Two Lebanese prison guards arrested for torture
BEIRUT — Two prison guards accused of torturing inmates inside a prison in Lebanon have been arrested, ministers told reporters on Sunday, a day after videos of prisoners receiving harsh beatings sparked uproar in the country. Initially, Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi told reporters that two prison guards were arrested but the...The forgotten refugees: Internally displaced population is growing
It’s a tale of hidden suffering of monumental proportions. The estimated number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the world has reached a record 38 million, but that number is still by far an underestimation. The figure comes from a recent report issued by the Geneva-based Internal Displacement Monitoring Center , with 11...ISIS kills 14 Iraqi soldiers
BAGHDAD — "Islamic State" militants detonated a car bomb and then opened fire on Iraqi troops in the western province of Anbar on Thursday, killing 14 soldiers, security sources said. Iraqi government forces and their Shi'a militia allies are hoping to recapture Anbar's provincial capital, Ramadi, which was seized by the terrorist...Iraqi town bans political debates, smoking and honking
BAGHDAD — Smoking, horn honking and political debating — these may sound like a few of Iraq's favorite things, but one village has banned them all to beat the national doom and gloom. "Smoking just isn't good for you," said Kadhim Hassoon, standing proudly by a red-and-white crossed out cigarette sign marking the entrance of Albu...Quadruple car bombing in Yemen capital kill two
SANAA — Four car bombs that struck mosques in Sanaa and the headquarters of Yemen's dominant Houthi movement on Wednesday killed two people and wounded 60 others, a medical source told state news agency Saba on Thursday. Coming on the eve of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, the bombings were claimed by "Islamic State" and...Arson targets “miracle” church in Israel
TEL AVIV — An arson attack on Thursday gutted part of a church at the traditional site of what Christianity reveres as Jesus' miracle of the feeding of the 5,000 on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, the Israeli fire brigade said. A verse from a Hebrew prayer denouncing the worship of "false gods" was spray-painted in red on a church...U.N. envoy to Syria condemns attacks on civilians by rebels and government
GENEVA — On Wednesday, the United Nations mediator for Syria, who held talks with President Bashar al-Assad this week, condemned the government's heavy bombing of civilian areas near Damascus and deadly rebel attacks on Aleppo. U.N. special envoy Staffan de Mistura called on both sides to allow greater access to besieged areas,...U.N. chief criticizes Israel over deaths of children in Gaza
UNITED NATIONS — Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon criticized Israel for the death and suffering of many Palestinian children during last summer’s conflict in Gaza and urged the Israeli government to take immediate steps to prevent such killings. The U.N. chief referred to the controversy over his decision not to include Israel on his...ISIS says blows up two warplanes at seized Libyan base
LIBYA — This week the terrorist group "Islamic State" claimed responsibility for blowing up two warplanes at an air base it seized near the central Libyan city of Sirte. The group published pictures on social media that it said showed the destroyed two military aircraft parked in front of a hangar. The Islamist rebel fighters...More than 20 million in war-torn Yemen need humanitarian aid
YEMEN — Eighty percent of Yemen's population, or more than 20 million people, need some form of humanitarian assistance as Arab air strikes and civil war ravage the impoverished country, aid agency UNICEF said this week. The figure is up by almost 5 million people since the organization's latest report this month. For...Thousands flee into Turkey from Syria as Kurds fight “Islamic state”
TURKEY — Thousands of people fled from Syria into Turkey on Wednesday as moderate rebels and Kurdish forces fought "Islamic State" insurgents holding the Syrian border town of Tel Abyad. The refugees had entered Turkey through a makeshift border crossing overseen by Turkish gendarmerie officers. Many of them were women and...Calls for aid to Syria’s Druze after al-Qaeda kills 20
BEIRUT/AMMAN — Fighters from Syria's al Qaeda branch, the Nusra Front, have killed at least 20 Druze villagers, raising fear for one of Syria's minorities as insurgents, including Sunni Islamists, gain ground against President Bashar al-Assad. Druze in Lebanon and Israel have made separate appeals for their Syrian kin to be armed to...
