memorial on Thursday (Dec 26) for a man killed in demonstrations last month, videos on social media showed. The images, which could not be verified by Reuters, showed one woman shouting “Death to the dictator” as people around her […]

JERUSALEM — With Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s political future on the line — and possibly Israel’s — members of his conservative Likud party voted Thursday on whether to stick with their scandal-scarred leader or replace him ahead of a general election in March. Mr. Netanyahu, who was indicted last month on corruption charges including bribery, […]

ASHKELON, ISRAEL (REUTERS) – A rocket launched from the Gaza Strip at a southern Israeli city on Wednesday (Dec 25) as it hosted a campaign rally by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prompted him to take shelter briefly before resuming the event, Israeli TV stations reported. The Israeli military confirmed the launch against Ashkelon, which is […]

President Erdogan calls for unconditional support from the alliance in its fight against the Kurdish-Syrian militia. Turkey will block NATO’s plan for the defence of Baltic countries unless the alliance recognises a Kurdish  group as “terrorists”, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned. A NATO meeting on Tuesday, marking the alliance’s 70th anniversary, was set to […]

BEIRUT, Lebanon — A court in Saudi Arabia sentenced five men to death and three to prison terms over the killing of the Saudi dissident writer Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul last year, the kingdom’s public prosecutor’s office said on Monday. The killing of Mr. Khashoggi, a veteran Saudi media figure and columnist for The Washington […]