Latest Middle East News

Palestinian demonstrators hurl stones at Israeli troops during a protest Israel's plan to annex parts Israel's plan to annex parts of the West Bank and Trump's mideast initiative, in the West Bank village of Kufr Qaddumm near Nablus, Friday, July 3, 2020.(AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)

Former world leaders warn against Israel annexation plan

Jul. 3, 2020 4:37 PM EDT

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — A group of former world leaders urged European leaders on Friday to keep pressuring Israel against annexation of parts of the West Bank, warning against complacency after Israel made no move to take over the territory on July 1. The Elders, founded by Nelson Mandela in 2007, said in...

Russian FM hosts speaker of Libya's east-based parliament

Jul. 3, 2020 4:22 PM EDT

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia's top diplomat met Friday with the speaker of the parliament based in eastern Libya to discuss a political settlement for the conflict-stricken country. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at the start of his talks with parliament speaker Aguila Saleh that Moscow supports a cease-fire...

Mountainside Fitness posts their safety guidelines as the facility remains open even as Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey has issued an executive order for all gyms to close due to the surge in coronavirus cases in Arizona Thursday, July 2, 2020, in Phoenix. For the third straight day, several health clubs in metro Phoenix were defying Ducey's 30-day shutdown order to close gyms, bars, water park and tubing businesses, raising questions about whether officials who have been criticized for responding indecisively to the pandemic will be effective in shutting down the clubs. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

The Latest: WHO urges focus on first wave of coronavirus

Jul. 3, 2020 4:20 PM EDT

GENEVA — The World Health Organization’s emergencies chief says “we need to put up a fight now” during a peak in the current wave of the coronavirus pandemic — rather than focusing on when a second wave might come. Dr. Michael Ryan said the world will be much better at fighting...

President of the Chamber of Deputies Roberto Fico, left, and Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte leave after listening to ISTAT's (Italian National Institute of Statistics) annual report, in Rome, Friday, July 3, 2020. One of Italy’s highest institutional leaders has slammed Egypt’s stance in a probe to bring to justice the torturers and killers of an Italian doctoral student in Cairo. Roberto Fico, president of the Parliament’s lower Chamber of Deputies, told Italian state TV on Friday that lack of satisfactory cooperation from Egyptian prosecutors amounted to a ‘’punch in the face″ of Italy. (Mauro Scrobogna/LaPresse via AP)

Italy slams Egypt's stance on killing as 'punch in the face'

Jul. 3, 2020 2:48 PM EDT

ROME (AP) — The president of the lower house of Italy's Parliament has slammed Egypt’s stance in a probe to bring to justice the torturers and killers of an Italian doctoral student who disappeared in Cairo while researching labor movements in Egyt. Chamber of Deputies President Roberto Fico told...

This Friday, July 3, 2020 satellite image from Planet Labs Inc. that has been annotated by experts at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at Middlebury Institute of International Studies shows a damaged building after a fire and explosion at Iran's Natanz nuclear site. An online video and messages purportedly claiming responsibility for a fire that analysts say damaged a centrifuge assembly plant at Iran's underground Natanz nuclear site deepened the mystery Friday around the incident — even as Tehran insisted it knew the cause but would not make it public due to

Iran declines to disclose cause of mysterious nuke site fire

Jul. 3, 2020 1:55 PM EDT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — An online video and messages purportedly claiming responsibility for a fire that analysts say damaged a centrifuge assembly plant at Iran's underground Natanz nuclear site deepened the mystery Friday around the incident — even as Tehran insisted it knew the cause...

Protesters from Amnesty International stage a protest outside a court in Istanbul, Friday, July 3, 2020, where the trial of 11 prominent human rights activists for terror-related charges and adjourned proceedings was continuing. The banner reads in Turkish: 'Justice for Rights Defenders'. The closely-watched case against Amnesty International's former Turkey chairman and 10 other activists heightened concerns about Turkey's treatment of human rights defenders and helped sour Turkey's relations with European nations, notably with Germany. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)

Turkey convicts 4 human rights activists of terror charges

Jul. 3, 2020 1:05 PM EDT

ISTANBUL (AP) — A Turkish court on Friday convicted Amnesty International’s former Turkey chairman, Taner Kilic, of membership in a terror organization and sentenced him to more than six years in prison. The court also convicted three other human rights activists — Gunal Kursun, Idil Eser and...

