Politics

  Karbala / AFP Thousands of Iraqi security personnel guarded areas in and around Karbala on Tuesday to protect hundreds of thousands of Shiite pilgrims flocking to the shrine city for annual mourning rituals. Shiites in Iraq have come under frequent attack by extremists of the IS group who still control some territory in Anbar province, to the west of ...

  Istanbul / AFP President Vladimir Putin on Monday said non-OPEC member Russia was ready to work with the cartel in imposing measures to limit oil production, in comments that propelled the price of crude to its highest levels in a year. Eyes have turned to Russia, the world’s top oil producer alongside Saudi Arabia, to see if it will ...

  DUBAI / AFP Two missiles fired from rebel-held territory in Yemen fell short of a US warship patrolling the Red Sea off the coast of the war-torn country, the US navy said on Monday. The USS Mason “detected two inbound missiles” within an hour of each other from around 7:00 pm (1600 GMT) on Sunday, said US Naval Forces ...

  Ankara /AFP Police in Ankara on Monday used tear gas and plastic bullets to prevent pro-Kurdish activists from holding a protest to mark the first anniversary of the worst attack in Turkey’s modern history. One hundred and three people were killed on October 10, 2015 when suicide bombers said to be linked to IS extremists blew themselves up in ...

  Riyadh/ AFP Syria’s main opposition group called on Monday for foreign allies to supply rebel forces with ground-to-air weapons to counter deadly air raids in Aleppo. Gathered for two days of talks in the Saudi capital, the High Negotiations Committee (HNC) umbrella group denounced the “scorched earth policy” of President Bashar al-Assad and his allies. Regime troops and Russian ...

  White Plains / AFP Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton on Monday headed back to the campaign trail after a fiery presidential debate, with the Republican looking to bounce back after a weekend that crippled his White House bid. With just over four weeks to go before American voters head to the ballot boxes to choose their next commander-in-chief, the ...

Vilnius / AFP Lithuanians fed up with economic inequality voted for change in round one of a general election, with Monday’s results showing the opposition set to oust the governing leftists in an October 23 run-off. The national elections commission said near full results showed the centrist Lithuanian Peasants and Green Union party (LPGU) winning 21.62 percent of the vote, ...

  Jerusalem / AFP Israeli authorities have arrested dozens of Palestinians after a shooting rampage in Jerusalem killed two people and wounded five others, police said on Monday. The arrests after Sunday’s attack included 31 Palestinians seeking to participate in celebrations in memory of the assailant as well as members of his family in east Jerusalem, Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan ...

  Beijing / AFP A series of multi-storey buildings built by local villagers and packed with migrant workers collapsed in China on Monday, killing at least 17 people, the government and reports said. Four residential buildings caved in during the early hours at Wenzhou in the eastern province of Zhejiang, the Lucheng district government said in a social media posting. ...

  Port-au-Prince / AFP Haiti’s death toll from monster Hurricane Matthew has risen to 372, civil defense officials said on Monday, as the impoverished country continues to dig out of massive destruction in the south. On the second day of a three-day national mourning, the authorities added 36 more people to tally of confirmed dead. Four others were listed missing. More ...