A Libyan military commander waging an offensive to capture the capital Tripoli is committed to a ceasefire, Germany said on Thursday, in an apparent advance for efforts to end a near-decade of turmoil in the North African country.German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas’s office also said commander Khalifa Haftar is also willing to attend a conference in Berlin on Sunday aimed at addressing t... More ...

Three far-right Israeli political parties joined forces late Wednesday, seeking to strengthen their hand in a coming election after a left-leaning alliance was announced earlier in the week. Israel is gearing up for its third election in less than a year after neither Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu nor his centrist challenger Benny Gantz were able to form a majority government following two po... More ...

Amnesty International, a UK-based rights group, called Saturday's verdict 'a travesty' A court in Pakistan has convicted a university lecturer of blasphemy and sentenced him to death in a case rights groups have long cited as emblematic of fair trial concerns in such prosecutions in the country. Junaid Hafeez, a lecturer at the Bahauddin Zakariya University in the central Pakistani city of Multa... More ...

It was not at all surprising, following the successful US strike that killed the commander of the Quds brigade Qassem Soleimani, that the Iranian media would attempt to ease the big blow to the regime in Tehran by portraying the late Soleimani as a “martyr” - who actually always wanted to be killed to gain this alleged honor. This was reinforced by Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah re... More ...

The White House violated federal law in withholding security assistance to Ukraine, an action at the center of President Donald Trump’s impeachment, a federal watchdog agency said Thursday. The Government Accountability Office said in a report that the Office of Management and Budget violated the law in holding up the aid, which Congress passed less than a year ago, saying “the Presid... More ...

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq hit record highs on Wednesday after President Donald Trump said there were no American casualties in the Iranian missile strikes and that Tehran appeared to be standing down, sparking a relief rally in markets.Iranian forces fired missiles overnight at military bases housing U.S. troops in Iraq, in response to the U.S. killing of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, a m... More ...

Peacekeepers are patrolling the city of Alindao, Basse Kotto Prefecture, after skirmishes last Thursday between the country’s armed forces and members of an armed group associated with the mainly-Muslim ex-Seleka coalition, which have fought with mainly Christian anti-Balaka elements, destabilizing the nation since 2013. “Two personnel from the Central African Republic’s (CAR) a... More ...

The Kingdom of Bahrain’s capital city, Manama, has been declared as the Capital of Arab Tourism for 2020. The announcement was made during the 22nd session of the Arab Ministerial Council for Tourism, which was held in Saudi Arabia’s Al-Ahsa. It’s the second time Manama has been selected as the Capital of Arab Tourism. The city also held the title in 2013. Indeed, there are pl... More ...

It may not feel like it, but Spring is almost here. As you change your down jacket to a denim jacket, consider it time to switch up your nail polish wardrobe too. Unsure what to replace your wine reds, holiday metallics, and midnight blues with? Reach for lighter and brighter shades, says LA-based nail artist Betina Goldstein. Even if you're not already among the nearly 200,000 following her on In... More ...

Fans of Jeopardy! are dreading the day Alex Trebek is no longer on their TV screens. But the veteran game show host, who was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer in March of 2019, says that he has been preparing for his eventual final episode. Trebek, who has hosted Jeopardy! for more than 35 years, has continued working all the way through his various cancer treatments. But during an intervie... More ...

Established in 1967, Yemen’s Taiz National Museum closed its doors in 2016 amid the ongoing civil war. The six-year-long conflict in the country has resulted in hundreds of thousands of casualties and the destruction of many historic sites and cities across the nation, including the museum situated in the southern city of Taiz, which was destroyed in a fire caused by shelling from Houthi re... More ...

A new study from the University of California, Berkeley has identified and mapped the 13 subjective experiences that different kinds of music can evoke in people. Have you ever been in a situation where you wanted a playlist of musical tracks to put you in a certain mood — for example, to motivate you to work — but were unsure how to find it or put it together? Soon, it may become ea... More ...

A judge has launched judicial proceedings against Fady Hachem, the husband of Lebanese singer Nancy Ajram, charging him with “intentional murder” for shooting a burglar who broke into his villa. According to Lebanon’s National News Agency, Mount Lebanon Appeal Court Judge Ghada Aoun said she will be relying on articles 229 and 547 of the Lebanese penal code to initiate her prose... More ...

Spaniard Carlos Sainz took a big lead in the Dakar Rally on Wednesday after winning a 10th stage halted before the halfway point by strong winds and deteriorating conditions in the Saudi Arabian desert. The Mini buggy driver, a two-times winner of the endurance event, had started only 24 seconds clear of Toyota’s defending champion Nasser Al Attiyah but extended his lead to 18 minutes and 1... More ...

The United States government says it will no longer be sending specially-trained bomb detection dogs to both Egypt and Jordan after cases of improper care, even deaths.The State Department Office of Inspector General has recommended that the two US agencies - the Bureau of Diplomatic Security and the Bureau of Counter-terrorism - stop sending the specially-trained dogs to Jordan and Egypt followin... More ...