Agencies, Nairobi: President Barack Obama struck a personal note as he returned to his father’s homeland Kenya this weekend, openly embracing his extended family during his first visit as commander and chief. “There’s a reason why my name is Barack Hussein Obama,” he said yesterday…

AFP, NICE, France: King Salman of Saudi Arabia arrives in France yesterday for a Riviera holiday, with the closure of the beach in front of his villa incensing local residents. While the king’s three-week visit with an entourage of nearly 1,000 is a boon for the local economy, the closure of a…

AFP, TUNIS: The Tunisian parliament adopted a new anti-terror law overnight Friday aimed at beefing up powers to confront a jihadist threat following deadly attacks but which has been slammed by rights groups as draconian. The law was adopted after three days of debate by 174 members of parliament with…

AFP, DAMASCUS: President Bashar al-Assad granted an amnesty yestreday for people in war-torn Syrian who have dodged service or defected from the army, state news agency SANA reported. According to SANA, Assad issued a decree “which grants a general amnesty to those who defected and are still in…

AFP, TEHRAN: Iran hit out yesterday against US Secretary of State John Kerry, accusing him of threatening military action against Tehran if it fails to respect a historic nuclear deal sealed on July 14. “Unfortunately the US Secretary of State once again talked about the rotten rope of ‘the…