Iraq’s Counter-Terrorism Agency on Thursday killed a senior ISIS commander and captured nine members of the in separate operations in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, and Kirkuk. According to an official statement on Thursday, an ISIS commander was killed, and another was arrested in an ambush near al-Awashra village in Kirkuk. …
Read More »Daily Archives: May 12, 2022
Palestinian president blames Israel for Al Jazeera reporter’s killing
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Thursday that Israeli authorities were “fully responsible” for the killing of a veteran Al Jazeera reporter during clashes in the occupied West Bank and called for an international investigation. Shireen Abu Akleh suffered a gunshot wound to the head in Jenin on Wednesday. Al …
Read More »Number of refugees fleeing Ukraine war exceeds 6 million -UN agency
The number of people who have fled Ukraine to escape war has passed 6 million, in Europe’s worst refugee crisis since the end of World War Two, a U.N. refugee agency said on Thursday. Russia’s invasion, which started on Feb. 24, has triggered a massive displacement of people, including more …
Read More »Sanctions hurting west more than Russia, Putin says
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that Western countries were worse hit by sanctions imposed on Moscow over Ukraine than Russia, which he insists has been resilient in the face of “external challenges.” Western countries have slapped Russia with a barrage of unprecedented sanctions after Putin sent troops into neighboring …
Read More »Spain, Morocco to open land borders next week after two years
The land borders between Morocco and Spain’s North African enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla will reopen next week, Spain said Thursday, after being closed for more than two years due to COVID-19 restrictions and tensions between the two countries. Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska told reporters the reopening will start …
Read More »Taliban prohibit men and women from dining together in Afghan city
Taliban authorities have banned men and women from dining out together and visiting parks at the same time in the western Afghan city of Herat, an official said Thursday.
Read More »Number of Americans applying for jobless aid ticked up last week
Applications for unemployment benefits rose by 1,000 to 203,000 for the week ending May 7, the US Department of Labor reported Thursday.
Read More »No gas supply for entities under Russian sanctions, says Kremlin
Foreign energy companies subject to Moscow’s retaliatory sanctions will no longer be able to receive gas supplies from Russia, a top official has said.
Read More »COVID claims 1 million US lives, leaving trail of loss
The United States has now recorded more than 1 million COVID-19 deaths, according to a Reuters tally, crossing a once-unthinkable milestone about two years after the first cases upended everyday life and quickly transformed it.
Read More »Ukraine war could result in bigger, lasting threat: China’s Xi to France’s Macron
Chinese President Xi Jinping warns that the Ukraine crisis could result in a bigger and more lasting threat to global peace, as the war grinds through its third month.
Read More »North Korea fires 3 ballistic missiles; reporting COVID outbreak
North Korea fired three ballistic missiles towards the sea off its east coast on Thursday, South Korea and Japan said, in the latest such move as the isolated country races to advance its weapons programmes on the day it first reported a COVID-19 outbreak. Three short-range ballistic missiles were fired …
Read More »Scientists unveil image of ‘gentle giant’ black hole at Milky Way’s center
Scientists on Thursday provided the first look at what they called the “gentle giant” lurking at the center of our Milky Way galaxy, unveiling an image of a supermassive black hole that devours any matter wandering within its gargantuan gravitational pull. The black hole – called Sagittarius A*, or Sgr …
Read More »Crypto meltdown deepens as stablecoin Tether drops below dollar peg
The meltdown in TerraUSD, one of the world’s largest stablecoins, sent shockwaves through cryptocurrency markets on Thursday, pushing another stablecoin Tether below its dollar peg and sending bitcoin to 16-month lows. Cryptocurrencies have been swept up in a sell-off across higher risk assets, which has picked up steam this week …
Read More »UK tells EU: Without flexibility, we will act on N.Ireland
Britain warned it might be forced to “act” in a row with the European Union over post-Brexit trade rules for Northern Ireland, raising the risk of commercial strife and deepening a standoff stirring U.S. concerns for peace in the province. Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said on Thursday Britain would have …
Read More »Sri Lanka names new PM in bid to address growing crisis
Sri Lanka appointed a new prime minister on Thursday, a move President Gotabaya Rajapaksa hopes will quell weeks of worsening civil unrest in which at least nine people died this week and more than 300 were injured. Ranil Wickremesinghe, a political veteran who has been prime minister of the island …
Read More »Russia vows response as Finland seeks NATO membership without delay
Finland said on Thursday it would apply to join NATO “without delay”, with Sweden expected to follow, as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine looked set to bring about the very expansion of the Western military alliance that Vladimir Putin aimed to prevent. The decision by the two Nordic countries to abandon …
Read More »In key visit, Qatari emir arrives in Iran for high-level talks
Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani has arrived in Tehran on a key daylong visit for high-level talks with Iranian officials on a wide range of bilateral and regional issues.
Read More »Chinese plane catches fire at airport during takeoff
China’s Tibet Airlines said all passengers and crew had been evacuated from an Airbus A319 plane that caught fire after an aborted takeoff in the southwestern city of Chongqing on Thursday. There were no deaths and only minor injuries among the 113 passengers and nine crew members on board, the …
Read More »Explosion in Iraqi Kurdistan leaves 12 injured (video)
Media sources reported early Thursday that an explosion in Sulaymaniyah city in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq left at least 12 wounded. “An explosion was heard in northern Sulaymaniyah, Iraq, and ambulances rushed to the scene,” Iraqi sources reported early Thursday. The source also added that Iraqi Kurdistan media say …
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