Category: 2. Middle East

ANKARA — Turkish police on Thursday detained two prominent journalists — Timur Soykan and Murat Agirel — in dawn raids amid a crackdown on dissent that accelerated following the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu and the ensuing protests.

Soykan and Agirel, investigative journalists working for left-leaning newspapers BirGun and Cumhuriyet, respectively, were taken into custody from their homes in Istanbul in the early hours of the morning over accusations of “threat” and…

World Expo opens on Sunday with host Japan aiming to bring humanity together, despite global turmoil and tepid public enthusiasm for the six-month event showcasing innovation as well as Hello Kitty in algae form.

A Mars meteorite the size of a sourdough loaf and a beating heart grown from stem cells are among the myriad futuristic attractions crammed into a vast waterfront site in Osaka hosting more than 160 countries, regions and organisations.

Most pavilions — each more outlandishly…

After Israel killed a string of its leaders, Hamas anointed new commanders to top ranks, this time shrouding their identities in secrecy to protect them from assassination.

Israel vowed to crush Hamas in retaliation for the October 7 attack, launching a blistering offensive in Gaza that has massively weakened the movement while reducing much of the territory to rubble.

Hamas’s political chief Ismail Haniyeh, the head of its armed wing Mohammed Deif, and Yahya Sinwar, mastermind of the October…

Saudi Arabia’s top diplomat held talks in Washington on Wednesday as he lays the groundwork for a visit by US President Donald Trump, which would be the first foreign trip of his second term.

Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan met at the State Department with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, with the two not making any remarks.

Last month, Trump said he may visit Saudi Arabia as early as April in a reprisal of 2017, when the oil-rich, conservative kingdom was the first destination of his…

Saudi Arabia’s top diplomat held talks in Washington on Wednesday, laying the groundwork for a visit by US President Donald Trump, which would be the first foreign trip of his second term.

Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan met with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the State Department, and the two called on the Sudanese army and paramilitary forces to resume peace talks.

The diplomats “agreed that the Sudanese Armed Forces and Rapid Support Forces must return to peace talks,…

Gaza medic Mundhir Abed feared for his life as Israeli forces opened fire on a convoy of rescuers near Rafah last month, killing 15 of his colleagues in a brazen assault.

Abed, 45, was the only survivor of the attack on March 23, in which medics from the Palestine Red Crescent Society and Gaza’s civil defence agency were gunned down as they responded to urgent calls for help following an Israeli air strike.

“I was terrified they would kill me,” Abed, a medic from the Palestine Red Crescent…

The US Senate on Wednesday confirmed Mike Huckabee, an evangelical Christian who has said Israel enjoys a divine right to the West Bank, as ambassador to Israel.

Huckabee will head to the US embassy in Jerusalem as Israel seizes large areas of Gaza, part of a renewed military campaign that has had President Donald Trump’s blessing.

The Senate voted largely on party lines to confirm Trump’s nominee, with one Democrat, John Fetterman, supporting him.

Huckabee, a Baptist minister who served as…