Middle East
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Coronavirus: Half-Million Infected Worldwide
2020-03-26 16:49:08 UTC
The number of coronavirus infections closed in on a half-million worldwide Thursday, with both Italy and the U.S. on track to surpass China, and a record-shattering 3.3 million Americans applied for unemployment benefits in a single week in a stark demonstration of the damage to the world’s bigge...
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Coronavirus Cases Top 220,000 Worldwide - 9,000 Dies
2020-03-18 23:20:08 UTC
BERLIN (AP) — Desperate travelers choked European border crossings on Wednesday after nations implemented strict controls in an attempt to slow the spread of the COVID-19 virus, creating traffic jams miles long and slowing the passage of trucks carrying critical supplies.
The number of people...
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Iraq: US Strikes Kill 5 Security Forces, 1 Civilian
2020-03-13 17:19:23 UTC
BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq’s military said five security force members and a civilian were killed early Friday in a barrage of U.S. airstrikes launched hours after a rocket attack killed and wounded American and British servicemen at a base north of Baghdad.
An Iran-backed Shiite militia group vowed ...
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World Health Organization Declares Coronavirus Crisis Is Now a Pandemic
2020-03-11 16:52:06 UTC
<p>ROME (AP) — Expressing increasing alarm about mounting infections, the World Health Organization declared Wednesday that the global coronavirus crisis is now a pandemic.</p><p>Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who heads the U.N. agency, said the WHO is “deeply concerned by the alarming l...
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US Began Withdrawing Troops From Afghanistan
2020-03-10 16:53:42 UTC
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The United States began withdrawing troops from Afghanistan, the U.S. military said Tuesday, taking a step forward on its peace deal with the Taliban while also praising Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s promise to start releasing Taliban prisoners after he had delayed for...
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Coronavirus Fuels Dramatic Fall in Oil Price
2020-03-09 01:49:08 UTC
<p>NEW YORK (AP) — Oil prices are plunging as a dispute among producers could lead a global economy weakened by COVID-19 to be awash in an oversupply of crude.</p><p>Brent crude, the international standard, lost $9.50, or 20.1%, to $35.77 per barrel, as of 7:58 p.m. Eastern time on Sunday a...
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EU Is Facing a New Refugee Crisis
2020-03-03 19:04:53 UTC
<p>KASTANIES/LESBOS, Greece (Reuters) - European Union officials on Tuesday promised more cash for Greece during a visit to its border with Turkey which tens of thousands of migrants and refugees have been trying for days to breach.</p><p>The officials urged Turkey to abide by a 2016 deal which r...
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Iran Is Within Reach of Enriched Uranium Needed to Produce Nuclear Weapon
2020-03-03 17:35:05 UTC
<p>VIENNA (AP) — Iran has nearly tripled its stockpile of enriched uranium since November in violation of its deal with world powers and is refusing to answer questions about three possible undeclared nuclear sites, the U.N. atomic watchdog agency said Tuesday.</p><p>The International Atomi...
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Daily Cases of Coronavirus Outside China Climbing
2020-03-02 18:44:39 UTC
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The coronavirus appeared for the first time in New York, Moscow and Berlin and clusters of the disease surged around the world, even as new cases in China dropped to their lowest level in six weeks Monday and hundreds of patients were released from hospitals at the epice...
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Iranian director wins prize at Berlin festival in absentia
2020-03-02 02:33:51 UTC
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof’s “There Is No Evil” won the Golden Bear prize Saturday for best picture at the Berlin Film Festival. Rasoulof wasn’t there to accept the award due to a travel ban imposed on him by Iranian authorities.
“There Is No Evil” tells four ...
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Iran reports 978 coronavirus cases, death toll jumps to 54
2020-03-01 13:15:28 UTC
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran's health ministry raised on Sunday the nationwide death toll from the new coronavirus to 54 as the number of confirmed infected cases jumped overnight by more than half to 978 people.
The ministry's spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour said new cases were confirmed in a number...
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US Signs Peace Agreement with Taliban
2020-02-29 15:41:25 UTC
DOHA, Qatar (AP) — The United States signed a peace agreement with Taliban militants on Saturday aimed at bringing an end to 18 years of bloodshed in Afghanistan and allowing U.S. troops to return home from America’s longest war.
Under the agreement, the U.S. would draw its forces down to 8,60...
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Turkey, Russia talk tensions in Syria as migrants push west
2020-02-28 21:38:48 UTC
<p>REYHANLI, Turkey (AP) — The presidents of Turkey and Russia spoke by phone Friday to try to defuse tensions that rose significantly in Syria after 33 Turkish troops were killed in an airstrike blamed on the Syrian government, and a new wave of refugees and migrants headed for the Greek l...
