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The United States says it is “closely” following the tensions between India and Pakistan, calling on both sides to exercise restraint. “We’re continuing to follow the situation on the ground very closely. From our perspective, we urge calm and restraint by both sides,” US Department of State Spokesperson Mark Toner told reporters on Friday. Tensions have been growing between Pakistan and India ever since New Delhi said it conducted “surgical strikes” against militants across the de facto borderline dividing the disputed region of Kashmir on Wednesday. The Pakistani military, however, rejected such claims and said, “There has been no surgical strike by India.” Toner said that the Pakistani and Indian militaries have been communicating over their dispute, a move he called positive. “We believe that continued communication between them is important to reduce tensions. we certainly don’t want to see any kind of escalation and certainly any kind of break in that communication,” ...

US President Barack Obama should “pledge” not to pardon Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton for her many crimes against America, says Republican nominee Donald Trump. Speaking at a rally in suburban Detroit on Friday, Trump said, “Clinton and her co-conspirators” were not above the law and should be held responsible for their deeds. “Here’s a demand I’m making today to President Obama,” Trump said. “Mr. President, will you pledge not to issue a pardon to Hillary Clinton and her co-conspirators for their many crimes against our country and against society itself? Will you make that pledge? No one is above the law. Clinton and her cronies will do say or lie about anything to keep their grip on power.” To cast the former secretary of state as a crook, Trump pointed to a range of scandals surrounding her and former president Bill Clinton—from the use of an email server to Bill’s pardoning of a commodities trader named March Rich. Trump said Clinton should promise that...

Israel's secret weapons of mass destruction are a real threat to peace and security in the world, Editor in Chief of the American Herald Tribune daily Anthony James Hall told Press TV on Friday.  “Israel is a kind of outlaw entity when it comes to the Non-Proliferation Treaty, because Israel does not even admit to this day that it has nuclear weapons,” he said.  Hall also lashed out at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for an “enormous double standard” regarding Iran's peaceful nuclear program and Israel's atomic warheads.  "Iran is going along with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), while the Iranians do not have any nuclear weapons, but Israel does have hundreds of atomic bombs and denies the issue." On Thursday, Iranian Ambassador to the IAEA Reza Najafi described Israel's nuclear weapons program as a serious and continued threat to the regional and international peace and security. Hall touched upon th...

Thousands of people have poured onto the streets of the Hungarian capital, Budapest, to express their outrage at Prime Minister Viktor Orban's hard-line approach to asylum seekers ahead of a referendum on the European Union’s refugee quotas. Friday’s demonstration, which was organized by civilians under the motto "See the man," called for peace, freedom and  human rights. Protesters held banners reading, "Do no harm" and "Home and freedom should be a human right." Hungarian and foreign activists as well as members of non-governmental organizations were among the demonstrators while some of them gave a speech to the crowd. Arpad Schilling, the event’s organizer and theater director, said, "We have been living in the captivity of fear and hatred but now we fear and we hate even those whom we do not know at all." Protester Erika Saraljai, described the government’s anti-refugee agenda as outrageous, saying, “Poor migrants are escapin...

Iran says it will never drop support for the Palestinian cause after remarks by the German economy minister, who said the Islamic Republic should recognize the Israeli regime before Berlin would normalize ties with Tehran. Germany’s vice chancellor and minister of economy and energy, Sigmar Gabriel, who is due in Tehran on Sunday at the head of a large business delegation, had earlier told the Germany weekly  Der Spiegel  that Iran could have normal, friendly relations with Germany “only when it accepted Israel’s right to exist.” Bahram Qassemi, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, responded to the comments by saying, “The ties between the Islamic Republic of Iran and Germany are based on mutual respect and interests, and no precondition would be acceptable in this regard. In addition, we… deem the involvement of any third element [in the development of ties] as disruptive to bilateral relations.” “The Islamic Republic considers defending the rights of the people of Pal...

British Prime Minister Theresa May says she is opposed to a second independence referendum in Scotland and the Scottish government will not have a veto over Britain's exit from the European Union. However, May said Friday that she will listen to Scotland's concerns over the Brexit negotiations and fully engage the Scottish government in the talks. "What I am very clear about is that, as we look into these negotiations, we will fully engage the Scottish government in the discussions that we have, in preparing what position the UK is going to take," May told BBC Scotland. When asked if Scotland could have a veto over Brexit, May said, "The United Kingdom will have a position in the negotiations and we, as a United Kingdom government, will be negotiating with the European Union." Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said on Tuesday that a "hard Brexit” may severely damage the Scottish economy and its place in the world if the UK is left withou...

