World

Alphabet Inc’s (GOOGL.O) Google pressed U.S. lawmakers and the international community on Thursday to update laws on how governments access customer data stored on servers located in other countries, hoping to address a mounting concern for both law enforcement officials and Silicon Valley. The push comes amid growing legal uncertainty, …

The Wall Street Journal has fired longtime foreign affairs correspondent Jay Solomon for what it said was a violation of “his ethical obligations as a reporter.” The paper announced the move minutes before The Associated Press reported that Solomon was offered a 10 percent stake in a company headed by …

Russian hackers targeted 21 U.S. states’ election systems in last year’s presidential race, a Department of Homeland Security official told Congress on Wednesday. Jeanette Manfra, the department’s acting deputy undersecretary of cyber security, would not identify which states had been targeted, citing confidentiality agreements. She reiterated that there was no …

Moscow hopes that Washington will take into account that civil war is ongoing in Ukraine during the discussion on supplies of lethal weapons to Kiev, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday. “We hope that Washington (while deciding on supplies of lethal arms to Kiev) won’t forget that Ukraine is …

Saudi Arabia’s king has appointed his son Mohammed bin Salman as crown prince – replacing his nephew, Mohammed bin Nayef, as first in line to the throne. King Salman’s decree also means Prince Mohammed bin Salman, 31, will become deputy prime minister while continuing as defence minister. Prince Mohammed bin …

President Donald Trump’s administration is exploring hardening its approach toward Pakistan to crack down on Pakistan-based militants launching attacks in neighboring Afghanistan, two U.S. officials tell Reuters. Potential Trump administration responses being discussed include expanding U.S. drone strikes, redirecting or withholding some aid to Pakistan and perhaps eventually downgrading Pakistan’s …

Barclays (BARC.L) and four former top executives were charged with fraud on Tuesday over undisclosed payments to Qatari investors as part of a 12 billion pound ($15 billion) emergency fundraising during the financial crisis in 2008. Britain’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) charged Barclays Plc, former chief executive John Varley, Roger …

An armed Russian fighter jet intercepted a U.S. reconnaissance aircraft over the Baltic Sea on Monday, three U.S. defense officials told NBC News. The Russian aircraft flew within a few feet of the U.S. Air Force RC-135, the officials said, characterizing the interaction as both unsafe and unprofessional. The armed …

There’s yet another concern growing as oil prices continue to erode: A record U.S. fracklog. There were 5,946 drilled-but-uncompleted wells in the nation’s oilfields at the end of May, the most in at least three years, according to estimates by the U.S. Energy Information Administration. In the last month alone, …

US President Donald Trump has called North Korea a “brutal regime” after the death of a US student who had been jailed there for more than 15 months. North Korea returned Otto Warmbier, 22, to the US last week, saying he had been in a coma for a year and …

Qatargas has agreed to sell 5.5 million mt of LNG to Shell, amid uncertain demand from its Asian long-term buyers and building diplomatic tensions with its trading partners in the Middle East. Under the sales and purchase agreement, the state-owned producer will supply Shell with 1.1 million mt/year of LNG …

The family of a man arrested after a terror attack near a north London mosque say they are “shocked” and “devastated”. Father-of-four Darren Osborne was held after a van hit Muslims after evening prayers in Finsbury Park. They had been helping a man who had collapsed. He later died but …

Asked to respond to the shootdown of a Syrian fighter jet over Syria, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said the United States will protect its interests in Syria and will “do what we can” to keep open lines of communication with Russia and Syria. “And so we’ve gotta do …

Brexit Secretary David Davis arrived in Brussels on Monday to launch talks he hoped would produce a “new, deep and special partnership” with the EU in the interest of Britons and all Europeans. Beaming as he met the European Union’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier at the EU executive’s Berlaymont headquarters, …

A US-led coalition fighter jet has shot down a Syrian military plane in Raqqa province, the US has confirmed. The SU-22 fighter bomber was engaged by an F/A-18E Super Hornet after it had dropped bombs near the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, the Pentagon said. It is the first time in …

The U.S. Navy confirmed on Monday that all seven missing sailors on the USS Fitzgerald were found dead in flooded berthing compartments after the destroyer’s collision with a container ship off Japan over the weekend. The USS Fitzgerald and a Philippine-flagged container ship collided south of Tokyo Bay early on …

Royal Dutch Shell has signed a framework agreement with Qatar Petroleum on LNG bunkering, according to a statement on June 14. The super-major’s deal comes despite the recent political turmoil around Qatar’s relationship with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The agreement follows two earlier memoranda of understanding (MoUs) …

Dozens of people were killed or wounded when as many as five suicide bombers attacked a police headquarters in eastern Afghanistan on Sunday, officials said. The attack, claimed by the Taliban, began around 6:30 a.m. (0200 GMT) when one bomber detonated a car packed with explosives at the gate of …

Russian President Vladimir Putin said new sanctions under consideration by the United States would damage relations between the two countries, but it was too early to talk about retaliation, state news agency RIA reported on Saturday. The U.S. Senate voted nearly unanimously earlier this week for legislation to impose new …

President Donald Trump had personal liabilities of at least $315.6 million to German, U.S. and other lenders as of mid-2017, according to a federal financial disclosure form released late on Friday by the U.S. Office of Government Ethics. He had roughly $20 million in income from his new marquee Washington …

Seven sailors are missing and three injured after a U.S. Navy destroyer collided early on Saturday morning with a Philippine-flagged container ship south of Tokyo Bay in Japan, the U.S. Navy said. The Japanese Coast Guard said the destroyer was experiencing some flooding but was not in danger of sinking, …

“What’s the difference between the FBI director and Mr. Snowden?” Russian President Vladimir Putin asked Thursday during his yearly live call-in show, saying that he would offer political asylum to fired FBI head James Comey in the same way Russia has sheltered former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. By phrasing a …

