AFP, JERUSALEM: A controversial Israeli bill to quiet the Muslim call to prayer is to go forward after it was amended so as not to affect the Jewish Shabbat siren, the speaker’s office said Wednesday. Health Minister Yaakov Litzman, an ultra-Orthodox Jew, had blocked the draft law in its original…

AFP, PARIS: Donald Trump’s election in the United States and a surge in far-right groups in Europe have led to a fierce debate among historians…

AFP, TEHRAN: Iran will retaliate if the United States renews sanctions next month, supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned Wednesday. “In the issue of the nuclear deal, the current administration has committed several violations, the latest of which is the renewal of the 10-year sanctions,”…

AFP, WASHINGTON: A US drone strike has killed a senior Al-Qaeda leader in Syria who previously operated in Afghanistan, the Defense Department announced Tuesday. The November 18 strike near Sarmada in northwestern Syria targeted Abu Afghan al-Masri, Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said. “He…

AFP, NEW DELHI: Six heavily armed Maoist rebels were killed Wednesday in a jungle gunbattle with police in eastern India, an officer said. Police said they opened fire after being attacked during a search on Wednesday morning in the Maoist stronghold of Latehar district in Jharkhand state. “The…

AFP, SEOUL: Japan and South Korea signed a controversial agreement on Wednesday to share defence intelligence on North Korea, despite protests from opposition parties and activists in Seoul. South Korea’s defence ministry said the accord was “necessary” in the face of growing military…

AFP, WARRI, Nigeria: Gunmen have killed four guards at a facility operated by the Nigerian subsidary of Italian group Eni, local and security officials said Wednesday. Four members of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), a paramilitary agency of the government, were killed on Monday…