A former Bahraini opposition lawmaker criticized the Al Khalifa regime’s crackdown on dissidents, saying that in a latest development, security forces of the regime have arrested several youths and two women for protesting the desecration of religious signs. Speaking to the Tasnim News Agency, Jalal Fairooz said during this year’s mourning ceremonies held in Bahrain […]

Iraq’s top Shia cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani has voiced opposition to the secession of the northern Kurdistan region from the mainland, warning of the negative repercussions of such “unilateral steps.” Grand Ayatollah Sistani’s representative Ahmed al-Safi said in a Friday sermon on his behalf in the holy city of Karbala that the senior cleric wants […]

US Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price has been forced to resign amid a scandal over using costly private jets for his government travel. “Price offered his resignation earlier today and the president accepted,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement on Friday. “The President intends to designate Don […]

The Brazilian government backed off a controversial proposal to authorize private companies to mine a sprawling Amazon reserve Monday after blistering domestic and international criticism. President Michel Temer’s office will issue a new decree Tuesday that “restores the conditions of the area, according to the document that instituted the reserve in 1984,” the Ministry of […]

TEHRAN  – China’s commerce ministry said Thursday that North Korean firms or joint ventures in China will be shut within the 120 days of the latest United Nations Security Council sanctions passed on September 12. Overseas Chinese joint ventures with North Korean entities or individuals will also be closed, the ministry said in a statement […]

TEHRAN – A fledgling party led by popular Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike gained momentum on Thursday ahead of an Oct. 22 election as the biggest opposition Democratic Party said it would step aside to let its candidates run under her reformist banner. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, a conservative who returned to power in 2012, hopes […]

A missile “malfunction” during a US airstrike on the Afghan capital Kabul has resulted in several civilian casualties, NATO says. The strike was reportedly launched in response to rocket attacks that had targeted Kabul’s airport and surrounding areas several hours after US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg arrived in the country on Wednesday. […]

In a major U-turn, Turkey has agreed to solely deal with the central Iraqi government over crude oil exports, following a contentious secession referendum held by Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, the Baghdad government says. The office of the Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi reported Ankara’s change of mode on Thursday, following a phone call between […]

Turkey’s Prime Minister Binali Yildirim spoke by phone with his Iraqi counterpart Haider al-Abadi discussed the recent illegitimate referendum on regional independence in northern Iraq. According to Anadolu, A Turkish prime ministry source said on Wednesday that the two leaders discussed the developments regarding the referendum in the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) as well as […]

Russian President Vladimir Putin hails his country’s destruction of its last supplies of chemical weapons, accusing the US of failing to fulfill its own obligations in this regard. Putin on Wednesday described the destruction of the chemical stockpile, which was carried out before the initial deadline, as “a historic event,” stressing it was “a huge step towards making […]