Bulgaria has imposed a nationwide ban on the face-covering Islamic headdress worn by Muslim women amid similar moves by some other European governments. Bulgarian lawmakers approved the measure on Friday. The legislation,  pushed by the nationalist Patriotic Front coalition,  was approved in spite of opposition by the country’s MDL Turkish minority party, which accused the other parties of "sowing religious intolerance." Infringements, press reports said, carry fines of 200 leva ($114) and up to 1,500 leva for repeated offences. This is while the rights group Amnesty International (AI) strongly criticized the move against female members of Bulgaria’s minority Muslim community, which represent nearly 15 percent of the nation’s population. "This law is part of a disturbing trend of intolerance, xenophobia and racism in Bulgaria," said AI’s European director John Dalhuisen in a statement. ​Several Bulgarian towns had already banned the niqab at the lo...

Yemeni forces have targeted and destroyed an Emirati military vessel in a rocket attack near the Red Sea port city of Mokha, al-Masirah TV says. A military source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Ansarullah fighters and allied army forces launched rockets at an HSV-2 Swift hybrid catamaran operated by the Emirati navy off the shores of the Red Sea port city of Mokha early on Saturday, al-Masirah television reported. The catamaran was reportedly a high-speed logistical ship capable of locating mines, controlling military operations and transporting troops and equipment. The vessel formerly belonged to the US navy, al-Masirah said. Ansarullah fighters working in cooperation with the Yemeni army have so far destroyed several hostile warships and boats. On October 10, 2015, Yemeni army forces destroyed a Saudi warship in a missile attack in the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, which connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden. That development came only three d...

A commander of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) have officially asked for forgiveness days after signing a peace treaty that has brought a new spirit of reconciliation to the nation. “We ask for you to forgive us and that you give us the hope of a spiritual path, allowing us to move forward together with you,” FARC commander Ivan Marquez said Thursday in the town of Bojaya, the site of a deadly 2002 attack by the rebels. FARC had already offered an apology for the Bojaya attack in 2014 in the Cuban capital, Havana, where peace talks had been underway for almost four years, but this time the commanders did so at the site of the attack itself. “Once again, we offer an infinite apology, Bojaya,” Marquez said on Thursday. On May 2, 2002, FARC guerrillas seized Bojaya in an attempt to take control of the Atrato River region from the paramilitary forces stationed there. The operation failed, and approximately 119 civilians were killed, 48 of them children, in t...

Syrian government troops have engaged in fierce clashes with foreign-backed militants in Aleppo, as they continence their push to recapture the terrorist-held districts of the key town. Army soldiers managed to fully clear the Handarat refugee camp of militants and recaptured nearby Kindi Hospital north of Aleppo on Friday morning, according to Lebanon-based al-Manar television. The report said the troops, backed by government airstrikes, continued advancing in Aleppo’s eastern parts. The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also confirmed that the government forces were edging closer to the city. By retaking Handarat, Syrian troops pushed terrorists further away from the Castello Road, a main artery leading to the occupied parts of the city. According to an unnamed Syrian military official, the airstrikes against militants in Aleppo would continue, adding that the operations “include a ground offensive” into terrorist-held areas. The official quoted by the Syr...

International human rights organization Reprieve has accused the UK Foreign Office of running a program to train  Bahraini forces, who it says are systematically torturing and abusing regime opponents. Reprieve published a report Thursday calling on Northern Ireland Co-operation Overseas (NI-CO) to immediately suspend its contract with Bahrain to train its police and prison guards. NI-CO was awarded a £900,000 Foreign Office contract last year to train Bahraini forces. The Belfast-based company confirmed to the BBC that it has worked on behalf of the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office in Bahrain since 2013. NI-CO “received almost a million pounds in UK taxpayer money last year for work with Bahrain’s interior ministry,” Reprieve said. The London-based rights group said  NI-CO experts trained as many as 400 guards at Jau Prison - which holds prisoners awaiting execution - last year. NI-CO’s engagement in Bahrain raises concerns about conflicts of...

