BELGRADE, Serbia (AA) – Bosnian Serbs held celebrations Monday to mark the anniversary of the founding of the entity Republika Srpska (RS) in defiance of a ruling by Bosnia’s top court. The commemorations, which were supported by senior members of the Republika Srpska government and Serbia, kicked off with a parade in East Sarajevo. Amon...
ANKARA (AA) – Saudi Arabia said Monday it would welcome pilgrims to perform Hajj with the same numbers as before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. “The number of pilgrims will return to what it was before the pandemic, without any age limit,” Minister of Hajj and Umrah Tawfiq al-Rabiah said in Riyadh. The minister […]
GENEVA (AA) – The cost of rebuilding Pakistan after last year’s devastating floods will exceed $16 billion “and far more will be needed in the longer term,” the UN chief said on Monday. “Pakistan is doubly victimized by climate chaos and a morally bankrupt global financial system,” Antonio Guterres said at the International Conference on [&hel...
ISTANBUL (AA) – The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) is holding an extraordinary meeting on Tuesday to discuss Israeli violations at the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex in occupied East Jerusalem. In a statement, the Jeddah-based organization said the meeting comes “after the continuous Israeli escalation in the occupied city of Al-Quds ...
ANKARA (AA) – Marginalizing Muslims as being somehow “not French” serves to stoke hatred and is “intolerable,” according to France’s justice minister. “Saying that Muslims are not as French as others is intolerable,” Eric Dupond-Moretti told the media, criticizing remarks by controversial French writer Michel Houellebec...
JERUSALEM (AA) – The United Arab Emirates (UAE) hosted a meeting of the working groups for the upcoming Negev Forum on Monday. The meeting, held in the Emirati capital Abu Dhabi, was attended by delegations from the UAE, Israel, the US, Bahrain, Egypt and Morocco. The Negev Forum is expected to take place next month […]
TEHRAN, Iran (AA) – Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi is scheduled to visit Türkiye as well as Syria, a Foreign Ministry spokesman has said, adding that the plans are being finalized. Addressing a weekly press conference in Tehran, Nasser Kanaani said the plans for Raisi’s first visit to Türkiye since taking the office two years ago […]...
Bogor, Indonesia (AFP): Malaysia’s new prime minister met with Indonesia’s president Monday on his first foreign trip after winning a confidence vote and cementing his mandate last month following an inconclusive election. Anwar Ibrahim, a long-time opposition leader, was sworn in as the country’s 10th prime minister on Novem...
RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA) – Two Palestinians were wounded by Israeli army fire in the occupied West Bank on Monday, according to local media. Israeli forces raided the town of Aqqaba in the northern West Bank, triggering clashes with local residents, Voice of Palestine radio reported. One of the injured was shot in the chest and […]
Banda Aceh, Indonesia (AFP): A wooden boat carrying nearly 200 Rohingya refugees, a majority of them women and children, landed on Indonesia’s western coast on Sunday, police said. The ship is the fifth boat carrying Rohingya refugees to land in Indonesia since November, according to authorities. Thousands of Muslim Rohingya, heavily per...
