The Palestinian unity government resigned on Wednesday in a deepening rift with Gaza as the blockaded territory’s de facto rulers Hamas held separate, indirect talks with Israel. An aide to president Mahmud Abbas said prime minister Rami Hamdallah “handed his resignation to Abbas”, but confusion reigned over when the government was likely to dissolve. It was also unclear what the next cabinet might look like, reflecting the chaotic period for
CAIRO (AP) — The Associated Press has named award-winning photographer Muhammed Muheisen, frequently honored for his striking photos of people in their everyday environment, as its chief photographer for the Middle East, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
ALDEBURGH, England (AP) — English rider Lizzie Armitstead has been taken to a hospital after crashing while celebrating winning the first stage of the Women’s Tour of Britain.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The effort to train Iraqi forces to fight Islamic State militants has been slowed by a lack of recruits and the U.S. will not meet its goal to train 24,000 by this fall, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Wednesday.
By Mahmoud Mourad and Omar Fahmy CAIRO (Reuters) – An Egyptian court sentenced deposed President Mohamed Mursi to death on Tuesday over a mass jail break during the country’s 2011 uprising and issued sweeping punishments against the leadership of Egypt’s oldest Islamic group. The general guide of the Muslim Brotherhood, Mohamed Badie, and four other Brotherhood leaders were also handed the death penalty. The Brotherhood described the rulings as “null
By Noah Browning and Mohammed Ghobari DUBAI/SANAA (Reuters) – The deputy leader of al Qaeda, Nasser al-Wuhayshi, has been killed in a U.S. bombing in Yemen, the group said on Tuesday, removing the director of a string of attacks against the West and a man once seen as a successor to leader Ayman al-Zawahri. A close associate of Osama bin Laden in the years leading up to the Sept. 11,
The White House denied an Israeli newspaper report on Tuesday that U.S. President Barack Obama had invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to meet in Washington next month. Citing unnamed U.S. State Department sources, Yedioth Ahronoth daily said the two leaders could meet in the White House on July 15 or 16, after the June 30 deadline for an Iranian nuclear deal over which they have frequently clashed. Since Netanyahu’s
By Maria Tsvetkova KUBINKA, Russia (Reuters) – President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday Russia would add more than 40 new intercontinental ballistic missiles to its nuclear arsenal this year, a remark that is likely to increase alarm in the West. Putin made his announcement a day after Russian officials denounced a U.S. plan to station tanks and heavy weapons in NATO states on Russia’s border as the most aggressive act
By Tom Perry BEIRUT (Reuters) – With a string of victories over Islamic State, Syria’s Kurds are proving themselves an ever more dependable ally in the U.S.-led fight against the jihadists and building influence that will make them a force in Middle Eastern politics. Aided by U.S.-led air strikes, the Kurdish-led YPG militia may have dealt Islamic State its worst defeat to date in Syria by seizing the town of
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon opened the Geneva discussions on Monday calling for a humanitarian ceasefire with the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. U.N. envoy Ould Cheikh Ahmed began shuttling between rival delegations in “proximity talks”. As the talks began, a Yemeni news agency reported a raid on a school in central Yemen killed four women and a child.