Pakistan says it has briefed the presidency of the United Nations Security Council of the escalating tensions with India in an attempt to avert a potential “crisis.” Pakistan’s UN Ambassador Maleeha Lodhi said on Thursday that she had met with Gerard van Bohemen, who is New Zealand’s UN ambassador and the president of the UN’s 15-member Security Council for September, briefing him of the tensions with India. “I brought to his attention the dangerous situation that is building up in our region as a result of Indian provocation,” Lodhi said, adding, “Our call to the international community is avert a crisis before there is one.” ‘Watch this space! Danger up ahead!’ Tensions have been growing between Pakistan and India ever since New Delhi said it had conducted “surgical strikes” against what it said were militant positions across the de facto borderline dividing the disputed region of Kashmir on Wednesday night. Pakistan said so “surgical” strikes had been conducted, however,...

The UN Human Rights Council has once again failed to launch an independent investigation into Saudi rights violations in Yemen amid “aggressive” lobbying by the kingdom.  High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, along with a number of EU states, had demanded an international inquiry into Saudi rights violations in Yemen. However, the 47-member UN rights council approved by consensus a watered-down version of the text, drafted by Sudan following days of behind-the-scenes negotiations in Geneva. The resolution calls on the UN to instruct its investigators “to complement the investigatory work of the national commission” while documenting human rights abuses by all sides in Yemen. Rights activists were disappointed as was the UN rights chief.  Salma Amer, the UN advocacy officer at the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, said the resolution “puts Saudi Arabia’s desire for impunity above the need to protect the peopl...

French fighter jets have taken off from the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean on a so-called mission against Daesh terrorists in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. On Friday, eight such warplanes were flown towards Mosul to purportedly support the Iraqi army in its push to liberate the embattled city, the last major stronghold of Daesh in the Arab country, AFP reported. The Charles de Gaulle returned to the sea earlier this week, and is currently on its third mission since February 2015, when it joined the US-led coalition purportedly fighting Daesh. Paris later expanded its airstrikes to Syria. The Associated Press also quoted an unnamed French Defense Ministry official as saying that the dispatch of the warplanes “in no way” marked the beginning of the long-awaited battle for Mosul. Washington and dozens of its allies have been conducting military operations in Syria and Iraq since September 2014. The campaign has fallen severely short of its avowed...

The Iranian interior minister says the Saudi regime has been funneling money and intelligence to the outlaws operating in the country’s eastern border areas. “We are in no doubt that all arrogant countries are seeking to bring about unwelcome developments in Iran and expend much to make that happen,” Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli said Thursday. “For instance, Saudi Arabia provides financial and intelligence assistance to bandits in eastern Iran,” he added. Back in August, a senior Iranian lawmaker said terrorists arrested by Iranian security forces had revealed “invaluable” information as to the patronage they had received from Saudi Arabia. “Al Saud (the Saudi ruling family) resorts to all means in the world and the region against the Islamic Republic and, toward that end, helps terrorist groups target the Iranian nation,” Alaeddin Boroujerdi, the chairman of the Iranian Parliament (Majlis)’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, said at the time. Also earlier in t...

Police in Turkey have raided the country’s biggest prison and courthouses to arrest prison guards and employees deemed linked to the failed July coup in the country. According to Turkish media reports, police on Friday raided three Istanbul courthouses, including the Caglayan courthouse, where some of Turkey’s most important trials are held. Turkey’s largest prison Silivri, which is located west of Istanbul, was also raided. This comes after arrest warrants were issued for more than 160 personnel and prison guards as part of nationwide investigations over the failed coup. Prosecutors have issued arrest warrants for 87 courthouse personnel. Separately, arrest warrants had also been issued for 75 more personnel and guards in three separate prisons across Istanbul. According to Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag, authorities have suspended 1,500 prison personnel over links with the US-based opposition leader Fethullah Gulen, whom Turkish officials accuse of being behind the...

Yemeni forces have killed a Saudi soldier in a cross border attack, which came in retaliation for Riyadh’s deadly air raids against its southern neighbor. Ansarullah fighters and their allies in Yemen’s army fired shells into the al-Tuwal area in the Jizan border region, southwestern Saudi Arabia, said the kingdom’s Interior Ministry spokesman Mansour al-Turki on Friday. The border guard was killed on the way to hospital. Three other people were also wounded. The retaliatory attacks came after Saudi airstrikes on Thursday pounded Yemeni houses and places of gatherings in Razih and Shida districts of Sa’ada Province, where at least 8 civilians were killed and several others injured. According to reports, the warplanes also bombed several other areas across the country, but there were no reports available on the potential casualties. The kingdom has launched an air campaign against the country since March 2015, to undermine the Ansarullah movement and its allies and resto...

