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(Reuters) – Yemen’s president removed a half brother of former leader Ali Abdullah Saleh on Friday as head of the air force, replacing nearly 20 top officers but leaving Saleh’s son, nephew and other allies in place as heads of important military units.
NetProphet comments on the release of Azerbaijan’s first domestically produced anti-virus software, named after the country’s capital, B.A.K.U. Launched at an expensive hotel, the launch was not without its glitches, however, and most notably with invitations for the event plagued by grammatical errors from what appeared to be machine translation. Amused, social network users reportedly shared them online.
Iran’s leaders on Friday backpedaled from their recent criticism of Turkey, the host of coming talks on the disputed Iranian nuclear program, in a possible indication of their concern about alienating the Turks at a time when Iran is facing increased isolation.
The Washington Post has said the verbal message was sent to Khamenei via Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan who recently met Obama and later visited Tehran.
(AFP) – International envoy Kofi Annan said Thursday that “alarming” casualties were being reported in Syria despite the government’s claims of a partial troop withdrawal from protest cities.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has condemned the Syrian government for unleashing new military attacks on its own people despite agreeing a ceasefire date. He warned that the April 10 ceasefire deadlines was “not an excuse for continued killing”.
Iraqs Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi underlined that he will return to Kurdistan after ending his Arab and regional tour, noting that he will visit Riyadh on Wednesday in response to an official invitation.
Yemeni government troops have killed more than 100 al-Qaida fighters in the past two days in an offensive against militant hideouts in the country’s south, the interior ministry said Thursday.
In a significant boost to US naval capabilities in the region as tensions with Iran continue over its disputed nuclear program, a second carrier has joined the USS Abraham Lincoln in the 5th Fleet area of operations.
Omar Suleiman, a former deputy of the ousted President Hosni Mubarak, announced his presidential candidacy, shaking up an already heated race.
(AFP) – Pope Benedict XVI led the world’s Catholics in Good Friday ceremonies clouded by growing Vatican concern over the fate of Christians in the Middle East and perceived threats to its teachings.
Tens of thousands of Syrian protesters took to the streets on Friday under fire from regime forces, who pressed their campaign to pound rebel cities into submission, activists said.The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 37 people were killed.
The U.S. ambassador to Syria says its military has pulled back forces from some areas ahead of a U.N.-brokered cease fire next week but in other places has kept or simply shifted around troops and armored vehicles.
(AP) — Loyalists of former Yemeni leader Ali Abdullah Saleh seized the country’s main airport Saturday as tanks and armored vehicles occupied the tarmac and forced authorities to cancel flights, a day after a military shake-up in which key commanders were fired. Driving pickup trucks mounted with anti-aircraft guns, armed tribesmen along with troops in uniform blasted buildings of Sanaa International Airport and opened fire on one of the airport surveillance towers before surrounding the entire complex, blocking roads and turning away passenger vehicles.
Yemen’s new president, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, fired several generals and other figures from the old regime Friday in a bid to show he was making good on promises of reforms and to appease protesters worried Saleh is trying to wield power from behind the scenes. In his more than 30 years in power, Saleh had stacked key security and government posts with relatives and cronies. The restructuring didn’t touch the ex-president’s son Ahmed, who kept command of the well-equipped and powerful Republican Guard, or Saleh’s nephew, Yahia, the head of the Central Security Forces, and the show of force appeared to be an attempt to intimidate Hadi from trying to implement more sweeping reforms that would remove them and other family members.
In a Egyptian poll in March, before Shater and Suleiman emerged as candidates, Moussa was frontrunner with hard-line Salafi Islamist candidate Hazem Salah Abu Ismail in second place and Mubarak’s last Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq in third.
only 10 heads of state from the Arab League’s 22 members attended, with the rest sending lower-level officials. Especially notable were the absences of the rulers of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and most other Gulf countries, as well Morocco and Jordan — all of them headed by Sunni monarchs who deeply distrust the close ties between Baghdad’s Shiite-dominated government and their top regional rival, Iran.
The Gulf countries also see Iraq as too soft on Syria. Saudi Arabia and Qatar have talked of arming Syria’s opposition, apparently eager to bring the fall of Assad and break the Sunni-majority country out of its alliance with Iran.
(AP) — Sunni Muslim rulers largely shunned an Arab League summit hosted by Shiite-led Iraq on Thursday, illustrating how powerfully the sectarian split and the rivalry with Iran define Middle Eastern politics in the era of the Arab Spring.
(AP) — The Muslim Brotherhood’s surprise decision to field a presidential candidate is stirring fears that the two biggest powers to emerge from the ouster of Hosni Mubarak — the Islamists and the military — are maneuvering to put in place a new rule in Egypt not much different from the old, authoritarian one.
In response to the Iranian regime’s increasing efforts to crack down on internet communications, the US has stepped up its own attempts to facilitate Iranians’ access to the World Wide Web. Last week, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued clear guidance regarding permitted software exports that would help Iranians access the web, including free chat programs like Skype and Google Talk.
In Egypt social networking websites have been rife with anti-Muslim Brotherhood remarks, including many sarcastic ones which further expose the group’s fragile image among many of the youth who were on the frontlines during the battle with Mubarak’s men. A Facebook page titled “I will not vote for Khairat El-Shater” attracted more than 100,000 users in less than two days, reflecting an outcry that the Brotherhood might struggle to contain.
