Father of pilot captured by ISIS pleads for release
AMMAN (Jordan): The father of a Jordanian pilot captured by Islamic State militants in Syria has pleaded for his son’s release. Safi Yousef al-Kaseasbeh, speaking to reporters in the Jordanian capital Amman on Thursday, also urged the militants to show “hospitality” toward his... read more »
IS stones to death two alleged gay men in Syria
DAMASCUS: Islamic State (IS) militants stoned to death two young men in Syria’s eastern province of Deir al-Zour on charges of having “unlawful” sexual intercourse with other males, a monitoring group has reported. The first man, 20-year-old, was stoned to death at the al-Bakara... read more »
Egyptian president to meet Pope Francis on Monday
VATICAN CITY: Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi will meet Pope Francis on Monday, Holy See spokesman Federico Lombardi said, in the first visit to the Vatican by an Egyptian leader in eight years. The afternoon meeting comes six months after Sisi’s rise to power. According to religious... read more »
Egypt making slow progress on genital mutilation
MANSHIET EL-IKHWA, Egypt: Raslan Fadl, the first doctor in Egypt to be put on trial for committing female genital mutilation, is still practicing even though a 13-year-old girl died after he performed the procedure. And in this Nile Delta Village, he has plenty of patients. Young girls and their... read more »