MIDDLE EAST

Militants in Mosul attacked the Turkish consulate in the city on Wednesday, kidnapping 48 people, one of whom was the head of the diplomatic mission. Only a day earlier, the Turkish consulate in Mosul said that members of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) had captured 28 Turkish truck drivers; it was on a day when jihadists, …

US-based consultant company Gallup this week released a new study which ranked negative emotions in 138 countries in the world for 2013. According to the study, Iraq has the “highest negative emotions” in the world; five of the top 10 nations were from the Muslim World, with four of them being Arab countries. Gallup’s method for measuring negative emotions was …

International prosecutors on Tuesday said that despite China and Russia’s efforts to block war-crimes from Syria to be referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC), it was still possible for them to go after those responsible for the crimes. Last month, Russia and China vetoed a UN Security Council resolution which would have referred war crimes committed by both sides …

Rights group Amnesty International on Tuesday said that Turkish authorities were “as abusive as ever” in their handling of protesters in the country. Only a year ago, allanti-government demonstrations in the country were brutally crushed by the government. Salil Shetty, Secretary General of Amnesty International, said, “The Turkish authorities have been relentless in their crackdown on protesters — be it …

Iran on Tuesday questioned if it will be able to meet its July deadline to commit to a deal with world powers regarding its nuclear program. France said Iran’s talks with world powers on curbing its uranium enrichment program had “hit a wall”. Iran has been in talks with six world powers regarding its nuclear program. The West will extend …

32 people were killed in attacks across Iraq on Monday, including 28 people killedin northern Iraq police checkpoint by roadside bomb and a truck rigged with explosives detonated by a suicide bomber. According to Local official Shallal Abdul Baban, the blasts at a police checkpoint in Tuz Khurmatu killed 28 people and wounded 148 others, causing “great destruction”. The checkpoint …

Turkey and Iran on Monday pledged to stop bloodshed and extremism in the Middle East by working together, despite their differences over the civil war in Syria. In a news conference in Ankara, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said, “Iran and Turkey, the two important countries in the region, are determined to fight against extremism and terrorism”. He added that the …

Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), with government consent, were able to make a rare aid delivery in rebel-held parts of Aleppo province, a spokesman said on Monday. “Together with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, we were able to deliver food assistance and other essential items such as kitchen sets, hygiene kits, …

On Monday, Syrian President Bashar Assad announced “general amnesty” for all “crimes” committed to a date, state television said. The amnesty decree, announced only a week after the controversial election he won amid raging conflict across the country, for the first time extends amnesty to those accused to be terrorists under the controversial July 2012 anti-terrorism law. The Syrian government …

On Wednesday, US Secretary of State John Kerry, during his unannounced visit to Lebanon, dismissed the Syrian elections as “a great big zero”. The “elections are non-elections, the elections are a great big zero”, he told reporters in Beirut. He also defended the Washington’s decision to work with the newly-formed Palestinian unity government, saying that it did not include any …