Cairo, Egypt | AFP | Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas was to meet Egyptian leader Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Cairo Monday over US President Donald Trump’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, Egypt’s presidency said. Trump’s move has drawn near universal condemnation, and Palestinian officials say Abbas will refuse to meet …
Read More »New protests flare over Trump’s Jerusalem declaration
Jerusalem, Undefined | AFP | New protests flared in the Middle East and elsewhere Sunday over US President Donald Trump’s declaration of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, a move that has drawn global condemnation and sparked days of unrest in the Palestinian territories. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Palestinians …
Read More »Aid agencies suspend work in C.Africa after worker killed
Bangui, Central African Republic | AFP | Humanitarian groups in the Central African Republic (CAR) have suspended operations, the UN said Friday, after an aid worker was killed in the north of the restive, landlocked nation. “The humanitarian community in CAR continues to pay a heavy price from the rise in …
Read More »US warns Russia over Ukraine as OSCE meets
Vienna, Austria | AFP | The United States warned Russia on Thursday that its ties with the West can never recover until it pulls its forces out of Ukraine, as OSCE foreign ministers met in Vienna. Diplomats had hoped that meetings on the sidelines of the 57-nation body would make progress …
Read More »HRW denounces attacks on Sufi shrines in Libya
Tripoli, Libya | AFP | Human Rights Watch on Thursday denounced a series of attacks against shrines of the mystical Sufi branch of Sunni Islam in Libya by “extremist” militias. “Sufi religious sites are under assault in Libya,” the New York-based rights watchdog said after two attacks in the capital Tripoli …
Read More »Trump Jerusalem move puts region in ‘ring of fire’: Erdogan
Ankara, Turkey | AFP | Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday lashed out at his US counterpart Donald Trump’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, saying it would put the region in a “ring of fire”. “Taking this type of step puts the world, especially the region, …
Read More »Libya kicks off bid to hold elections
Tripoli, Libya | AFP | Libya on Wednesday launched a UN-brokered effort to hold elections in the strife-torn country with a campaign to register new voters. Imed al-Sayeh, head of the country’s High National Election Commission (HNEC), announced the launch in Tripoli alongside the UN envoy Ghassan Salame. The campaign …
Read More »Netanyahu hails Trump’s Jerusalem declaration as ‘historic’
Jerusalem, Undefined | AFP | Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed US President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital on Wednesday as “historic” and a “courageous and just decision”. Netanyahu also pledged no change to the status quo at Jerusalem’s highly sensitive holy sites in the city sacred to …
Read More »Turkey says Trump move on Jerusalem ‘irresponsible’, illegal
Istanbul, Turkey | AFP | Turkey on Wednesday slammed as irresponsible and illegal the announcement by US President Donald Trump that Washington was recognising Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. “We condemn the irresponsible statement of the US administration… the decision is against international law and relevant UN resolutions,” Turkish Foreign Minister …
Read More »France’s Macron says Trump’s Jerusalem move ‘regrettable’
Algiers, Algeria | AFP | French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday branded as “regrettable” his US counterpart Donald Trump’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, calling for efforts to “avoid violence at all costs”. Addressing a press conference during a state visit to Algeria, Macron affirmed “the attachment of …
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