Important News

Barack Obama: We’re going to completely change our gun laws

US President Barack Obama has again pointed to Australia’s swiftly introduced, post-Port Arthur massacre gun laws as an example for America. Mourning last week’s gunning down of nine churchgoers in Charleston, South Carolina, and frustrated by a Congress he describes as in the lobbying grip of the National Rifle Association, the president said the US public needs to be more ...

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Iran lawmakers curtail own power to veto nuclear deal

Iran’s parliament curtailed its own power to block a nuclear deal with world powers Sunday, effectively removing a long-standing threat that a final accord could be torn up by lawmakers. But the proposed legislation also bans inspections of nuclear sites that go beyond “conventional” visits, which could complicate progress on the negotiations with leading world powers. A draft bill presented ...

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Fears rise after ISIS plants mines at Palmyra’s ancient ruins

ISIS militants have mined the spectacular ancient ruins in Syria’s Palmyra, an antiquities official and monitor said Sunday, prompting fears for the UNESCO World Heritage site. The reports came one month after the extremist group overran the central Syrian city, known as Tadmur, and as government airstrikes were blamed for the death of at least 11 civilians over the weekend. ...

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France warns of explosion if no Mideast peace

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius warned Sunday of an “explosion” in the absence of Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts, after Paris said it would propose a U.N. resolution to set a framework for negotiations. The Palestinians have welcomed the initiative, hoping the international community will assume a greater role in resolving the conflict after more than two decades of failed U.S.-led peace ...

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Five ISF members arrested for torture

Five members of the Internal Security Forces are under arrest after videos surfaced showing them severely beating prisoners held in Lebanon’s notorious Roumieh prison as the interior minister vowed to prosecute aggressors. “I assume full responsibility for what occurred,” Nouhad Machnouk told reporters during a news conference Sunday. The videos, published on social media sites over the weekend, show ISF ...

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Court gives S.Africa seven days to explain why it let Bashir go

  The South African government has a week to explain to judges why it defied a court order barring the Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir from leaving the country.Bashir flew out of South Africa on Monday, before the end of the African Union leaders’ summit, despite an earlier ruling blocking him from leaving. A court Monday ordered the government to disclose ...

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Egypt court upholds death sentence against ex-president Morsi

  A Cairo court on Tuesday sentenced ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi to death and to life in jail in two different trials, as Egyptian courts continue to rule in cases against alleged supporters of the now-banned Muslim Brotherhood group from which he hails.The Cairo Criminal Court sentenced Morsi and five others, including top Brotherhood figures Mohamed Badie, Saad El-Katatni ...

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Authorities fail to find anti-Mugabe activist hauled off by armed men and now missing for three months

Police have been unsuccessful in tracking down the whereabouts of anti-Mugabe activist Itai Dzamara [AP] Harare, Zimbabwe – Activist Itai Dzamara was grabbed from a barbershop at gunpoint and thrown into a waiting vehicle three months ago after staging sit-ins demanding the resignation of President Robert Mugabe. He hasn’t been seen since. Zimbabwean officials say they have searched for clues into the ...

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Syrians flee battle for Tal Abyad

Syrians flee battle for Tal Abyad – Al Jazeera English Thousands of Syrians have been fleeing the city of Tal Abyad on the Turkish-Syrian border since it began to be targeted by US-led coalition jets amid ground clashes between fighters of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group and Syrian Kurdish units of the YPG backed by ...

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Bahrain opposition leader given four-year jail sentence

Protesters have demanded the release of jailed opposition leader Sheikh Ali Salman [EPA] A Bahraini court has sentenced the country’s leading opposition leader to four years in prison after finding him guilty of inciting disobedience and hatred in the Sunni-ruled kingdom. The court acquitted Sheikh Ali Salman, a Shia cleric and the general secretary of al-Wefaq Islamic Society, of the ...

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