Middle East
Latest stories
Erdogan Says Turkey Army 'Did What's Necessary' by Downing Syria Copter

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday defended the military's downing of a Syrian helicopter which he said violated its airspace.

"The Turkish Armed Forces did what's necessary," Erdogan told a press conference, a day after its warplanes shot down the military helicopter which was detected two kilometers (1.2 miles) inside Turkish airspace.

W140 Full Story
Yemen Denies Child Bride Death on Wedding Night

Yemeni authorities denied Tuesday the reported death of a child bride on her wedding night, presenting to reporters a girl who claimed she was eight-year-old Rawan and never married.

Last week, the government said it was investigating reports that a child bride had died from injuries suffered on the first night of her marriage to a man in his 40s.

W140 Full Story
HRW, Amnesty Urge U.N. to Refer Syria Conflict to ICC

Rights groups Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch urged the United Nations on Tuesday to refer the conflict in Syria to the International Criminal Court.

The statements came after a report by U.N. chemical weapons inspectors confirmed that sarin gas was used in attacks on the outskirts of Damascus on August 21.

W140 Full Story
90% of Tunisia Journalists on Strike to Protest Pressures

Tunisian journalists went on strike Tuesday to protest pressures by the authorities, after a reporter was arrested for accusing the public prosecutor of fabricating evidence against a cameraman.

The national union of Tunisian journalists (SNJT), which called the action, said it was observed by more than 90 percent of its members.

W140 Full Story
Brahimi Urges U.S., Russia to Build on Syria Deal

The U.N.-Arab League envoy on Syria on Tuesday urged the United States and Russia to build on their recent rapprochement to allow progress towards a political solution to the conflict.

Veteran negotiator Lakhdar Brahimi, who wants to revive efforts to hold a peace conference in Geneva aimed at bringing the warring parties together, called on the two powers to build on the momentum from a deal on Syria's chemical weapons.

W140 Full Story
Bomber Kills Policeman in Libya's Benghazi

A police officer was killed in Libya's second city Benghazi on Tuesday by a bomb placed on his car, in the latest attack targeting security personnel, a medical source said.

Mrajaa al-Aribi died in the city's al-Jala hospital from injuries sustained in the explosion, the source said.

W140 Full Story
Iraq Attacks Kill 34, Including 26 in 7 Baghdad Blasts

A series of Baghdad car bombings mostly targeting Shiite neighborhoods were the deadliest in a spate of attacks that killed 34 people in Iraq Tuesday, security and medical officials said.

The attacks were the latest in a surge of unrest that has left more than 4,200 people dead this year, the highest toll since 2008 when Iraq was emerging from a brutal sectarian war.

W140 Full Story
Frenchman Dies after Egypt Police Cell Beating

A French citizen died after being attacked by cellmates in a Cairo police station, where he had been detained for breaking a night-time curfew, security officials said on Tuesday.

Police arrested the man in the upmarket Zamalek neighborhood of the capital for violating the nightly curfew in force since the launch of a deadly crackdown on Islamist supporters of ousted president Mohammed Morsi on August 14.

W140 Full Story
Egypt Arrests Muslim Brotherhood Spokesman

Egypt's army-backed authorities arrested the spokesman of the Muslim Brotherhood on Tuesday, the latest member of the Islamist organisation to be jailed since a July 3 coup, security sources said.

An arrest warrant had been issued for Gehad al-Haddad, who was active on social networks, as part of a crackdown that followed the military's overthrow of Islamist president Mohammed Morsi.

W140 Full Story
Bulgaria Asks for EU Help with Syrian Refugees

The European Union's poorest country Bulgaria launched an appeal on Tuesday for financial support from the bloc to help it cope with an influx of people fleeing Syria's civil war.

"Bulgaria has proven itself as a reliable partner within the European Union. We have shown that we can protect the EU's outer border, while undertaking a serious burden ourselves," Interior Minister Tsvetlin Yovchev said in the town of Elhovo, on the southeastern border with Turkey.

W140 Full Story