CAIRO (Reuters) - Arab foreign ministers late on Saturday urged the United States to abandon its decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, saying the move would increase violence throughout the region. Arab League foreign ministers hold an emergency meeting on Trump's decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, in Cairo, Egypt December 9, 2017. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany   The announcement by President Donald Trump on Wednesday was a “dangerous violation of international law”, had no legal impact and was “void”, the Arab League said in a statement after a session attended by all its members in Cairo. Trump’s endorsement of Israel’s claim to all of Jerusalem as its capital would reverse long-standing U.S. policy that the city’s status must be decided in negotiations with the Palestinians, who want East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state. “The decision has no legal effect ... it deepens tension, ignites ange...

Dear Max, Your mother and I don't yet have the words to describe the hope you give us for the future. Your new life is full of promise, and we hope you will be happy and healthy so you can explore it fully. You've already given us a reason to reflect on the world we hope you live in. Like all parents, we want you to grow up in a world better than ours today. While headlines often focus on what's wrong, in many ways the world is getting better. Health is improving. Poverty is shrinking. Knowledge is growing. People are connecting. Technological progress in every field means your life should be dramatically better than ours today. We will do our part to make this happen, not only because we love you, but also because we have a moral responsibility to all children in the next generation. We believe all lives have equal value, and that includes the many more people who will live in future generations than live today. Our society has an obligation to invest now to i...

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla with their baby girl called Max Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan say they will give away 99% of their shares in the company to good causes as they announce the birth of their daughter Max. Mr Zuckerberg made the announcement in a letter to Max  on his Facebook page . He said they are donating their fortune to the  Chan Zuckerberg Initiative  because they want to make the world a better place for Max to grow up in. Mr Zuckerberg said the donation currently amounts to $45bn (£30bn). Max was born last week, but the couple only made the news of her birth public on Tuesday. In his letter Mr Zuckerberg said the aim of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative is "to advance human potential and promote equality for all children in the next generation". Its initial areas of focus will be personalised learning, curing disease, connecting people and building strong communities...

by Sumon Corraya   Caesar Tavella was a veterinarian. He was in the Asian country to work with a Dutch NGO that deals with poverty and hunger in the world. Attacked by three men leaving work. Dynamics of murder unclear. Police suspect other culprits. The country is not safe for Christians. Dhaka (AsiaNews) - Islamic State (IS) militants have claimed responsibility for last night's murder of Caesar Tavella, a 50 year-old Italian volunteer working in Bangladesh with a Dutch NGO. The man was killed by three armed men after work, while jogging in Gulshan, the diplomatic area of ​​the capital, near the Egyptian embassy. The assailants fired three shots, one of which wounded him in the hand and the other two to the abdomen. Although IS extremists have claimed the crime because the man was a "crusader", the police suspect that the responsibility could be attributed to other groups. The website Site Intelligence Group , which monitors the online activities of ...

Facebook founder launches connectivity campaign to bring the internet to the some 4 billion people who now do not have access Chinese President Xi Jinping, left, talks with Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg, right, during a gathering of CEOs and other executives at Microsoft's main campus in Redmond, Washington   Photo: AP/Ted S. Warren, Pool   Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and a host of celebrities kicked off a campaign on Saturday to make internet access universal, saying this was critical to fulfilling the United Nations' newly adopted agenda to combat global ills. Calling for efforts to ensure internet access for everyone globally by 2020, Mr Zuckerberg said internet connections are a dynamic tool for sharing knowledge, creating opportunities, lifting communities out of poverty and promoting peace. "A 'like' or a post won't stop a tank or a...

Pentagon-trained rebels are reported to have betrayed US and handed weapons over to Jabhat al-Nusra immediately after entering Syria  Jabhat al-Nusra, affiliated to al-Qaeda, took the technicals, guns and ammunition from the US-trained Division 30 in northern Aleppo   Photo: Reuters   By Nabih Bulos , Amman 5:22PM BST 22 Sep 2015 Pentagon-trained rebels in Syria are reported to have betrayed their American backers and handed their weapons over to al-Qaeda in Syria immediately after re-entering the country. Fighters with Division 30, the “moderate” rebel division favoured by the United States, surrendered to the al-Qaeda-affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra, a raft of sources claimed on Monday night. Division 30 was the first faction whose fighters graduated from a US-led training programme in Turkey which aims to forge a force on the...

  (Laris Karklis / The Washington Post) Depending on whom you ask, the Republic of Liberland either exists or it doesn't. Czech politician Vit Jedlicka declared it a sovereign state on April 13, claiming approximately three square miles of land along the Danube River. The land, sandwiched between Croatia and Serbia, has been disputed for years. No member of the United Nations recognizes Liberland as a sovereign state. After initial bemusement, Croatian authorities have blocked access to the land and detained Jedlicka on multiple occasions. Despite the country's ambiguous status, Jedlicka says that around 378,000 people have registered to show their interest in citizenship of Liberland so far. And while the reality of Liberland may be still just a dream, for people in desperate situations it appears to be an appealing dream -- 9,647 people from war-torn Syria have registered so far, Jedlicka tells WorldViews. That's higher than the number of registrations from comfortable...

