The US military has received permission from the government of Niger to begin flying armed drones in the country from the capital Niamey, according to a report. The agreement indicates an intensifying US military campaign against militants in Africa and is based on a recently signed government-to-government memorandum of understanding, The Associated Press reported on Friday, citing a […]

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, her Bavarian ally Horst Seehofer, and SPD Party leader Martin Schulz agreed during a meeting late on Thursday to enter into talks to find a way out of the recent political impasse in forming a coalition, a party official said on Friday. The leaders of the three parties discussed various options for […]

TEHRAN – The US Senate narrowly approved a tax overhaul, moving Republicans and President Donald Trump a big step closer to their goal of slashing taxes for businesses and the rich while offering everyday Americans a mixed bag of changes. In what would be the largest change to US tax laws since the 1980s, Republicans […]

TEHRAN– A senior author and political commentator from Canada praised Iran’s campaign against terrorism in the Middle East and said the Islamic Republic has been fighting the phenomenon while the West’s support for terror groups in the region is well documented. “Iran has played a very important role in defeating terrorism in the Middle East; it […]

TEHRAN – Pope Francis on Friday used the word “Rohingya” for the first time during his current trip to Asia to refer to Muslim refugees who have fled in large numbers from violence in Myanmar. “The presence of God today is also called Rohingya,” he said in an improvised remark after meeting 16 refugees brought […]

In late 2006, I traveled to Saudi Arabia on behalf of Human Rights Watch to discuss human rights with Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, then the assistant interior minister for security affairs. He explained to me the merits of his country’s project to rehabilitate extremists by detaining several thousand Saudis until religious leaders declared them reformed. […]

Stop the state visit. Britain should not allow the U.S. president’s racism to be dressed up in pageantry All relationships have boundaries. Those between nations can be particularly fraught, freighted with ties forged in history and culture. In diplomacy the manners, customs and morals of others need to be acknowledged and respected. But humanity begins […]

America’s diplomatic professionals have issued a dire warning about the crisis facing the State Department: Scores of top diplomats, including some of our highest-ranked career Foreign Service officers, have left the agency at “a dizzying speed” over the past 10 months. “The rapid loss of so many senior officers has a serious, immediate and tangible […]

Moscow is “preparing” to reduce its military presence in Syria, Nikolay Patrushev, the head of Russia’s National Security Council, said Thursday. According to Russian media reports, Patrushev announced that “preparations are underway” for a military withdrawal from Syria. Until now, it remains unclear whether the officials were referring to a partial or total military withdrawal […]

TEHRAN  – British Prime Minister Theresa May said on Thursday that US President Donald Trump was wrong to retweet a video from a far-right British group which she said was “hateful” and spreads division. Trump sparked outrage in Britain with a sharp rebuke of May on Twitter after she criticized him for retweeting anti-Islam videos […]