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Coronavirus Outbreak Is Spreading Around the World
2020-02-27 21:37:15 UTC
<p>One by one, more and more countries are reporting cases of the new coronavirus. Governments and doctors on the front lines are scrambling for solutions and everyday life around the globe is being disrupted in a manner that’s not been seen in recent times. </p><p>The spread of the vi...
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European Union Rejects Trump Middle East Peace Plan
2020-02-04 22:07:55 UTC
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union rejected parts of U.S. President Donald Trump’s peace plan for the Middle East on Tuesday, prompting an angry response from Israel which has strongly backed the U.S. proposal.
The plan, announced by Trump last week with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Ne...
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75TH ANNIVERSARY - LIBERATION OF AUSCHWITZ
2020-01-28 18:44:45 UTC
OSWIECIM, Poland (AP) — Survivors of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp prayed and wept as they marked the 75th anniversary of its liberation, returning Monday to the place where they lost entire families and warning about the ominous growth of anti-Semitism and hatred in the world.
“We have wi...
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Trump Plan Calls for Palestinian State, Settlement Freeze
2020-01-28 18:37:35 UTC
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump unveiled his long-awaited Middle East peace plan Tuesday, calling for the creation of a State of Palestine with its capital in portions of east Jerusalem. He declared it a “win-win” opportunity for both Israel and the Palestinians.
The plan ends specula...
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Russian Troops to Fill Void Left by US in Syria
2019-10-23 00:55:16 UTC
SOCHI, Russia/ANKARA (Reuters) - Syrian and Russian forces will deploy in northeast Syria to remove Kurdish YPG fighters and their weapons from the border with Turkey under a deal agreed on Tuesday which both Moscow and Ankara hailed as a triumph.
Hours after the deal was announced, the Turkis...
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Iran's Intelligence Agents Captured Exiled Journalist
2019-10-14 20:04:20 UTC
DUBAI (Reuters) - Agents of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have captured and returned to Iran an exiled journalist who allegedly fueled anti-government street unrest across the country early last year using social media, Iranian state television reported on Monday.
Ruhollah Zam, a journalist-turn...
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Invasion Into Kurdish-Syrian Territory: Germany Bans Arms Exports to Turkey
2019-10-12 19:55:28 UTC
ANKARA/BEIRUT (Reuters) - Germany has banned arms exports to Turkey over its assault against Kurdish YPG militia in Syria, a foreign ministry spokeswoman said on Saturday.
Turkish-backed Syrian rebels advanced into Ras al Ain in northeast Syria on Saturday but it was unclear how far, with Turk...
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US Will Betray Kurds Again
2019-10-07 23:06:05 UTC
For decades, the United States has maintained a curious relationship with the Kurds. Americans have historically enlisted them to help fight in the Middle East, only to turn on them in the end. Despite a history of betrayal, the Kurds have yet again become an important long ally in the fight agai...
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Afghanistan: US Strike Kills at Least 30 civilians
2019-09-20 01:35:45 UTC
JALALABAD, Afghanistan (Reuters) - A U.S. drone strike intended to hit an Islamic State (IS) hideout in Afghanistan killed at least 30 civilians resting after a day’s labor in the fields, officials said on Thursday.
The attack on Wednesday night also injured 40 people after accidentally target...
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Attacks on Saudi Oil Field Knock Out Half of Its Output
2019-09-15 07:21:05 UTC
RIYADH/DUBAI/LONDON (Reuters) - Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi group said it attacked two plants at the heart of Saudi Arabia’s oil industry on Saturday, knocking out more than half the Kingdom’s output, in a move expected to send oil prices soaring and increase tensions in the Middle East.
The a...
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Never-Ending War
2019-07-05 03:58:47 UTC
Jalalabad, Afghanistan (AFP) -- Of all the sad, wrenching things I have seen as a journalist in Afghanistan, Niaz Bibi's house was probably one of the saddest.
At the age of 70, Bibi has found herself as the main parent of some 40 kids -- the children of her three sons and three grandsons who ...
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Angela Merkel: There Has to Be a Political Solution on Iran
2019-06-22 21:23:07 UTC
FRANKFURT (Reuters) - The international community must seek a political solution on Iran, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Saturday, after U.S. President Donald Trump said he had aborted a military strike to retaliate against Tehran’s downing of a U.S. drone.
Speaking at an annual gathe...