KUALA LUMPUR: The Australian government has issued an advisory to its citizens to avoid popular hawker street Jalan Alor due to "a possible terrorism threat" there. "Due to a possible terrorism threat, Australians are advised to avoid Kuala Lumpur's Jalan Alor (Alor Street) and the immediate surrounding areas on Thursday 24 September. This is based on a US Government threat warning issued on 24 September," the Australian government said on its Smart Traveller website. Police sources have told Channel NewsAsia they are investigating the matter and have increased patrols in Jalan Alor and surrounding areas. The United States had on Thursday issued a security message to avoid the area, prompting Australia to do likewise. The US Embassy in Kuala Lumpur said: "Based on credible threat information regarding a potential terrorist act, the US Embassy in Kuala Lumpur advises US citizens to avoid Kuala Lumpur’s Jalan Alor (Alor Street) and the immediate surrounding...

The army of Bashar al-Assad has reportedly started crushing Islamic State militants that had previously seized the cities of Palmyra and Homs. Western experts and journalists believe that the Syrian troops receive substantial military assistance from Russian military men at the base in Latakia. In addition, Russia has deployed modern weapons, including air defense, missile systems and aviation, having turned the area of ​​the Russian base into a strong fortress. To crown it all, Russia still ships weapons to the government of Bashar Assad under previously concluded contracts. Russia's TV channel "Zvezda" ("Star") reports that the Syrian army forced ISIS militants to retreat from Palmyra, although they hide in residential areas and use ancient monuments as a cover. "The militants, who had been keeping the city under control and destroying priceless ancient monuments for months, are being killed in the air raids of the Syrian Air Force. During the most r...

Police chief Somyot Pumpanmuang, at left, on Koh Tao on 3 Oct., 2014, along with the two men, seated at right, accused of murdering two British travelers.   KOH SAMUI — Lawyers defending two Myanmar migrant workers on trial for the Koh Tao murders of two British backpackers sought on Wednesday to expose holes in a police investigation they maintain was botched and intended to frame the suspects.   The conduct of Thailand's police and treatment of its huge Myanmar labor force has been central to the trial of the young men accused of killing Hannah Witheridge and David Miller a year ago on the southern island. Post-mortem examinations showed the victims suffered severe head wounds and Witheridge was raped, but lawyers and activists said the two Myanmar accused, Zaw Lin and Win Zaw Htun, have been made scapegoats for the killings. The case has attracted extensive media attention in Britain and raised questions about Thailand's ability to protect its tourists. T...

WASHINGTON — The FBI has recovered emails from a private server used by Hillary Clinton while secretary of state that she said were deleted because they involved personal matters, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday, citing a source familiar with the investigation. The FBI is examining the server to see whether any information, including classified data, was mishandled. Bloomberg quoted its source as saying the investigation would take at least several more months. It was not clear how many of the personal emails had been recovered, the news agency said. Clinton spokesman Nick Merrill, asked about the report, said, "We've cooperated to date and will continue to do so, including answering any questions about this that anyone including the public may have." The FBI did not immediately respond to the report. Clinton's use of her private email for her work as America's top diplomat came to light in March and drew fire from political opponents who accused the Democratic pr...

Thailand's Ministry for Foreign Affairs (MFA) has confirmed that it will be launching a new six-month multiple-entry tourist visa (METV) in November. In a notice posted to the Thai MFA's Facebook page Monday, it said: 'Thailand will soon grant multiple-entry visas to visitors to facilitate the forthcoming ASEAN Community and to boost Thailand's tourism industry.' The introduction of the new visa represents something of a U-turn by Thailand's military government, which tightened visa rules across the board following the May 2014 coup. The visa, costing 5,000 baht (US$139), will be available from November 13 this year. 'It will grant travelers multiple entries during a 6-month period, for up to 60 days per entry. All foreign nationals are eligible to apply for METV,' the statement said. SEE ALSO: China and Thailand to be connected by new 840km railway The METV was announced in August, and was officially confirmed this week following its publication in the ...

Mia Bush September 22, 2015 4:19 PM In his two years as pope, the Pope Francis has made Vatican reforms and taken positions on social issues that put mercy and forgiveness as central components of his papacy, and U.S. polls have shown he remains very popular, not only with Catholics but with members of other faiths as well. But some conservative members of the church question the pope’s motives and thoughts, and even suggest he is overreaching as the head of the Catholic Church. A   Public Religion Research Institute study   released late last month showed that Pope Francis remained popular among the American public, with about 67 percent saying they had a favorable view of the pope. While a Pew Research Center survey   conducted earlier this year found that nearly 90 percent of U.S. Catholics looked favorably on the pope. Pastoral qualities Many U.S. Catholics said they are touched by what they see as the pope’s humility and pastoral qualities. A ...