Several hundred suicide bombers and 4,000 fighters belonging to Isis are preparing to defend Hajin in eastern Syria close to the border with Iraq. The town is the last stronghold of the Islamic State, the militarised Islamic cult that three years ago controlled territory the size of Great Britain. The ... Read More »
Worst flood disaster hits Asian nation since 1983 More than 100 people have been killed and dozens are missing after record torrential rains unleashed floods and landslides in western Japan. Rescuers are searching for nearly 80 people who are still accounted for, most of them in the hardest-hit Hiroshima area. ... Read More »
AN operation to rescue the remaining nine people trapped in a flooded Thai cave system is in full swing as the same divers who brought the first four boys to safety go in again. AN operation to rescue the remaining nine people trapped in a flooded Thai cave system is ... Read More »
Iran will stop oil exports from the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s most important oil chokepoint, if the U.S. succeeds in halting crude sales from the Persian Gulf nation, a Revolutionary Guards official said. “Any hostile attempt by the U.S. will be followed by an exorbitant cost for them,” said ... Read More »
Beleaguered chancellor gives first speech to parliament since meeting with interior minister Angela Merkel has sought to defend her government’s migration policy in her first speech to parliament since a showdown with the interior minister, Horst Seehofer, over the policing of Germany’s borders. The German chancellor spoke up for the ... Read More »
Intelligence committee finds ‘further support’ to conclusion that Vladimir Putin and his government aimed to boost Trump A Republican-controlled Senate panel has said that further evidence has been found to support a US intelligence assessment that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election to help elect Donald Trump. The Senate ... Read More »
Baghdad declared victory over the militants last year, but fighters continue to launch attacks deep inside supposedly secure areas of the country Iraq is building a new security fence along its long desert border with Syria, the latest attempt to stop Isis fighters entering the country. Construction of the first ... Read More »
Syrian rebels in Daraa have rejected surrender conditions proposed by Russian negotiators to end days of violence in the country’s south, a rebel spokesman said on Saturday. “The talks collapsed because the Russians insisted on their conditions that want us to surrender,” rebel spokesman Ibrahim Jabawi said “The [rebels’] negotiating ... Read More »
Critics dismiss project as PR campaign designed to support country’s contested policies The British government is paying M&C Saatchi to run a media campaign for the Tunisian government in an attempt to win voters over reforms that have sparked some of the largest protests in the north African state since ... Read More »
Left-wing candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador is heading for a clear victory in Mexico’s presidential election. Electoral officials said a quick count after Sunday’s poll indicated the former mayor of Mexico City had won with about 53% of the vote – more than double that of his nearest challenger. Exit ... Read More »
Lebanese Ministry of Information