Renewed Israeli-Palestinian peace talks are set to start Thursday, September 2 in Washington.
US President Barack Obama will host the talks between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, along with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Jordan’s King Abdullah, who have accepted Obama’s invitation to help out with the peace...
In an unexpected step, Dr. Saad Eddin Ibrahim, a prominent opposition leader, has signed a statement support to Gamal Mubarak's presidential candidature.
Ibrahim justified his move by saying that, in his opinion, there is nothing wrong with Gamal Mubarak becoming a president, as long as it happens through free and fair elections without him having any advantage over his peers.
US troops in Iraq have dwindled to 50,000 from the initial 300,000, as per US President Barack Obama’s promise of doing so by August 31st. The remaining troops will have advisory, counter-terrorism, and training roles in Iraq.
Today’s withdrawal was preceded with heightened security from the part of the Iraqi security forces, while military spokesman General Qasim...
The Vatican has dismissed Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi’s remark that “Islam should become the religion of all Europe,” as “lacking seriousness.”
Qaddafi’s comment came at a lecture he made to a group of 500 young women paid to attend, at a ceremony marking the second anniversary of Italy and Libya’s friendship treaty.
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Sri Lankan authorities have launched an investigation into the torture of a Sri Lankan domestic worker whose employer reportedly drove twenty-four iron nails and a needle into her forehead, legs, hands and stomach as a form of punishment.
According to reports, Ms. Ariyawathie, who is expected to undergo surgery on Friday, endured more than a month of abuse after travelling to...
Medical patients in Gaza are bearing the burden of political infighting, between the Hamas led government and Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah, an ongoing economic siege resulting in the deaths of dozens on a regular basis.
According to reports, Gaza’s dwindling medical supplies is due to an Israeli approval process that takes weeks or even months but...
In light of the US’s suspension of military assistance to Lebanon, Lebanese President Michel Suleiman has turned to Iran for replacement military aid, and Iran has in turn expressed readiness to help Lebanon out and conduct weapon transactions with it.
President Suleiman has emphasized the need for the army’s modernization, which will require external aid and...
The Egyptian government is facing one of the biggest media and popular campaigns since years as a result of the repeated power outages.
The crisis started with the beginning of summer and the extremely high temperatures that led to an increased electric load causing generators to collapse. President Mubarak summoned both Electricity and Energy and Oil Ministers to reprimand them...
As Iran celebrates the unveiling of a long-distance bomber drone and the fuelling of the Russian-built Bushehr power plant analysts continue debating the implications and possibility of an Israeli attack to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
According to reports, Israel has condoned the plants opening while US and UK officials say that the plant, which will be under the...
In light of Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s unprecedented visit to Greece, Greek deputy foreign minister Dimitris Droutsas has reassured Greece’s Arab allies that improved Greek-Israeli ties were for the good of Greece and the entire Middle East region, and that they do not affect “cooperation with the Arab world, and especially not [their] Palestinian friends.”
...
Numerous campaigns have been launched in Tunisia throughout the last few days to call upon President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali to run for a new presidential term. Many public figures, businessmen, artists, media professionals and lawyers have taken part in these campaigns.
A statement calling upon Ben Ali to "accept running for the presidential term 2014 – 2019, in order...
Amin Al-Hindi, a former Palestinian Authority intelligence chief suspected of taking part in organizing the deadly attack on Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics in 1972, has passed away aged 70 in Amman. Al-Hindi was an associate of the Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat.
The Palestinian Ambassador to Amman said that al-Hindi had been diagnosed and treated for cancer.
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Tensions between Sudanese authorities and international aid organizations have heightened after local authorities in the West Darfur state ordered the expulsion of top officials with the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) and the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) for “stepping beyond their mandate.”
According to reports, the FAO official was asked to leave for...
Afghanistan has announced the finding of an oilfield with at least 1.8 billion barrels of oil – more than 10 times its discovered reserves, according to Outlook Afghanistan newspaper – by a team of local and international geologists in northern Afghanistan, between the provinces of Balkh and Sheberghan.
Afghanistan hopes that its untapped mineral resources, including...
Lebanon’s defense Minister, Elias Murr, announced over the weekend the establishment of a defense fund to assist the country’s ill-equipped army with much needed weapons after suspension of US assistance to Lebanon by the chairman of the US House of Foreign Affairs, Howard Berman, blocked $100 million in military aid.
According to reports, several members of the US...
