Category: Top News

How do you know what happens in your world? The amount of information just a click away may be limitless but the time and energy we have to absorb and evaluate it is not. Unless you know how to read the news, all the information in the world won’t be very useful. To your grandparents, parents, or even older siblings this idea would have sounded strange. The news was broad-based, only a few decades ago. Your choices were limited to a couple of general interest magazines and newspapers of record, and three or four TV networks where trusted newscasters delivered the day’s news at the same reliable time every evening. But the problems created with the system soon became apparent as mass media spread. Often media cooperation series of scandals showed that democratic governments were also misleading the public. While it was known that authoritarian countries controlled and censored information.

White Helmets – The Most Dangerous Job on Earth

On a warm morning in December, a few dozen Syrians from Aleppo and Idlib— former students, teachers, vegetable sellers and farmers— gather in an abandoned firefighting training center near the Syrian-Turkish border. They have come here to learn advanced rescue skills that they will use to teach newly recruited emergency workers back home. They are… Continue reading White Helmets – The Most Dangerous Job on Earth

The Curious Case of Yemen’s Alliances: Saleh Vs Houthis

IN THE EARLY morning hours of May 10, 2015, Sana’a was rocked by five consecutive explosions. As clouds of smoke billowed from the center of the Yemeni capital, dust shrouded former President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s residential compound. The Saudi-led military intervention, named “Operation Decisive Storm,” against the Houthi militias who had swept across Yemen over… Continue reading The Curious Case of Yemen’s Alliances: Saleh Vs Houthis

Death Toll After Migrant Boat Capsizes off Egypt Reaches 52

CAIRO, Sept 22 – Egyptian rescue workers have found nine more bodies in the Mediterranean Sea a day after a boat carrying hundreds of migrants capsized, bringing the death toll so far to 52, two officials said on Thursday. Egyptian authorities have arrested four crew members of the boat, which had been carrying almost 600… Continue reading Death Toll After Migrant Boat Capsizes off Egypt Reaches 52

Trouble in Tunisia: Security Breaches, Economic Slump & Political Divisions

After suffering two mass casualty terrorist attacks claimed by the group Daesh earlier this year, Tunisians understandably rejoiced when four local civil society groups were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on October 9, in recognition of their work supporting Tunisia’s transition from dictatorship to democracy. Unfortunately, since then, things only seemed to have gotten worse… Continue reading Trouble in Tunisia: Security Breaches, Economic Slump & Political Divisions

Israel’s “Infiltrators”: African Refugees At Risk

Haftom Zarhum, a 29-year-old Eritrean, needed to renew his work visa. As an asylum seeker who had come to Israel through Egypt from his home country, he was one of the more fortunate of his compatriots as he had a job in Israel. On Sunday, Oct. 18, he went to the district town of Beer… Continue reading Israel’s “Infiltrators”: African Refugees At Risk

Saudi Finance Minister Ibrahim Al Assaf Relieved of His Post on Royal Orders

October 31 – DUBAI: Ibrahim Al Assaf, Saudi Arabia’s finance minister has been relieved of his post on royal orders. However, he will remain in the cabinet as a minister of state, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Monday, October 31. Al Assaf, 67, has served as the finance minister for 20 years, having been… Continue reading Saudi Finance Minister Ibrahim Al Assaf Relieved of His Post on Royal Orders

Lost Children are Legacy of Battle for Iraq’s Mosul

MOSUL, Iraq, July 30 – Thousands of children have been separated from their parents in the nine-month battle for Mosul and the preceding years of Daesh rule in northern Iraq – some found wandering alone and afraid among the rubble, others joining the refugee exodus from the pulverized city. In some cases their parents have… Continue reading Lost Children are Legacy of Battle for Iraq’s Mosul

Iran-Born Maryam Mirzakhani, Award-Winning Mathematician, Dies at 40

July 16 – Maryam Mirzakhani, the first and only woman to receive the equivalent of the Nobel Prize for mathematics, died on Saturday at age 40 after a battle with cancer, said officials at Stanford University, the California school where she taught. The death of the Tehran-born Mirzakhani, who specialized in theoretical mathematics, came three… Continue reading Iran-Born Maryam Mirzakhani, Award-Winning Mathematician, Dies at 40

U.S. Proposes U.N. Arms Embargo on South Sudan, Sanctions

UNITED NATIONS, Nov 18 – The United States circulated on Thursday to the 15-member United Nations Security Council a draft resolution to impose an arms embargo on South Sudan and further targeted sanctions amid warnings by a senior U.N. official of possible genocide. Political rivalry between South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir, an ethnic Dinka, and… Continue reading U.S. Proposes U.N. Arms Embargo on South Sudan, Sanctions

