العالم

  US officials announced that aid worker Kayla Mueller seized in Aleppo, Syria  in August 2013 and held hostage by ISIL militants, was repeatedly raped by the group’s leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. And that she“was the property of al-Baghdadi.” US government officials told Mueller’s parents that their daughter had been raped by al-Baghdadi and tortured during her captivity, family spokeswoman Emily Lenzner …

French social networks exploded with anger after a young woman was reportedly beaten up by a  group of  Muslim women for wearing a bikini in a park in Reims in northern France. police said ,The victim  was sunbathing with two friends in the Parc Léo Lagrange in Reims on when one of the women verbally abused her for exposing so …

Reporters Without Borders released the annual World Press Freedom Index, which ranks 180 countries performance according to criteria including media independence, legislative framework and the level of censorship prevailing in the country, and the infrastructure environment in which the media operate. The index highlights the worldwide deterioration in freedom of information in 2014 because of wars, the growing non-state actors …

By Ramzy Baroud It is still not about Islam, even if the media and militants attacking western targets say so. Actually, it never was. But it was important for many to conflate politics with religion; partly because it is convenient and self-validating. First, let’s be clear on some points. Islam has set in motion a system to abolish slavery over …

The UN on Thursday requested for $8.4 billion so that it can provide emergency aid and more permanent help to almost 18 million people in Syria and its neighbors affected by the Syrian civil war. The appeal includes funding for shelter, food, humanitarian aid and developmental support. UN agencies had initially asked for$2.9 billion to help 12.2 million people in …

Irish parliamentarians on Wednesday urged their government to recognize the state of Palestine after a symbolic motion for the same passed in the parliament unopposed. This makes the Irish parliament the fourth European assembly to demand Palestinian statehood since October – Spanish, British and French lawmakers have all passed similar motions, indicating growing frustration with the peace process. Sweden has …

The tense autonomous region of Xinjiang has banned prayers and other religious practices in government business offices, schools and other buildings. Religious activities will only be allowed to take place in registered locations like mosques. Under new rules, people will also be not allowed to wear or force others to wear logos or clothes associated with extremist groups. It remains …

A suicide bomber on Thursday rammed an explosive-laden car into a British embassy vehicle in Kabul, killing five Afghans and one Briton in the latest attack as NATO troops continue to withdraw from the country. An Afghan employee in the embassy and a British security contractor died in the blast, which occurred on a stretch of road known for suicide …

Multiple news websites, including Canadian national broadcaster CBC, on Thursday were briefly hacked in an attack claimed by the Syrian Electronic Army. A few users of the websites reported seeing a pop-up message that read “You’ve been hacked by the Syrian Electronic Army (SEA)”. The hack targeted a network used by many businesses and news organizations; a tweet sent by …

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday forewarned against tackling the problem of violent extremism only through military means and called on government to avoid counter-terrorism measures which could lead to human rights abuses. At a special meeting of the UN Security Council on counter-terrorism, Ban said that the UN was looking at different ways in which it can address …