The bodies of at least 67 Syrian civilians, many summarily killed by the self-styled Islamic State terrorist group, have been discovered in a central town in Syria retaken from IS by government troops over the weekend, the Syrian government and activists said Monday.A senior Syrian official described the attack as a “shocking massacre,” saying the […]

US Sen. John McCain, in an interview about the Vietnam War, appeared to take a swipe at President Donald Trump when he criticized people from “the highest income level” who avoided the draft by finding a doctor who “would say that they had a bone spur.”Trump, who attended the private New York Military Academy as […]

The US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said that Saudi Arabia is not ready to talk to Doha to end the months-long diplomatic crisis. Tillerson made the remarks during his ongoing visit to Qatar, where he held a joint news conference with Qatar’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al Thani, Xinhua reported. […]

A Kurdish opposition group that opposed the recent referendum on secession from Iraq on account of poor timing has called for the Kurdistan Regional Government leader to resign.Gorran, or the Movement for Change, called for a “national salvation government” in a statement posted to its website, saying the Kurdistan Regional Government “must be dissolved”, Al […]

Human rights activists are stepping up efforts to expose Israel’s long and covert history of supplying weapons and military training to regimes while they actively commit massacres, ethnic cleansing and genocide.The issue of Israel’s trade with rogue regimes has been thrust into the spotlight again after revelations that it is sending weapons to Myanmar, in […]

The presidents of Italy’s wealthy northern regions of Veneto and Lombardy on Sunday claimed victory in autonomy referendums that seek to grab additional powers and tax revenue from Rome, riding a global tide of self-determination that has swamped Spain’s Catalonia region.The votes were nonbinding, but the leaders of the neighboring regions hope to leverage strong […]

Catalonia said on Monday it was confident all officials including police would defy attempts by Madrid to enforce direct rule on the region in a dispute raising fears of unrest among Spain’s European allies.The Spanish government has invoked special constitutional powers to fire the regional government and force elections to counter an independence drive. A […]

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, buoyed by a huge election win for lawmakers who favor revising Japan’s postwar, pacifist constitution, signaled a push towards his long-held goal on Monday but will need to convince a divided public to succeed.Parties in favor of amending the US-drafted charter won nearly 80 percent of the seats in Sunday’s lower […]

TEHRAN – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov asserted that Moscow is committed to Iraq’s territorial integrity, RIA News Agency reported. The Russian diplomat’s remarks were made at a meeting with his Iraqi counterpart Ibrahim al Jaafari. Lavrov also said Russia is seeking to achieve the common objective of defeating international terrorism in both Syria and […]

TEHRAN,– The Kurdish Movement for Change (Gorran) party on Sunday called on northern Iraq’s Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) President Masoud Barzani and Vice President Kosrat Rasul to resign. “They have to resign from their posts. At the same time, the Cabinet should be abolished, too,” party spokesman Shorsh Haji told a news conference, calling for […]