The Palestinian resistance movement of Hamas has censured President of the Palestinian Authority (PA) Mahmoud Abbas for joining the funeral of former Israeli president Shimon Peres. Abbas led a Palestinian delegation, including the PA’s chief negotiator Sa’eb Erekat, to the funeral on Friday after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approved his request to do so. The ceremony featured a handshake between Netanyahu and Abbas, who also forwarded condolences to Peres’ family. Hamas had earlier called on Abbas not to attend the funeral, saying such a step would encourage other Arab parties to normalize relations with Israel and result in disastrous impacts on the Palestinian endeavor to bring about national unity. “We condemn Abbas’ condolences for Shimon Peres, and consider it disregards the blood of the martyrs and the suffering of the Palestinian people,” the movement had also said. The Palestinian leader has also come under attack for referring to Peres’ as a “brave” ...

Dozens of people have staged separate demonstrations in Bahrain to support distinguished Shia Muslim cleric Sheikh Isa Qassim and condemn the ongoing crackdown on pro-democracy activists.  Protesters took to the streets late Wednesday close to the residence of the 79-year-old cleric, whose citizenship was revoked by the ruling Al Khalifah regime more than three months ago. The protest rally was held in the northwestern village of Diraz to mark the 100th day since Sheikh Qassim was stripped of his nationality. The protesters carried national flags and portraits of the cleric, pledging to continue with anti-regime protest rallies. A similar demonstration was also held in the northern village of Abu Saiba, where participants condemned the regime's crackdown on opposition figures. The rallies came two days after Bahrain's Supreme Criminal Court adjourned the trial of Sheikh Qassim and two of his assistants until October 24, citing his refusal to attend t...

Turkey’s president has suggested the possibility of prolonging for over a year the three-month state of emergency declared following the abortive July 15 military coup, stressing that such a move would be beneficial for the country. “It would be in Turkey’s benefit to extend the state of emergency for three months,” Erdogan said in a speech to a group of provincial administrators at the presidential palace in the capital, Ankara, on Thursday. The remarks came as rights groups and Turkey’s main opposition party have criticized an extension of the state of emergency, saying it would lead to more crackdown and the suffering of innocent people. “They (critics) say one year isn’t right for Turkey. Let’s wait and see, maybe 12 months won’t be enough,” Erdogan said, adding that no one should determine a “calendar or roadmap” for Turkey. The comments by the Turkish president came one day after the National Security Council recommended the extension of the state of emergency, which wa...

Russia has pledged to continue its air campaign in Syria, defying a recent threat by the United States to halt its diplomacy with Moscow on the violence-hit country in the wake of heavy fighting in Aleppo. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Thursday that the Russian air force would go on with its war on terror and continue to support the Syrian government forces. Peskov’s remarks came one day after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry held a phone conversation on Syria. During the talks, Kerry blamed Moscow for the escalation of fighting in Aleppo, according to a statement by US State Department spokesman John Kirby Kerry further underlined Washington’s readiness to “suspend US-Russia bilateral engagement on Syria,” including talks on a possible counter-extremist partnership, “unless Russia takes immediate steps” to halt its anti-terror campaign and restore a ceasefire in the war-torn state, the statement read. Peskov, h...

US Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s net worth has shrunk by $800 million, a new report suggests. The real-estate mogul’s wealth now stands somewhere around $3.7 billion, the  Forbes  magazine reported on Wednesday. The magazine, which said it has "been scouring Trump's fortune for 34 years," noted that the billionaire businessman’s fortune has taken a hit due to the falling real estate valuations in New York. Of Trump’s 28 assets or asset classes, 18 have lost some of their value. The list includes Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue in midtown Manhattan and 40 Wall Street in downtown New York City. Mar-a-Lago, the Republican nominee’s private beachfront club in Palm Beach, Florida, has also declined in value, the report said. Trump himself claims that he is worth at least $10 billion, nearly double the estimates by  Fortune  magazine and  Bloomberg . In his Federal Election Commission filings, Trump has claimed that his assets are worth at l...