A top US commander has claimed the military campaigns in Iraq and Syria have taken 45,000 enemy combatants off the battlefield and reduced the total number of Islamic State fighters to as few as 15,000. Lieutenant General Sean MacFarland said both the quality and number of Isis fighters was declining, ... Read More »
At least seven civilians have been killed in two separate bomb attacks blamed on Kurdistan Workers’ party (PKK) militants in south-east Turkey. A regional security force said four were killed on Wednesday in a car bomb attack in the centre of the city of Diyarbakir, and three lost their lives ... Read More »
In a sun-baked field just outside the Jordanian city of Ramtha, a young group of Syrian men and women weave their way up and down rows of green peppers. Refugees have long been working illegally on farms in Jordan but risked being deported back to Syria if they were caught. ... Read More »
The United States has approved the possible sale to Saudi Arabia of up to 153 tanks, hundreds of machine guns and other military gear in a deal worth $1.15bn. The announcement coincided with news that Saudi-led coalition warplanes had resumed air strikes on Yemen’s capital for the first time in ... Read More »
Donald Trump has been accused of a making an “assassination threat” against rival Hillary Clinton, plunging his presidential campaign into a fresh crisis. The volatile Republican nominee was speaking at a rally in Wilmington, North Carolina, about the next president’s power to appoint supreme court justices. “Hillary wants to abolish, ... Read More »
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is due to hold talks in St Petersburg with President Vladimir Putin and says he wants to “reset” ties with Russia. It is Mr Erdogan’s first foreign visit since an attempted coup last month. Relations between the two countries were plunged into crisis last year ... Read More »
An open letter signed by 50 Republican national security experts has warned that nominee Donald Trump “would be the most reckless president” in US history. The group, which includes the former CIA director Michael Hayden, said Mr Trump “lacks the character, values and experience” to be president. Many of the ... Read More »
Japan’s Emperor Akihito has strongly indicated he wants to step down, saying he fears his age will make it difficult to fulfil his duties. The revered 82-year-old emperor’s comments came in only his second-ever televised address to the public. Emperor Akihito did not explicitly say he wanted to abdicate as ... Read More »
Symbol of resistance against state violence in Manipur is expected to end her protest to possibly enter politics and get married Almost sixteen years after she started a hunger strike, India’s ‘Iron Lady’ Irom Chanu Sharmila, is expected to eat her first meal on Tuesday. The 44-year old campaigner, who ... Read More »
A Chinese tourist spent nearly two weeks in a German migrant hostel after mistakenly applying for asylum when he actually wanted to report a theft. German media say the 31-year-old backpacker, who spoke neither German nor English, underwent a medical check and his fingerprints were taken. A Red Cross worker ... Read More »
Lebanese Ministry of Information