Browsing: World News

Syria’s main opposition National Coalition re-elected Ahmad Jarba as its leader during a general assembly meeting in Istanbul on Sunday, the coalition said in a statement. Jarba won 65 votes, beating his only rival Riad Hijab — the best-known defector…

A private jet plane crashed on Sunday at Aspen-Pitkin County Airport, which serves the famous Colorado skiing resort, local and federal officials told AFP. Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Allen Kenitzer said an accident had taken place at…

US President Barack Obama ended his vacation in sunny Hawaii and boarded Air Force One for a flight back home to chilly Washington. Obama arrived in his native Hawaii on December 21 along with his wife Michelle and daughters Sasha, 12, and Malia, 15…

Former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who was freed by Moscow last month after a decade in jail, vowed Sunday to fight for Russian political prisoners from his new base in Switzerland. “You can’t live with peace of mind when you know there are political…

Turkey’s embattled Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Sunday he would favour retrials for hundreds of military officers jailed for coup-plotting. In the latest sign of the turmoil that has gripped Turkish politics since the government was hit…

The seizure by Al-Qaeda-linked militants of a major Iraqi city and parts of another illustrates their resurgence, and harkens back to the darkest days of the insurgency that followed the 2003 US-led invasion. The Al-Qaeda franchise in Iraq fell from…

Exiled Uzbek dissidents broke into the Geneva home of President Islam Karimov’s eldest daughter last month, publishing images of items allegedly taken from the Uzbek national museum, according to a report Sunday. The members of a dissident group called…

Jihadists killed at least 31 rival rebels in northern Syria as clashes raged on a new front in the country’s brutal war, a monitor said Sunday, citing insurgents and medics. Fighting flared on Friday between rebels and forces loyal to the Islamic State…

The bronze statute of Benfica legend Eusebio in front of Lisbon’s Stadium of Light was covered with flowers, scarves and messages as Portugal mourned the iconic striker’s death on Sunday. Widely regarded as Portugal’s greatest player before the meteoric…

Secretary of State John Kerry Sunday rejected Israeli and Palestinian claims of US bias as he made a whistlestop trip to Jordan and Saudi Arabia to woo support for his peace plan. Kerry promised any agreed plan would be “fair and balanced” and likened…

A man died after his mobility scooter fell into the River Thames on Sunday, police said, as dozens of flood warnings remained in place across Britain. The 47-year-old was pulled from the river near Oxford, south England, after he fell in while trying…

5 January 2014 – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today announced the appointment of Jane Holl Lute as his Special Adviser for…

3 January 2014 – A United Nations independent human rights expert urged restraint by all sides today after military police…

3 January 2014 – The head of the United Nations agency tasked with defending press freedom, expressed alarm today at…

Human body parts fell from the sky in the Saudi city of Jeddah on Sunday, with police saying they could be the remains of someone trapped in an aircraft’s undercarriage bay. “Police received a telephone call at 2:30 am from a witness reporting the fall…

US President Barack Obama late Saturday ended his vacation in sunny Hawaii and boarded Air Force One for a flight back home to chilly Washington. Obama arrived in his native Hawaii on December 21 along with his wife Michelle and daughters Sasha, 12,…

The British media had warned of a flood of new Bulgarian and Romanian migrants arriving on January 1, but judging by this week’s coverage, they only appeared to have found one. Victor Spirescu, a 30-year-old Romanian, has become an unexpected star after…

Iraq is preparing a “major attack” to retake militant-held Fallujah, a senior official said on Sunday, spelling a new assault for the western city where US forces repeatedly battled insurgents. Washington said it would help Baghdad in its battle against…

Indian rescuers were racing on Sunday to try to save up to 20 people still feared trapped in the ruins of a partially-constructed building that collapsed “like a pack of cards”. Rescuers have so far pulled 13 bodies from the residential building that…

Two days of clashes between Shiite rebels and Sunni tribesmen fighting alongside hardline Salafists in northern Yemen have left at least 23 people dead, sources said on Sunday. Fighting has centred for months on a Salafist mosque and Koranic school…