Category: Middle East

Turkish Police Arrest ‘Terror’ Suspect in Istanbul Bombing That Killed 8

Police in Turkey have arrested a suspect following an explosion in central Istanbul’s Istiklal Avenue on Sunday that left eight people dead, the Interior minister has confirmed. Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu told local media outlets on Monday that the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) was behind the bombing on the packed street in the Beyoglu district of Turkey’s largest…


Turkish Police Arrest ‘Terror’ Suspect in Istanbul Bombing That Killed 6

Police in Turkey have arrested a suspect following an explosion in central Istanbul’s Istiklal Avenue on Sunday that left six people dead, the Interior minister has confirmed. Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu told local media outlets on Monday that the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) was behind the bombing on the packed street in the Beyoglu district of Turkey’s largest…


Pakistani Man Sentenced to Die for Killing Ex-Wife From US

ISLAMABAD—The ex-husband of an American woman of Pakistani origin was convicted of murdering her as part of a property dispute and sentenced to death Saturday by a Pakistani court. The district court in Rawalpindi also sentenced Rizwan Habib’s father and an employee to seven years in prison for abetting the murder of 47-year-old Wajiha Swati,…


6 Dead in Istanbul Blast, Erdogan Says It ‘Smells Like Terrorism’

ISTANBUL—Six people were killed and 81 others wounded on Sunday when an explosion rocked a busy pedestrian street in central Istanbul in what Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan called a bomb attack that “smells like terrorism.” Hundreds of people fled the historic Istiklal Avenue after the blast, as ambulances and police raced in. The area, in…


Netanyahu Formally Tasked With Forming New Israeli Government

JERUSALEM—Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received an official mandate on Sunday to form a new government. Tasking Netanyahu with building the next coalition, President Isaac Herzog noted that Israel’s longest-serving premier had received enough recommendations from like-minded parties to secure 64 of parliament’s 120 seats. That puts the conservative Netanyahu on the path to…


World Hoped to Crucify Top Oil Supplier, Saudi Says

SHARM EL SHEIKH, Egypt—The world was hoping to crucify Saudi Arabia as a top oil exporter, its energy minister said on the sidelines of the COP27 summit in Egypt, adding the kingdom would be closely monitoring other countries’ energy policies. Setting out what he said were Saudi Arabia’s steps to produce cleaner energy and reduce…


Stray Bullet Hits Plane Landing in Beirut, No Casualties

BEIRUT—A stray bullet hit a Middle East Airlines jet while landing in Beirut on Thursday, causing some material damage. No one among the passengers or crew was hurt, the head of the Lebanese airline company said. The jet was landing on its way back from Jordan when the bullet hit the plane, said Mohamad El-Hout….


Pakistan’s Politics Fuelling Economic Malaise

Commentary Pakistan faces numerous political problems, including rampant corruption, bad governance, allegations of human rights violations, and perceived interference of international monetary organisations in the domestic affairs of the country. These problems contribute to the economic malaise currently facing the country. In Aug. 2021, Uzair Younus, the author of “The Impact of COVID-19 on South…


Rapid Waning of COVID Vaccine Requires Reevaluation of Future Booster Campaigns: Study

An Israeli study has concluded that the short-lived immunity and rapid waning of the Pfizer BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine necessitates the reevaluation of future COVID-19 vaccination campaigns. The authors said that while the vaccine was effective in decreasing morbidity and mortality, “its relatively small effect on transmissibility of Omicron … and its rapid waning call for…


Record Number of Foreigners Repatriated From ISIS Camps in Syria This Year

QAMISHLI, Syria—Repatriations of foreign women and children affiliated to the ISIS terrorist group from detention camps in northeast Syria hit a record high in 2022, Kurdish authorities said on Tuesday. Thousands of foreigners including women and children had gone to Syria‮‮ ‬‬to live in ISIS’s so-called “caliphate” until 2019, when U.S.-backed Kurdish forces snatched the…