Lebanon’s fabric is fraying. This is why it matters
June 12th, 20150 On May 25, Lebanon marked one year without a president — the longest stretch where the country’s top post has been vacant since the Lebanese civil war ended in 1990. Since former President Michel Sleiman’s term in office ended last year, the Lebanese Parliament, which is responsible for appointing the president, has met 24 times...FBI extends FIFA scrutiny to World Cup host bids of Russia, Qatar
Qatar's 2022 World Cup organizing committee, shown here, has been accused of paying FIFA officials to win the bid to host the games, which would be played in the fall and winter due to hot weather.The FBI's investigation of bribery and corruption at FIFA includes scrutiny of how soccer's governing body awarded World Cup hosting rights...Divided loyalties as Kurds hold key to Turkish election
TURKEY — Sitting in front of a huge image of Islam's holiest shrine, Ahmet Turanli, an elder of the Resvan tribe, is just the sort of man whose support Turkey's ruling AK Party might want in a parliamentary election on Sunday. Tribes like Turanli's, mostly of Kurdish, Turkmen and Arab origin and concentrated in Turkey's southeast,......
Iran, six powers resume nuclear talks as June 30 deadline looms
IRAN — Iran and six world powers resumed negotiations on its nuclear program on Thursday, the Iranian state news agency IRNA said, seeking to overcome remaining differences with a self-imposed June 30 deadline looming to end a 12-year standoff. A framework accord was reached between Iran, the United States, France, Britain, Germany,...Yemen’s Houthis agree to talks as bombing reportedly kills 40
YEMEN — on Thursday, Yemen's dominant Houthis agreed to join United Nations-backed peace talks in Geneva planned for June 14, a day after their opponents in the exiled government confirmed their attendance. A Saudi-led coalition of Arab states has been bombing Houthi forces, the strongest faction in Yemen's civil war, for more than...Mubarak to stand trial again over 2011 killing of protesters
EGYPT — Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak will face a second and final retrial over the killing of protesters during the 2011 uprising that ended his 30-year rule, a high court said on Thursday. Mubarak, 87, was originally sentenced to life in prison in 2012 for conspiring to murder 239 demonstrators, sowing chaos and creating...Air strike in north Iraq killed dozens, including civilians, residents say
IRAQ — An air strike by a U.S.-led coalition flattened an entire neighborhood of a northern Iraqi town controlled by "Islamic State" militants, killing dozens of people, including civilians, witnesses and security sources said. The strike targeted an "Islamic State" bomb-making factory in Hawija overnight on Tuesday, triggering a......
Iran sends 15,000 troops to back Assad in Syria
Damascus — Iran has sent 15,000 fighters to Syria to reverse recent battlefield setbacks for Syrian government troops and wants to achieve results by the end of the month, according to numerous reports. The militia force, made up of Iranians, Iraqis and Afghanis, the source said, arrived in...Israel bombs Gaza sites after rocket attack claimed by ISIS sympathizer
GAZA — Israel retaliated on Thursday for rockets fired at it from Gaza with bombing raids against three militant training camps, and a radical group sympathetic with Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attacks on Israel. Witnesses and medics said the predawn attacks on two camps belonging to Hamas, which dominates the Gaza......
U.N. appeals for $500 million in humanitarian aid for Iraq
June 5th, 20150 IRAQ — The United Nations launched an appeal this week for half a billion dollars in international aid to tackle a worsening humanitarian crisis in Iraq triggered by the conflict with "Islamic State" militants. Lise Grande, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Iraq, said the United Nations would be forced to slash or shut down more...UN: Syrians lose hope in face of shocking carnage, devastation
DAMASCUS — The people of Syria are losing hope in the fifth year of a civil war that has brought levels of death and destruction that are so extreme they should shock the world's collective conscience, the United Nations chief said in a report. The war has killed more than 220,000 people and left a third of the population homeless.......