News and analysis

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 …

Russia says the US military presence in Syria looks like an occupation as it runs afoul of international law and lacks authorization from the Damascus government. “From the standpoint of international law, the United States of America stay illegally in Syria. They have no appropriate official permission or invitation from …

Russia is set to reduce its troops in Syria by the end of the year after finishing up the remaining “few” missions there, says Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov. “There is very little left to do before the completion of military objectives. Of …

Myanmar has subjected Rohingya Muslims to long-term discrimination and persecution that amounts to “dehumanizing apartheid,” Amnesty International said Tuesday in a report that raises questions about what those who have fled a violent military crackdown would face if they returned home. (AP) — Since late August, more than 620,000 Rohingya have …

Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims who fled to Bangladesh from violence in Myanmar have been “drained” by the trauma they suffered during the crisis and a struggle to overcome desperate want, the United Nations refugee chief said on Wednesday. REUTERS–   More than 600,000 Rohingya have fled Buddhist-majority Myanmar since …