Category: Middle East

‘Top Chef’s’ Padma Lakshmi Hopes Ex Salman Rushdie Has ‘Swift Healing’ After Attack

Nardine Saad Los Angeles Times “Top Chef” host and judge Padma Lakshmi is “relieved” that her ex-husband, author Salman Rushdie, is on the road to recovery after being stabbed multiple times at a lecture in upstate New York last week. The “Love, Loss, and What We Ate” author tweeted Sunday that she is “relieved” that…


Heavy Rains Set Off Flash Floods, Killing 31 in Afghanistan

ISLAMABAD—Heavy rains set off flash floods that killed at least 31 people and left dozens missing in northern Afghanistan, the Taliban’s state-run news agency reported Monday. The Bakhtar News Agency said the flooding took place on Sunday in northern Parwan province. The agency said that women and children were among the dead and 17 people…


Iran Denies Involvement, Blames Salman Rushdie Himself for Stabbing Attack

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates—An Iranian official Monday denied Tehran was involved in the stabbing of author Salman Rushdie, though he sought to justify the attack in the Islamic Republic’s first public comments on the bloodshed. The remarks by Nasser Kanaani, the spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, came three days after Rushdie was wounded in New…


Afghanistan Marks 1 Year Since Taliban Seizure as Woes Mount

KABUL, Afghanistan—The Taliban terrorist group on Monday marked a year since they seized the Afghan capital in a rapid takeover that triggered a hasty escape of the nation’s Western-backed leaders, sent the economy into a tailspin and fundamentally transformed the country. Taliban fighters, some hoisting rifles or the white banners of their movement, staged victory…


Western Fears of Turkish Tilt Toward Moscow Overblown, Say Experts

ANKARA, Turkey—A recent meeting in Sochi between the leaders of Russia and NATO member Turkey has reportedly sparked fears among Western officials of perceived “deepening ties” between Ankara and Moscow. But experts who spoke to The Epoch Times challenge this assertion, saying the meeting—and its outcome—merely reflected Ankara’s pragmatic approach to its dealings with Russia….


Western Fears of Turkish Tilt Toward Moscow Overblown, Experts Say

ANKARA, Turkey—A recent meeting in Sochi, Russia, between the leaders of Russia and NATO member Turkey has reportedly sparked fears among Western officials of perceived “deepening ties” between Ankara and Moscow. However, experts who spoke to The Epoch Times challenge that assertion, saying the meeting—and its outcome—merely reflect Ankara’s pragmatic approach to its dealings with…


Misfired Rockets May Have Killed Over a Dozen in Gaza Battle

Close to one-third of the Palestinians who died in the latest outbreak of violence between Israel and Gaza terrorists may have been killed by errant rockets fired by the Palestinian side, according to an Israeli military assessment. Forty-nine Palestinians were killed in the three days of heavy fighting, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The Israeli…


EXCLUSIVE: Senator Seeks to Expose CCP’s Authoritarian Ambition

The Chinese Communist Party has for years been bent on cementing its influence over the developing world. One U.S. senator is hoping to counter this through an awareness-raising initiative. In a Twitter campaign dubbed “#ExposingTheCCP,” Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) plans to spotlight the regime’s “sinister relationships” with countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa,…


EXCLUSIVE: Senator Seeks to Expose CCP’s Authoritarian Ambitions

The Chinese Communist Party has for years been bent on cementing its influence over the developing world. One U.S. senator is hoping to counter this through an awareness-raising initiative. In a Twitter campaign dubbed “#ExposingTheCCP,” Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) plans to spotlight the regime’s “sinister relationships” with countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa,…


UAE Court Lifts Prison Term for American Convicted of Money Laundering

DUBAI—A United Arab Emirates court has lifted a prison sentence but upheld a conviction on money laundering charges for U.S. citizen and civil rights attorney Asim Ghafoor, who was detained while transiting through Dubai last month, the Judicial Department and a lawyer for Ghafoor said on Wednesday. The court ordered Ghafoor to pay a 5…