Former United Nations Secretary General and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Kofi Annan died Saturday after a short illness at the age of 80, his foundation announced. "It is with immense sadness that the Annan family and the Kofi Annan Foundation announce that Kofi Annan, former Secretary General of the United Nations and Nobel Peace Laureate, passed away peacefully on Saturday...
Former United Nations Secretary General and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Kofi Annan died Saturday after a short illness at the age of 80, his foundation announced. "It is with immense sadness that the Annan family and the Kofi Annan Foundation announce that Kofi Annan, former Secretary General of the United Nations and Nobel Peace Laureate, passed away peacefully on Saturday...
ISTANBUL — The Turkish currency fell again on Friday, breaking a three-day quiet spell in the country currency crisis, after the United States threatened to impose new sanctions on the NATO country. The lira dropped about 5 percent, to about 6.11 per dollar, after U.S. President Donald Trump posted a tweet warning the country of more punitive measures over the...
MECCA, Saudi Arabia — Saudi Arabia is preparing to host the annual hajj pilgrimage beginning Sunday, as over 1.6 million Muslim faithful from abroad have arrived in the ultraconservative kingdom. The pilgrimage represents one of the five pillars of Islam and is required of all able-bodied Muslims once in their life. In recent weeks, the faithful have arrived in Mecca...
SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Chinese President Xi Jinping is set to visit Pyongyang next month at the invitation of North Korea leader Kim Jong Un to attend the celebrations of the 70th anniversary of North Korea’s founding, Singapore’s Straits Times newspaper reported. It will be the Chinese leader’s first visit to the North Korean capital since he took power in 2012,...
A federal judge on Friday approved a plan to reunite hundreds more families who were separated by border officials after they entered the United States from Mexico. The plan negotiated by the U.S. government and immigrant rights advocates marked the second stage of federal efforts to reunite 2,551 children ages 5 to 17 with their parents. These families had been...
UNITED NATIONS - The protection of Palestinian civilians could be improved by the deployment of U.N.-mandated armed forces or unarmed observers, a beefed-up U.N. civilian presence or expanded U.N. assistance, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres wrote in a report on Friday. The United Nations General Assembly requested the report in a resolution adopted in June that condemned Israel for excessive force against...
GENOA, Italy — With anger and grief, Italians began burying some of their dead Friday from the Genoa highway bridge collapse, holding funerals in the victims’ hometowns. Several angry families rebuffed the offer of a state funeral and the cardinal of Naples was merciless in his condemnation of negligence by Italian officials. Saturday has been declared a national day of...
KOCHI: Pressure intensified Saturday to save thousands still trapped by devastating floods that have killed more than 300 in the Indian state of Kerala, triggering landslides and sending torrents sweeping through villages in the region’s worst inundation in a century. Authorities warned of more torrential rain and strong winds over the weekend, as hundreds of troops and local fishermen carried...
The death toll from major floods in India's tourist hotspot Kerala has jumped to 164, state chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said Friday, issuing a fresh heavy rainfall warning for the battered region. Kerala's government has described the crisis — one of the worst in decades — as "extremely grave" and rescue operations are underway to help thousands who remain trapped...
CAIRO: Egypt is finalising details of a long-term truce deal between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, an Egyptian security source said on Thursday, amid easing tensions on the border of the enclave where some two million Palestinians live. Cairo has brokered an interim truce that has allowed commercial goods into Gaza ahead of the Muslim Eid al-Adha feast...
WASHINGTON - The United States warned Turkey on Thursday to expect more economic sanctions unless it hands over detained American pastor Andrew Brunson, as relations between the two countries took a further turn for the worse. U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin assured President Donald Trump at a Cabinet meeting that sanctions were ready to be put in place if Brunson...
WASHINGTON: US newspapers big and small hit back Thursday at Donald Trump´s relentless attacks on the news media with a coordinated campaign of editorials, triggering a fresh tirade from the president on Twitter. Leading the charge was The Boston Globe, which had called for the drive highlighting the importance of a free press, accompanied by the hashtag #EnemyOfNone. More than...
NEW-Delhi: Former Indian prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpaye breathed his last breath on Thursday, dying at the age of 93. Indian incumbent prime minister Narendra Modi expressed sadness over the death of Atal Bihari Vajpaye India grieves the demise of our beloved Atal Ji. His passing away marks the end of an era. He lived for the nation and served...
KOCHI: The death toll from floods in India´s tourist hotspot of Kerala increased to 77 on Thursday, as torrential rainfall threatened new areas, officials told AFP. Over 60,000 people have now entered relief camps and the army and navy have stepped up rescue operations in the southern state, using a helicopter to airlift people, a Kerala disaster management official said....
KABUL Gunmen attacked an area around a security base and training center for Afghanistan’s intelligence service on Thursday in the capital Kabul, officials said. Staff and officials at the center took shelter in a protected area of the compound as gunfire came from a half-finished building near the site. Kabul police spokesman Hashmat Stanekzai said the attackers were firing rocket-propelled...
GENOA, Italy — As more bodies were pulled Wednesday from a mountain of jagged concrete and twisted steel left by a highway bridge collapse that killed 39, prosecutors focused on possible design flaws and past maintenance of the heavily used span, and politicians squabbled over blame. Motorists, meanwhile, recounted miraculous escapes and the horror of seeing others plunge over the...