TOPICS

By SYLVIE CORBET Associated Press France has announced a 6.3-billion-euro ($7 billion) deal to sell 24 Rafale fighter jets to Qatar. The deal is to be signed next Monday in Qatar’s capital, Doha, in the presence of the French president, Francois Hollande, presidency services announced Thursday. With this …

By Emanuel Stoakes On April 2, Nabeel Rajab, one of Bahrain’s most prominent human rights activists, was arrested and detained for critical comments about the monarchy that he posted on Twitter. It was his second arrest in six months for the same offense. His latest tweet to his quarter …

IT IS a new era for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It is considered the start of the fourth State where the pillars have been strengthened by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman Abdulaziz since he assumed power a few months ago. King Salman took quick …

Vietnam Times: Vietnam marks 40 years since the end of Vietnam War on Thursday as thousands of Vietnamese, including war veterans in uniform, lined up to watch soldiers and traditional performers parade through the streets of what is now Ho Chi Minh City. In front of Independence Palace …

Report by the Hurriyet Daily  President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has apparently taken another step in his fight against ally-turned-foe, U.S.-based Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, with Turkey’s top national security body finally amending its top-secret national security document, in line with the threat allegedly posed by Gülen’s followers. A …

DPA: German intelligence services spied on top French officials and the European Commission on behalf of the American spy agency NSA, according to the Süddeutsche Zeitung. Germany’s BND foreign intelligence agency helped the National Security Agency (NSA) carry out “political espionage” by surveilling “top officials at the French …

By Ahmad Morsey and  Casper Wuite Carnegie On April 15, the Egyptian Cabinet approved amendments to Egypt’s electoral law, articles of which had been deemed unconstitutional last month. After a year of continued unrest, the parliamentary elections, originally slated for March 21, were expected to restore Egypt’s body politic …

George Perkovich Carnegie As negotiations and debate proceed over a comprehensive nuclear agreement with Iran, comparisons will inevitably be made with the 1994 Agreed Framework that sought to end North Korea’s (the DPRK’s) nuclear weapons program. That earlier agreement failed due to a combination of factors. Many observers …

James L. Schoff U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT As Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe prepares to visit the United States next week, attention is focused on the historic nature of the trip. Abe will be the first Japanese leader to speak before a joint session of Congress, an …