The U.S. Senate voted nearly unanimously on Thursday for legislation to impose new sanctions on Russia and force President Donald Trump to get Congress’ approval before easing any existing sanctions on Russia. In a move that could complicate U.S. President Donald Trump’s desire for warmer relations with Moscow, the Senate …

President Donald Trump on Friday will announce a plan to tighten rules on Americans traveling to Cuba and significantly restrict U.S. companies from doing business with Cuban enterprises controlled by the military, senior White House officials said on Thursday. Trump will lay out his new Cuba policy in a speech …

China fined Emirates airline 29,000 yuan (Dh15,678) and barred the carrier from expanding its operations in the country for six months, citing two incidents that violated air-safety norms. Regional officials of the Civil Aviation Administration of China in the western province of Xinjiang and central and southern China have met with …

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov told Qatar on Saturday of its concern over Arab nations cutting ties with the Gulf state and called for talks to solve the crisis. “As a matter of policy we do not interfere in the internal affairs of other countries or their bilateral relations with …

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday that he backs the NATO charter’s demand that all members be prepared to defend each other, weeks after jarring allies by not restating U.S. support for the agreement. At a joint news conference with Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, Trump said he supports the …

By William Maclean | More moves against Qatar, including further curbs on business, remain on the table in a row with Arab neighbors, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) said on Wednesday, warning against allowing its Gulf adversary Iran to exploit the unprecedented rift. In a Reuters interview, UAE Minister of …

By Saeed Azhar and Jamie Freed  for REUTERS| Qataris will no longer be allowed to land at any airports in the United Arab Emirates or catch connecting flights there as part of increased efforts by Arab powers to isolate the Gulf state. UAE airlines Etihad and Emirates announced the details of …

By Sylvia Westall and Tom Finn  FOR REUTERS | The United Arab Emirates tightened the squeeze on fellow Gulf state Qatar on Wednesday threatening anyone publishing expressions of sympathy toward it with up to 15 years in prison, and barring entry to Qataris. UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash …

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says he’ll nominate a former Justice Department official as FBI director. Trump’s tweets that his choice — lawyer Christopher Wray — is “a man of impeccable credentials.” There’s no more information in the two-sentence tweet that ends, “Details to follow.” Wray emerged from a …

THE LEVANT NEWS – Turkey’s parliament is expected to fast-track on Wednesday a draft bill allowing its troops to be deployed to a Turkish military base in Qatar, officials from the ruling AK Party and the nationalist opposition said. The move appears to support the Gulf Arab country as it …

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Gunmen and suicide bombers attacked Iran’s parliament and the shrine of its revolutionary leader on Wednesday, killing at least 12 people, wounding dozens and igniting an hours-long siege at the legislature that ended with four attackers dead. The Islamic State group claimed the attacks, marking the …

By Noah Browning  FOR REUTERS|  Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain severed their ties with Qatar on Monday, accusing it of supporting terrorism and opening up the worst rift in years among some of the most powerful states in the Arab world. Iran — long at odds with …

By Valerie Volcovici and Jeff Mason | WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump on Thursday said he would withdraw the United States from the landmark 2015 global agreement to fight climate change, drawing anger and condemnation from world leaders and heads of industry. Trump, tapping into the “America First” message he …

  By Emad El-Din Aysha, PhD — Finally forced myself to watch Alien Convent (2017). I wasn’t impressed by the ‘content’ of the trailers for the movie (see below) with the cute cast and the apparent rehash of the original horror format (with the unsuspecting ‘dope’ getting impregnated by the face-hugger. …

 By Idrees Ali and David Brunnstrom | WASHINGTON for REUTERS —  U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis is expected to press for greater cooperation to contain North Korea’s nuclear and missile threat at a regional security forum in Singapore later this week, where for years Washington has sought to spotlight China’s …

  By Emad El-Din Aysha, PhD — I got a Whatsapp message from a very dear Christian friend on Friday asking for a moment of solidarity with those massacred in the Minya attack. The act of solidarity was to not use Facebook for the rest of that day because the terrorists …

Qatar said on Wednesday its official state news agency was hacked and subsequently carried a “false statement” on sensitive regional topics attributed to the country’s Emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani. Among the issues allegedly addressed by the Qatari ruler were the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, strategic relations with Iran, and comments …

By Christina Lin* — A reporter for Dubai-based Al Aan TV recently aired an undercover story on Idlib province – the Syrian “rebel” opposition stronghold that is supported by the US and other Western governments – and the site of the recent alleged chemical attack that prompted direct US missile strikes against the Syrian …

By Jeff Mason | BETHLEHEM, WEST BANK for REUTERS — U.S. President Donald Trump talked up the prospects of peace between Israelis and Palestinians on Tuesday, saying he believed both sides were committed to an historic deal, but he offered no concrete proposals on how to get there. After an hour …

By Michael Holden and Andrew Yates | MANCHESTER, ENGLAND for REUTERS — A suicide bomber killed at least 22 people and wounded 59 at a packed concert hall in the English city of Manchester in what Prime Minister Theresa May called a sickening act targeting children and young people. May said …

By Parisa Hafezi and Babak Dehghanpisheh  for REUTERS| Iranians yearning for more freedom at home and less isolation abroad have emphatically re-elected President Hassan Rouhani, throwing down a challenge to the conservative clergy that still holds ultimate sway. Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmanifazli announced Rouhani’s victory on Saturday on state television. Rouhani …

By Jeff Mason and Steve Holland | RIYADH for Reuters — Dogged by controversy at home, Donald Trump opened his first presidential foreign trip in Saudi Arabia on Saturday and won a warm reception as he looked to shift attention from a political firestorm over his firing of former FBI Director …