*News and analysis

Over 3,000 refugees have died crossing the Mediterranean in a desperate bid to reach Europe’s shores since the start of the year, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) says. William Lacy Swing, the IOM director general, said in a statement in the Swiss city of Geneva on Tuesday that the …

British Prime Minister Theresa May has embarked on a three-day visit to Saudi Arabia and Jordan to discuss bilateral ties and regional issues with leaders of the two Arab kingdoms. May has arrived in Saudi Arabia, and will hold talks with Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and Crown …

Pope Francis, who is on a historic visit to Myanmar, has called for “justice” and respect for the human rights of ethnic groups, a thinly-veiled reference to the minority Muslim Rohingya who have been facing state-sponsored violence in the Southeast Asian country. Peace can only be achieved through “justice and …

The British city of Oxford has stripped Myanmar’s de facto ruler Aung San Suu Kyi of a prestigious award over her government’s brutal persecution of Rohingya Muslims. The city’s councilors retracted Suu Kyi’s 1997 Freedom of Oxford award, which she personally collected in 2012 for her “pro-democracy” campaign as the …

The United Nations says elections and a new constitution for Syria will top the agenda at the next round of peace talks in Geneva on November 28. UN Deputy Special Envoy for Syria Ramzy Ezzedine Ramzy expressed hope that the upcoming talks will push the political process forward. The opposition …

SHAFAQNA – Myanmar’s de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi was announced the 2017 International Islamophobe of the Year on Sunday. Her atrocities targeting Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslim minority are so egregious that she shot past other nominated international Islamophobes, US President Donald Trump, French far-right party National Front leader Marie …

Indian security officials have started interrogating interfaith couples, involving Muslims, with the declared aim of identifying potential sympathizers with the Daesh terrorist group. Indian prosecutors said the country’s Supreme Court was scheduled on Monday to hear a case according to which Daesh advocates allegedly exploited marriages with Hindu women to …

A powerful blast in a Chinese city south of Shanghai brought down buildings and killed at least two people while injuring many others, state media reported, with police saying the cause had still to be determined. The explosion struck at around 9 a.m. (0100 GMT) Sunday morning at a factory in …

Russia is opposed to the militarization of Asia under the pretext of countering perceived threats from North Korea, says Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Lavov expressed Moscow’s concern about the matter in a meeting with his Japanese counterpart, Taro Kono, in Moscow on Friday. He said the United States was …

The head of the Catholic church and one of the most influential religious figures in the world, Pope Francis is visiting Myanmar at a time when Amnesty International has declared the treatment of Rohingya minorities in Myanmar as “apartheid” and Washington has already said that the situation in Myanmar is …