A police officer gives instructions to people to observe social distancing, as people walk outside a court in Istanbul, Friday, July 3, 2020, where the trial began for defendants accused of smuggling former Nissan Motor Co. chairman Carlos Ghosn out of Japan. A private airline official, four pilots and two flights attendants are on trial in Istanbul, accused of smuggling former Nissan Motor Co. chairman Carlos Ghosn out of Japan to Lebanon, via Turkey. Turkish prosecutors are seeking up to eight years in prison each for the four pilots and the airline official on charges of illegally smuggling a migrant, for helping Ghosn escape to Lebanon while he awaited trial in Japan. (AP Photo/Mehmet Guzel)

Turkey: pilots on trial over Ghosn escape released from jail

Jul. 3, 2020 1:00 PM EDT

ISTANBUL (AP) — A Turkish court on Friday released four pilots and a private airline official from jail, pending the outcome of their trial on charges of smuggling former Nissan Motor Co. chairman Carlos Ghosn out of Japan to Lebanon, via Turkey. The court, however, barred the five from leaving Turkey and...

Kaywan Kawa holds Turkish shell fragments at the bedside of his injured son in the city of Sulaimaniyah, northern Iraq. Iraq has set up border posts to prevent a Turkish military advance deeper into Iraqi territory this week as civilians suffer from over two weeks of airstrikes as Ankara continues to target Kurdish rebels in the country's north. (AP Photo/Adnan Ahmed)

Iraq sets up border posts to try to prevent Turkish advance

Jul. 3, 2020 12:44 PM EDT

IRBIL, Iraq (AP) — Iraqi troops were enforcing positions along the border with Turkey, officials said Friday, to prevent Turkish forces from advancing deeper into Iraqi territory after two weeks of airstrikes as Ankara continues to target Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq. Security officials said Ankara has...

Smoke billows from a fire following an explosion at a fireworks factory outside the town of Hendek, Sakarya province, northwestern Turkey, Friday July 3, 2020. There were an estimated 150 workers at the factory, Gov. Cetin Oktay Kaldirim told state-run Anadolu Agency. Several firefighters and ambulances were sent to the factory, which is away from residential areas, but explosions continued to hamper efforts to bring the fire under control. The cause of the blast wasn't immediately known. (IHA via AP)

4 dead, 97 injured in blast at Turkish fireworks factory

Jul. 3, 2020 12:43 PM EDT

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — An explosion at a fireworks factory in northwestern Turkey on Friday killed four people and injured 97 others, officials said. At least three people were reported missing. There were 186 workers at the factory outside the town of Hendek, in Sakarya province, Health Minister Fahrettin...

Hatice Cengiz, the fiancee of slain Saudi journalist Jamal Kashoggi, leaves a court in Istanbul, Friday, July 3, 2020, where the trial in absentia of two former aides of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and 18 other Saudi nationals over the 2018 killing of the Washington Post columnist had began. Turkish prosecutors have indicted the 20 Saudi nationals over Khashoggi's grisly killing at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul that cast a cloud of suspicion over Prince Mohammed and are seeking life prison terms for defendants who have all left Turkey. Saudi Arabia rejected Turkish demands for the suspects' extradition and put them on trial in Riyadh.(AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)

Turkey: Khashoggi's fiancee appears at absent Saudis' trial

Jul. 3, 2020 11:00 AM EDT

ISTANBUL (AP) — The fiancee of Jamal Khashoggi told a Turkish court Friday that the Washington Post columnist was lured to his death at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul through “a great betrayal and deception,” and she asked that all persons responsible for his killing be brought to justice....

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