Saudi King Abdullah bin Abd Al-Aziz has issued a "royal decree" saying only members of the Council of Senior Religious Scholars and other permitted scholars can issue fatwas (religious edicts). The King also imposed a ban on fatwas related to topics involving “strange or obsolete views”.
The royal decree excluded individual fatwas on personal matters such as...
Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani, famous for her stoning sentence due to an affair, says she was tortured prior to appearing on Iranian state television to confess involvement in her husband’s murder.
Ashtiani, who has already been flogged 99 times for her alleged crime, was “severely beaten up and tortured,” according to her lawyer, until she accepted to give the...
One third of Pakistan is under water while fresh rainfall threatens of two more waves of floods in the south.
14 million Pakistani have been affected thus far, 2 million have been made homeless and 6 million others are in need of urgent help.
The world community has been slow to respond to this crisis, even as the United Nations is requesting half a...
A coalition of a number of electronic news sites in Jordan has threatened to escalate the action they take against the Jordanian government in response to the issuance of a temporary law which specifically blocks some of the sites. The coalition describes the law as “suspicious” and claim it “goes after internet users and limits freedoms”.
A number of the...
Explosions in Baghdad, Ramadi, Wasit and Basra have raised fears that Al-Qaeda may have become active again in Iraq.
These fears deepened as UNAMI warned Iraq over the deteriorating security situation if the delay in forming the Iraqi government continues.
In the last 48 hours, 65 Iraqis were killed and 254 others were wounded. Insurgents have used various and...
German police in Hamburg have shut down the Taiba mosque (previously known as al Quds mosque) and confiscated material from the building, including computers, under the premise that it was used by several September 11 hijackers.
The security services have said the mosque was closed because they believe that it had served as a meeting and recruiting point for “Islamic...
Hassan Nasrallah, secretary-general of Hezbollah, has once again accused Israel of being behind the killing of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Al-Hariri, during a press conference aired on huge screens in Beirut.
Nasrallah supported his accusations with what he claimed was evidence of Israeli involvement, showing pictures he described as showing "Israeli airborne...
Due to draught, Russia has declared it’s plans to suspend wheat and other grains exports, as Egypt has asked the Russian government to send 540,000 metric tons.
Egypt had signed a contact to receive wheat from Russian until August 15. Russia issuing it’s new plan of stopping imports to Egypt before this date prompted grave concern from the Egyptian government.
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The Sudanese government suspended broadcasting of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in Arabic in northern Sudan, in response to what it called "irregularities committed by the radio."
The Sudanese government, according to the Reuters agency reported that "the BBC tried to insert broadcasting equipment through a diplomatic bag and work in southern Sudan...
Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, is set for talks with the president of Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region, Massoud Barzani, to discuss solutions for ending the country's five-month political stalement, which has prompted intervention by the Obama administration over concerns surrounding future stability as US troops leave Iraq.
However, analysts suggest that the...
Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir has threatened the United Nations (UN) and the African Union peacekeepers (AU) with expulsion for ignoring Sudanese authority and harboring six Darfuris accused of sparking riots in South Darfur’s Kalma Camp last month.
UNAMID and Sudanese officials held direct talks last week aimed at diffusing tensions in the Kalma Camp, resuming...
Six Americans, a German, and one British citizen, in addition to four Afghani aid workers were found dead on Friday in Afghanistan.
According to reports, gunmen waited for the group while having a picnic meal, before they dragged them into a forest, lined them and shot the 7 men and 3 women to death.
The killing marks the largest massacre in Afghanistan in recent...
Seven US citizens were among fourteen people indicted by federal prosecutors for aiding the Somali Islamist group Al-Shabab sparking concerns that America’s neglected Somali community could be a haven for recruiters seeking fighters for al-Shabab.
According to the Washington Times, twelve of the individuals charged are fugitives believed to be already in Somalia. The...
Israel and Egypt have pointed the finger of blame at Hamas for the rockets that recently hit the cities of Eilat, Israel, and Aqaba, Jordan. Hamas have vehemently denied the claims.
Egypt initially disclaimed the firing of any missiles fired from Sinai, but later on in the week pointed out the Gaza Strip armed forces as responsible.
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu...
Militants with connections to Al Qaeda are thought to be behind the killing of five Iraqi policemen in an attack on a checkpoint in west Baghdad today. This attack is the second deadly incident to take place in Baghdad in a week.
A source at the Ministry of Interior, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that attackers left a black flag at the scene of the crime as an...
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