Toiling in terrible conditions, no salaries for months, passports confiscated by employers – that’s the horrendous reality for migrant workers helping with preparations for the World Cup 2022 in Qatar, as revealed by German filmmaker, Peter Giesel. He and his cameraman were detained and imprisoned after they tried to investigate the story. The two went to Qatar following the publication of a report... 

US forces detained Taliban commander Latif Mehsud, the US State Department said Friday, an announcement that has reportedly infuriated Afghan president Hamid Karzai, who hoped to use Mehsud as interlocutor for peace talks. During a military operation in the Logar province in eastern Afghanistan, US troops seized Mehsud, identified as a senior commander in the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, a group that... 

The Iranian authorities have arrested four men for planning to sabotage nuclear sites, reports state news. The announcement comes as Iran’s newly-appointed president takes steps to allay fears over its supposed nuclear weapons program. The head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, Ali Akbar Salehi, announced on Sunday that a “number of saboteurs” had been caught “red-handed” before... 

The UN confirms chemical experts in Syria destroyed missile warheads, aerial bombs, and chemical mixing equipment on Sunday as they started eliminating the country’s chemical weapons. “The process of destroying Syria’s chemical weapons program began today,” said a statement released by the United Nations and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. The experts supervised... 

A panel of Egyptian judges has recommended the dissolution of the Muslim Brotherhood’s political party, which has been protesting against the ouster of President Mohamed Morsi since July. The judges made the recommendation on Monday, saying the party represents an outlawed group, The Associated Press reported. The recommendation is to be delivered to a Cairo court which is reviewing a case demanding... 

The death toll from clashes between supporters of Egypt’s ousted President Mohamed Morsi and police forces has risen to 51 as violence rages on in the North African country. Supporters of Morsi, who was overthrown in a July military coup, tried to gather in iconic Liberation Square in the capital Cairo when police confronted them. According to Ahmed al-Ansari, a top official of Egypt’s Health... 

A political analyst says the United States and the Israeli regime have been wrong in their calculation of the Syrian government’s ‘strength’ in the fight against foreign-backed Takfiris, Press TV reports. Mark Weber, with the Institute for Historical Review, told Press TV on Thursday that the “United States and Israel miscalculated in underestimating the strength of the Syria government which... 

The Israeli government will consider ratifying the Chemical Weapons Convention, President Shimon Peres has announced. It follows Syria’s decision to give up its chemical arsenal. Israel, which has never publicly admitted to having chemical weapons, remains one of only six countries in the world not to have ratified the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention, which bans the use or production of chemical... 

The United Nations Security Council has unanimously approved a resolution condemning the use of chemical weapons in Syria and calling for their destruction. The resolution adopted by the 15-member council on Friday envisages a plan to eradicate Syria’s arsenal of chemical weapons. However, it does not call for automatic punitive action against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government... 

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif meets with British Foreign Secretary William Hague (L) at the UN Headquarters in New York City, September 23, 2013. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and UK Foreign Secretary William Hague have met and discussed, inter alia, the improvement of Tehran-London relations. The meeting was held at the UN headquarters in New York City on Monday. Zarif... 

Al-Qaeda-linked militants in Syria have destroyed several Jewish mausoleums in the historical town of Tadouf in the northern city of Aleppo. Militants reportedly demolished a number of the most ancient Jewish mausoleums in the town. Foreign-backed militants have so far destroyed many religious sites in Syria since the unrest began in 2011. Earlier this month, members of the al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Nusra... 

Egyptian supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood rally in support of deposed president Mohamed Morsi outside Cairo’s Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque on July 7, 2013 An Egyptian court has banned all activities of the Muslim Brotherhood in the country. Its assets will also be confiscated according to the court ruling. “The court bans the activities of the Muslim Brotherhood organization and its non-governmental... 

The Pentagon has put together a plan to equip and train “moderate” Syrian rebel forces. The move would mark the first instance of the American military having direct contact with the opposition. Information regarding the new plan was relayed by two Obama administration officials to CNN. The idea has allegedly been under consideration since the first evidence emerged of a massive chemical weapons... 

Prominent Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh has been released two years into her six year prison sentence, according to her husband. At least ten more political prisoners have also been reportedly set free. “It’s not a temporary release, it’s freedom. They put her in a car and dropped her off at the house,” Sotoudeh’s husband Reza Khandan told Reuters from the... 

Turkey’s deputy prime minister says Turkish warplanes have shot down a Syrian military helicopter after violating the country’s airspace. A Syrian MI-17 helicopter was downed over the southern province of Hatay after it strayed two kilometers into Turkish airspace, Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc told reporters on Monday. Arinc said there was no information about the fate of the crew because...