Bahrain hit back at U.S. expressions of concern over the Gulf Arab kingdom’s treatment of opposition figures on Wednesday, saying all its actions followed due legal process. The State Department on Tuesday said the arrest of Ibrahim Sharif, prosecution of Majeed Milad and reports that a case against Ali Salman, head of Bahrain’s main opposition group, had been reopened, “raise serious concerns about restrictions on freedom of expression”.
Kuwait seeks the death penalty for 11 out of 29 suspects being prosecuted for their alleged role in a deadly suicide bombing in a mosque last month, newspaper al-Qabas reported on Wednesday. The Gulf state launched a security crackdown on Islamist militants after the June 26 attack claimed by Islamic State, when a Saudi suicide bomber blew himself inside a Shi’ite Muslim mosque, killing 27 worshippers. The interior minister said
The screams were so loud that neighbors took notice, said Ali Abu-Freij, a resident in the northern Sinai village. Two local tribal leaders said she had been raped. One of them, Mousa al-Delh, said a note found with the body said the woman had been killed because she had cooperated with the Egyptian army.
Pluto’s surface has long been a blur to sky watchers on Earth, but a NASA spacecraft on Wednesday should provide the first high-resolution images of the distant dwarf planet after a historic flyby mission. The unmanned, $700 million nuclear-powered spacecraft known as New Horizons spent much of Tuesday snapping pictures and collecting data as it zoomed by Pluto. “Sending back ‘first-look’ data to the team ‘down under’,” the New Horizons
Australia captain Michael Clarke has said he expects Brad Haddin to play again in the Ashes despite the wicket-keeper’s withdrawal from Thursday’s second Test at Lord’s. Clarke did not get into specifics either when he spoke to reporters at Lord’s on Wednesday but said he expected Haddin, who is staying on tour, to feature again in the series. “He’s doing as well as he can do,” said Clarke of Haddin.
Thirteen civilians, among them seven children, were killed in aerial attacks by Syria’s government Wednesday on the northern province of Aleppo, a monitoring group said. “A woman and her three children, as well as another child, were killed when helicopters dropped a barrel bomb on the village of Taduf,” said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Taduf, which lies in the northeast of Syria’s Aleppo province, is controlled by the
A day after the IMF published its latest assessment, saying Greece would require extensive debt relief from its mostly euro zone sovereign creditors, the EU executive’s note said the Greek debt-to-GDP ratio would be 150 percent in 2022 if Athens implemented reforms, but could reach 176 percent if it did not. The IMF, which contributed to the Commission assessment made last week, expects a debt-to-GDP ratio in 2022 of 170
The president is calling for sweeping reforms to fix a criminal justice system he says is “skewed by race and wealth” and plagued with problems in its prisons. Among them: Overcrowding, gang activity, and rape.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The nuclear deal with Iran was met with a profound wariness in the Arab world, where concerns are widespread that the easing of its international isolation could tip the already bloody contest for power in the region toward Shiite-led Tehran.
Sanofi will adopt a simplified structure centred around five global business units starting in January 2016 to promote growth, the French drugmaker said on Wednesday, as it prepares a new strategic plan to be unveiled in November. The company said the five would be: general medicines & emerging markets, specialty care, diabetes & cardiovascular, Sanofi Pasteur for vaccines, and Merial for animal health. The composition of Sanofi’s executive committee remains