By Jason Szep and David Brunnstrom WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States upgraded Malaysia in an annual report on human trafficking on Monday, despite calls by human rights groups and nearly 180 U.S. lawmakers to keep the Southeast Asian country on a list of worst offenders for failing to suppress trafficking. The U.S. State Department’s annual Trafficking in Persons report also upgraded Cuba from its lowest rank for the first
By Jason Szep and David Brunnstrom WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States upgraded Malaysia in an annual report on human trafficking on Monday, despite calls by human rights groups and nearly 180 U.S. lawmakers to keep the Southeast Asian country on a list of worst offenders for failing to suppress trafficking. The U.S. State Department’s annual Trafficking in Persons report also upgraded Cuba from its lowest rank for the first
By Luke Baker and Ali Sawafta RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) – Rumblings in Ramallah in recent weeks have raised expectations that Palestinian politics is in play, with 80-year-old President Mahmoud Abbas, in power for more than a decade, facing a mounting challenge to his leadership. There is frequent speculation that Abbas, who was elected to a four-year term in 2005 and has not had to face a vote since then,
By Luke Baker and Ali Sawafta RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) – Rumblings in Ramallah in recent weeks have raised expectations that Palestinian politics is in play, with 80-year-old President Mahmoud Abbas, in power for more than a decade, facing a mounting challenge to his leadership. There is frequent speculation that Abbas, who was elected to a four-year term in 2005 and has not had to face a vote since then,
By Luke Baker and Ali Sawafta RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) – Rumblings in Ramallah in recent weeks have raised expectations that Palestinian politics is in play, with 80-year-old President Mahmoud Abbas, in power for more than a decade, facing a mounting challenge to his leadership. There is frequent speculation that Abbas, who was elected to a four-year term in 2005 and has not had to face a vote since then,
WASHINGTON (AP) — The State Department on Monday took Malaysia and Cuba off its blacklist of countries failing to combat modern-day slavery, leaving the U.S. open to criticism that politics is swaying the often-contentious rankings in its annual human trafficking report.
Arab League foreign ministers will meet in Cairo early next month to discuss clashes involving Israeli police at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem, a senior Palestinian official said Monday. Sunday’s incident saw Israeli police enter the mosque, one of Islam’s holiest sites, as they clashed with Palestinians angered by Jews’ access to the compound on an annual day of Jewish mourning. Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat told reporters that
LONDON (Reuters) – Two suspected cases of the Middle Eastern Respiratory Virus Syndrome (MERS) have forced a hospital in northern England to shut its emergency wing, health officials said on Monday. Two patients at Manchester Royal Infirmary had been placed in isolation for ongoing treatment, but there was no significant risk to others at the hospital or the general public, Central Manchester University Hospitals Trust said in a statement on
SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Security officials and witnesses say the Saudi-led coalition has launched new airstrikes in at least two Yemeni provinces, piercing a humanitarian pause that started at midnight Sunday.
By Ece Toksabay ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkish fighter jets and ground forces hit Islamic State militants in Syria and Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) camps in Iraq overnight on Saturday, in a campaign Ankara said would help create a “safe zone” across swathes of northern Syria. Turkey has dramatically cranked up its role in the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State since a suspected IS suicide bomber killed 32 people earlier this