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Turkey Detains More than 100 in Raids Against Pro-Kurdish Party

13 December 2016

Turkish police detained 118 pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) officials Monday over alleged links to Kurdish PKK militants, state media reported. Country-wide operations were launched after an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) claimed responsibility for twin bombings that killed at least 38 people […]

LF ‘Not Concerned’ with Franjieh’s Ain el-Tineh Remarks as Hariri Meets Khalil, Riachi

13 December 2016

The Lebanese Forces is “not concerned” with what Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh announced in Ain el-Tineh about Speaker Nabih Berri offering him the public works ministerial portfolio, LF sources announced on Monday. LF leader Samir Geagea “has not received any phone call from […]

Arslan meets FPM delegation, renews calls for proportionality

13 December 2016

Head of the Lebanese Democratic Party, MP Talal Arslan, welcomed, at his Khalda residence on Monday, a delegation of the Free Patriotic Movement, with whom he discussed latest developments, particularly the election law. “We visited MP Arslan to dwell on the election law. We both […]

Rahi offers Pope Tawadros heartfelt condolences on Coptic Church fallen victims

13 December 2016

Maronite Patriarch Cardinal Bechara Boutros Rahi fervently deplored in a statement the terrorist bombing that rattled St. Peter church near St. Mark Cathedral and the pontifical seat of Orthodox Copts in Cairo Sunday morning which claimed the lives of 24 people and injured dozens. Patriarch […]

4 Arrested in Deadly Cairo Church Bombing

13 December 2016

Egypt’s president says a suicide bomber carried out the bombing at Cairo’s Coptic Orthodox cathedral complex on Sunday that killed at least 25 people. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi said authorities arrested three men and a woman in connection with the blast. The president was […]

Change and Reform MPs visit Maarab, confirm no return to 1960 law

13 December 2016

Lebanese Forces leader, Samir Geagea, met, at his Maarab residence on Monday, with a delegation of the Change and Reform bloc’s lawmakers, comprising MPs Ibrahim Kanaan, Neemtallah Abi Nasr, Alain Aoun, Ghassan Mkhaiber, and Ziad Aswad, in presence of MP Antoine Zahra. Following the meeting, […]

Syrian Army Declares Victory in Aleppo

13 December 2016

The Syrian Army has officially liberated Aleppo after ousting rebels from their last bastions in the eastern part of the city. Earlier on Monday, the Syrian Arab Army made significant advances leaving only three residential blocks in the hands of anti-government forces. The rebels had […]

Trump Dumps on F-35 Contract and Calls for ‘Lifetime’ Ban on Revolving Door

13 December 2016

For the second time in a week, President-elect Donald Trump sent the shares of a public company into an abrupt nosedive by singling out a specific government contract as wasteful and promising to revisit it once he takes office. The victim on Monday was Lockheed-Martin, […]

Fall of Remaining Syrian Rebel-held Aleppo Districts Appears Imminent

13 December 2016

The fall of rebel-controlled districts of eastern Aleppo to the forces of President Bashar al-Assad is likely to prove a decisive victory in the five-year civil war. The demise has major symbolic significance and leaves the regime and its foreign backers, Russia and Iran, free […]

Palestinians on 73-day Hunger Strike Said to be Gravely Ill

13 December 2016

RAMALLAH, WEST BANK — An activist says two Palestinians held without charges by Israel are “between life and death” after 73 days on a hunger strike. Qadoura Fares of the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club said on Monday that 19-year-old Anas Shadid and 29-year-old Ahmad Abu Fara […]

In A Pro-Assad Stronghold, Security Comes At A Heavy Price

13 December 2016

You can tell the coastal city of Tartus is on the side of the Syrian government because everything here is intact. Little waves lap at rocks on a wide, quiet seafront dotted with cafes; boats ferry people back and forth to a nearby island. There […]

New robot has a human touch

13 December 2016

Most robots achieve grasping and tactile sensing through motorized means, which can be excessively bulky and rigid. Scientists have now devised a way for a soft robot to feel its surroundings internally, in much the same way humans do. Stretchable optical waveguides act as curvature, […]