Pro-Palestinian protesters clashed with police in Paris on Saturday as they defied a ban on a planned rally against violence in the Gaza strip. A Reuters photographer said demonstrators in northern Paris launched projectiles at riot police, who responded by firing teargas canisters and stun grenades. Demonstrators also climbed on top of a building and…
Iran and six powers agreed to continue talking for four more months after failing to meet a July 20 deadline to reach a deal on curbing the Iranian nuclear program in exchange for ending sanctions, enabling Tehran to access $2.8 billion of frozen cash. But U.S. officials warned that most sanctions against the Islamic Republic…
An 89-year-old man wanted in Germany for working as a concentration camp guard during World War Two said in court filings on Friday that he should not be deported because his service in the Waffen SS was involuntary. “What can be said with certainty is that Mr. Breyer is not a war criminal,” lawyers for…
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will travel to the Middle East on Saturday in a bid to end the fighting between Israel and Palestinians, alarmed at a serious escalation that includes a ground offensive by Israel, said a senior U.N. official. Israel intensified its land offensive in Gaza with artillery, tanks and gunboats on Friday and…
Israeli forces on Saturday pressed ahead with a ground offensive in the Gaza Strip, where Palestinian militants kept firing rockets deep into Israel’s heartland, pushing the death toll past 300 in almost two weeks of conflict. Palestinian officials said 65 Palestinians, at least 15 of them under the age of 18, have been killed since…
Bulgaria has identified a dual Lebanese-French citizen as the alleged culprit in the suicide bombing of a bus containing Israeli tourists two years ago. The Bulgarian prosecutor’s office and the national security agency said Friday in a joint statement Friday that the alleged bomber was 23-year-old Mohamad Hassan El-Husseini, who was born in Lebanon, the…
(Reuters) — Palestinians hunkered down in fear for their lives while Hamas militants urged defiance after Israel sent forces into the densely populated territory on Thursday after 10 days of cross-border fire. Residents largely abandoned the usually teeming streets after a fevered night of bombardment. Ships spitting machinegun fire drifted closer to the desert enclave’s…
Egypt’s attempts to pressure Hamas into accepting a truce plan offering few concessions for the group to end the latest fighting with Israel show Cairo’s determination to finish the job it began at home – crushing Islamists it sees as a threat. Egypt has always regarded itself as the most effective mediator in the Israeli-Palestinian…
Pope Francis telephoned Israeli President Shimon Peres and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday to express his “very grave concerns” over the conflict in Gaza, the Vatican said. The pontiff, who hosted a prayer meeting with the two leaders in the Vatican last month, called on all sides to work for an end to hostilities…
The 27-year-old Israeli son of a well-known Christian evangelist was among the 298 victims who died when Malaysian airlines flight MH17 crashed in Ukraine. Dov Avnon, Itamar Avnon’s father, announced his son’s death on Facebook, the Ma’ariv daily reported Friday. “They say life is short – yes it is true,” wrote his Israeli-born father, who…
Expressing concern about civilian casualties, U.S. State Secretary John Kerry said Israel’s operation in the Gaza Strip should be a “precise” one, targeting Hamas tunnels. Kerry made the appeal during a telephone conversation late Thursday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the U.S. State Department said in a statement issued hours after the Israel Defense…
