Baghdad: More than 180,000 people have fled west Mosul as Iraqi forces battle to retake it from the Islamic State group, the Iraqi government said today. Some 111,000 have sought shelter in 17 nearby camps and reception centres while many others have stayed with relatives, the ministry of displacement andRead More

Beirut: The head of the United Nation’s West Asia commission resigned on Friday, after what she described as pressure from the secretary general to withdraw a report accusing Israel of imposing an “apartheid regime” on Palestinians. The Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), which comprises 18 Arab states,Read More

Washington: US President Donald Trump and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have acknowledged past differences here in a frosty first encounter with widely diverging views of the world, a media report said. The face-to-face talks at the White House on Friday seemed to do little to narrow the breach exposed byRead More

United Nations: The UN Security Council has called on Afghanistan’s government to tackle the “alarming threats” posed by the Taliban, al Qaeda, Islamic State affiliates and other extremist groups which threaten the security and stability of the country. A resolution adopted unanimously by the Security Council extending the UN politicalRead More

Washington: US President Donald Trump on Friday said the United States would respect historic institutions but that other countries must pay their fair share to support the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Trump, speaking at a news conference following his meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, said he thanked her “forRead More

Washington: A California man who scaled the White House fence last week was on the property’s south grounds for at least 15 minutes before he was captured, CNN reported on Friday, citing an unnamed U.S. Secret Service source. Jonathan Tran, 26, faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prisonRead More

Washington: Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny caused a stir at the White House on the eve of Saint Patrick’s day today, pointedly telling President Donald Trump that the festival is in honor of an immigrant. Before a sea of green-clad revelers in the East Room of the White House lastRead More

Washington: US President Donald Trump on Friday welcomed German Chancellor Angela Merkel to the White House for talks expected to focus on their differences over NATO, Russia, global trade and a host of other issues. The Oval Office meeting had been scheduled for Tuesday, before a major snowstorm in theRead More

Washington: President Donald Trump braced Thursday for a long legal battle over his ban on travel from six mainly-Muslim countries after two federal judges ruled against the measure, saying the Republican’s own comments suggested religious bias. It was a humiliating setback for Trump, who saw his first attempt at limitingRead More

London: British Prime Minister Theresa May on Thursday ruled out a call for a Scottish independence referendum by saying “now is not the time” for another vote. May said a repeat of the 2014 referendum was not appropriate because the country was already going through a huge change in termsRead More