Danish ‘Sex Ambulance’ Seeks to Protect Sex Workers But Migrant Women at Risk

COPENHAGEN, May 18 – In a dark tunnel in Copenhagen’s red light district on a freezing night, Annika gasped for air as the stranger who agreed to pay her for sex started suffocating her with his bare hands. A friend nearby heard her muffled cries and helped the 25-year-old Dane break free from the man’s… Continue reading Danish ‘Sex Ambulance’ Seeks to Protect Sex Workers But Migrant Women at Risk

Merkel makes headlines after refusing to wear headscarf on official visit to Saudi Arabia

German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrived in Saudi Arabia without a headscarf for talks with the oil-rich kingdom’s monarch. Merkel was greeted by King Salman and other top officials upon her arrival in Jeddah on Monday, May 1. Like other recent female Western visitors such as British Prime Minister Theresa May, U.S. Presidential election candidate Hillary… Continue reading Merkel makes headlines after refusing to wear headscarf on official visit to Saudi Arabia

Militant Attack on Indian Army Base in Kashmir Kills One

SRINAGAR, India, Oct 3 – At least six militants attacked an Indian army camp in Kashmir on Sunday night, killing one border guard, Indian officials said, two weeks after a similar attack killed 19 soldiers and ratcheted up tension between India and Pakistan. The attack on the camp of India‘s 46 Rashtriya Rifles in Baramulla,… Continue reading Militant Attack on Indian Army Base in Kashmir Kills One

Yemen’s Socotra Island Bans Use of ‘Qat’

ADEN, Yemen, Nov. 22 – Authorities on Yemen’s Socotra island burnt two tonnes of the mild narcotic drug qat on Saturday, a shipment seized from smugglers trying to defy last week’s ban by the archipelago’s governor, local officials said. Yemenis have chewed qat for centuries and although widespread, its use is seen as a social… Continue reading Yemen’s Socotra Island Bans Use of ‘Qat’

Syrian Rebel Advance in Hama as Army Pushes in Aleppo

Syrian insurgents made new advances to capture villages north of Hama on Thursday, rebels and a war monitor said, pressing a month-long offensive in an area of strategic importance to the government as it tries to seize insurgent-held Aleppo. BEIRUT, Sept 29 – Syrian insurgents made new advances to capture villages north of Hama on… Continue reading Syrian Rebel Advance in Hama as Army Pushes in Aleppo

UN Says to Help Iraq Tackle Rampant Corruption

BAGHDAD, Aug 11 – A United Nations agency said on Thursday it would help Iraq to tackle endemic graft that is eroding its economy and institutions as Baghdad struggles to defeat Daesh militants. The U.N. Development Program will recruit international investigators to mentor and train Iraqi government auditors tasked with corruption investigations, it said in… Continue reading UN Says to Help Iraq Tackle Rampant Corruption

Uganda Troops in South Sudan to Evacuate Citizens After Violence

JUBA, July 14 – Uganda’s army began evacuating citizens from inside neighbouring South Sudan on Thursday where fighting between forces loyal to the president and his rival has plunged the nation into its worst crisis since the end of a two-year civil war. After the civil war erupted in 2013, Uganda’s forces also crossed into… Continue reading Uganda Troops in South Sudan to Evacuate Citizens After Violence

Turkish Officials Arrive In Greece Under Migrant Accord

LESBOS, Greece, March 21 – Turkish officials arrived on the Greek island of Lesbos on Monday to help implement a deal with the European Union to tackle a migrant crisis that has tested European cohesion to its limits. The day after the formal start of an agreement intended to close off the main route through… Continue reading Turkish Officials Arrive In Greece Under Migrant Accord

Iran Says Ready to Put Rivalries Aside With Saudi Arabia

MUNICH, Feb 12 – Iran and Saudi Arabia must overcome strained relations and work for stability in Syria and the Middle East, Iran’s foreign minister said on Friday, a day after Syrian peace talks brought the rivals to the same table for the first time in months. Speaking at the Munich Security Conference hours after… Continue reading Iran Says Ready to Put Rivalries Aside With Saudi Arabia

With Fewer U.S. Troops in Afghanistan, Pressure Grows for More Air Strikes

KABUL, Feb 11 – Pressure is growing on the U.S. military to do more to help Afghan forces repel the threat posed by Taliban militants, and commanders in Washington and Kabul agree that enhanced air power may be where it can make the most difference. With fewer American soldiers on the ground and their rules… Continue reading With Fewer U.S. Troops in Afghanistan, Pressure Grows for More Air Strikes

All The Kings’ Men

“It is always good [to have] true men by your side,” wrote Sheikh Mansoor bin Mohammed Al Maktoum on his Instagram page some five weeks ago under a photo from the battlefield in Yemen. The image shows the young leader, 26, standing next to Sheikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa of Bahrain, both in military fatigues.… Continue reading All The Kings’ Men