A father and son, part of a family of seven who left the United States to join Islamic State in Syria, are back on U.S. soil, charged with supporting the terror group.Emraan Ali, 53, and his 19-year-old son Jihad appeared in federal court in Florida on Tuesday, charged with material support violations.According to court documents,Read more
Republican lawmakers on Wednesday confronted former FBI Director James Comey about his oversight of the Trump-Russia investigation during a politically charged hearing that focused attention on problems with the probe that have become a rallying cry for President Donald Trump’s supporters.Comey, making his first appearance before Congress since a harshly critical inspector general report onRead more
The Proud Boys are fired up.The notorious hate group has been celebrating since President Donald Trump refused to directly disavow them and other white supremacists during Tuesday night’s presidential debate in Cleveland, Ohio.Trump, who has been criticized for never explicitly denouncing right-wing extremism, was asked by debate moderator Chris Wallace of Fox News if heRead more
Abdullah Abdullah, chairman of Afghanistan’s High Council for National Reconciliation, acknowledges that Iran has ‘legitimate interests” in his country as a neighbor that hosts millions of Afghan refugees. Iran’s contacts with various Taliban groups, he says, could be used as an opportunity to advance peace efforts. Ayesha Tanzeem has more. …Read more
The man heading Afghanistan’s peace efforts said Iran did not attend the ceremony marking the opening of talks with the Taliban due to tensions with the United States.“Iran was invited…Sometimes their relations with the United States which [are] under a lot of tension at the moment, those things affect their decisions [of] participating in aRead more
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson received a rare reprimand Wednesday by the speaker of the House of Commons for treating lawmakers with contempt by rushing through far-reaching COVID-19 restrictions without proper review by lawmakers.Just before the prime minister’s weekly “question time” with members of Parliament, Lindsay Hoyle, speaker of the House of Commons, admonished JohnsonRead more
The National Football League is moving a game between the Tennessee Titans and the Pittsburgh Steelers, originally scheduled for Sunday, to either Monday or Tuesday after several Titans players and staff tested positive for the coronavirus.The Titans announced Tuesday that three players and five staff members had tested positive following Sunday’s game against the MinnesotaRead more
The independent U.S. presidential election debate agency said Wednesday that it would move soon to tighten the format of the encounters after critics panned Tuesday’s first debate between President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden as the worst in American political history.The two candidates frequently interrupted each other or talked at the same time,Read more
A top French appeals court has refused to block the extradition of the alleged financier of Rwanda’s 1994 genocide to a United Nations tribunal. The decision by France’s Court of Cassation is a blow to Felicien Kabuga, 84, who was arrested at his Paris-area apartment in May after a quarter-century on the run. Kabuga’s lawyers hadRead more
The U.S. has sanctioned 13 entities and six people in an ongoing campaign to cut off revenue to the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The U.S. Treasury Department said Wednesday the governor of the Central Bank of Syria was among those who were blacklisted, as were the head of the Syrian General Intelligence Directorate andRead more
Nearly three decades after the demolition of a 16th century mosque by a Hindu mob in India, a court acquitted top Hindu nationalist leaders charged with criminal conspiracy in connection with its destruction. The 1992 demolition of the Babri masjid, which Hindu groups said was built on the birthplace of their god, Rama, had sparked someRead more
After consulting with Germany’s 16 regional governors, German Chancellor Angela Merkel Wednesday announced new restrictions on the size of gatherings to prevent the country’s coronavirus infection figures from accelerating.At a Berlin news briefing following her virtual meeting with the governors, Merkel said she wants to act regionally and address the virus where it is surgingRead more
Armenian and Azerbaijani forces clashed for a fourth consecutive day Wednesday over the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh, in an ongoing conflict that is threatening to erupt into all-out war.Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry accused Armenian forces of shelling the Azerbaijani town of Tartar, while Armenian military officials said Azerbaijani forces bombed northern parts of the breakaway regionRead more
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo vowed to advocate for persecuted religious minorities in China while calling on the Vatican to reconsider renewing a deal with Beijing.”Nowhere is religious freedom under assault more than it is inside of China today,” Pompeo said Wednesday in Rome, Italy. ”Nor of course have Catholics been spared this wave ofRead more
Many Americans are mourning the death of Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Makeshift memorials to the popular liberal justice have sprung up all over the country. One of them at the site of a large mural dedicated to the justice in September 2019. Anush Avetisyan has the story, narrated by Anna Rice.VIDEOGRAPHER: Andrey DegtyarevRead more
India now has more than 6.2 million total COVID-19 cases out of its 1.3 billion citizens — but a new study by national health authorities says the actual number could be about 10 times higher. The Indian Council of Medical Research said Tuesday that one in 15 individuals over 10 years old contained the antibodies left behindRead more
Kuwait on Wednesday swore in its new emir Sheikh Nawaf al-Ahmad al-Sabah, who pledged to preserve the country’s unity and stability. The 83-year-old Sheikh Nawaf, the former crown prince of Kuwait, succeeds his half-brother, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, who died Tuesday at the age of 91. FILE – Kuwait’s Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah looks asRead more
A U.S. federal judge on Tuesday blocked an increase in immigration fees that was due to go into effect this week. The fees were set to go up Friday by an average of about 20% depending on the type of entry being sought. The halted hikes include a $50 fee for asylum applications, the first time the United States would have chargedRead more