The latest violence comes despite Syrian president Bashar Assad’s agreement to implement a ceasefire starting on April 10.The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said troops are clashing with rebel army defectors in the northern towns of Hraytan.
Between 800 and 900 Syrian refugees fled to Turkey from Syria in the past 24 hours, a Turkish official said on Thursday.
The rocket fire from the Sinai late Wednesday night did not come as a surprise for the Israeli defense establishment. For months now, the IDF has been tracking Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorist activity in the Sinai and there have been reports that the organizations have established rocket production lines in Egyptian territory and even moved some of their weapons caches there reported JP.
Israel’s Nobel peace prize-winning president on Tuesday hosted New Jersey’s governor on the second day of his visit to Israel.
Russia will support the UN Security Councils resolution on Syria if it contains no ultimatums and promotes the implementation of the peace plan put forward by the UN and Arab League special envoy Kofi Annan.
Syrian troops launched assaults on several towns across the country on Thursday, activists said. The offensives appeared to be a push by President Bashar Assad’s forces to make gains on the ground ahead of a cease-fire next week.
Syrian artillery has pounded the rebellious city of Homs and tanks and troops stormed towns in the north and south, deepening doubts that President Bashar Assad will follow through on his commitment to a truce starting next week.
Religion-inspired political movements are challenging Tunisia’s cosmopolitan political and social attitudes, threatening to reverse the country’s long-standing moderation toward Israel and the Jews.
(AP) – The head of Egypt’s constitutional assembly said Wednesday that the committee would forge ahead with its work despite appeals from liberals, Christians, and others who walked out in protest against the Islamist domination of the panel.
The head of the Saudi Olympic Committee has ruled out sending women athletes from the ultra-conservative kingdom to the London Olympics this summer, local dailies reported on Thursday.
The head of Egypt’s constitutional assembly says the committee will forge ahead with its work despite appeals from liberals, Christians and others who walked out in protest against the Islamist domination of the panel.
(Reuters) – An explosion on one of the two pipelines bringing crude from Kirkuk in Iraq to the Turkish port of Ceyhan on the Mediterranean led to a large fire on Thursday, shutting oil flows on that pipe, a Turkish energy official said. The pipeline, which carries a quarter of Iraq’s crude exports, from the northern Kirkuk oilfield to Ceyhan, has been repeatedly attacked. It has a capacity of 1.6 million barrels per day (bpd) and typically pumps 500,000 bpd.
(Reuters) – The United States has posted a $10 million reward for help in the arrest of a Pakistani Islamist leader, Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, suspected of masterminding attacks on India’s financial capital and its parliament.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said the time for diplomacy with Iran over its disputed nuclear programme is not “infinite”.
In Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood has decided now is a good time to forget all that fluffy talk about unity and reconciliation and start showing whos really the boss. Its hijacking the constitutional assembly, forcing through its own presidential candidate.
CNN, Al Jazeera English and National Public Radio received the prestigious award for their coverage of the pro-democracy movements that led to leaders being unseated in the Middle East, including Tunisia, Egypt and Libya.
Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi, wanted by Iraqi Shia authorities linked to Iran on terrorism charges, was in Saudi Arabia.
Meetings in Washington follow renewed popularity of Islamist parties in the Middle East and North Africa Reported by VOA News 8 hours ago.
Muslim Brotherhood presidential nominee Khairat al-Shater said Tuesday that the application of Sharia is his ultimate goal.
“I will rely on people of experience to help Parliament achieve that goal,” Shater said during a meeting of the Islamic Legitimate Body of Rights and Reformation, a moderate body of Islamic scholars, according to the group’s website, which quoted his remarks in a statement.
(Reuters) – Iraq should impose a moratorium on executions in the country, which has seen a sharp rise in the number of people put to death in recent months, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a report released on Wednesday. Ban said he was “concerned by the continued and increased implementation of the death penalty.” His report said Baghdad executed 80 people between December 2011 and February 2012 compared with 68 in January-November 2011.
Russian-Saudi tensions were heightened further by Russia and China’s February 4, 2012 veto of a UN Security Council resolution calling for Assad to transfer power to his deputy and for the establishment of a national unity government. On February 22, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev telephoned Saudi King ‘Abdallah bin ‘Abd Al-’Aziz, only to be told that Russia should have coordinated its moves with the Arabs before casting its veto in the Security Council, and that there was no longer any use in dialog between the two countries over the events in Syria.
One of the prominent claims leveled by Saudi editors and columnists against Russia following Lavrov’s statements was that the country had joined the Shi’ite camp led by Iran, espoused the discourse of the Syrian regime, and taken a stance against the region’s Sunnis.
When NATO comes to Chicago this May for its annual summit, the streets should be flooded with thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of people demanding that NATO countries and their allies band together to give the Syrian people the same type of protection and assistance they gave Libyans with a no-fly zone after Ghaddafi s forces were attacking civilians for one month reported BCI.
(Reuters) – Iran has approached Baghdad to host forthcoming talks with six world powers over its disputed nuclear program, Iraq said on Wednesday.
Lieutenant General Dahi Khalfan Tami, Chief of Dubai Police, has spoken out against the use of Twitter to criticize the UAE government, calling for legal action to be taken against offenders, Gulf News reports.
(AP) – President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and other Iranian officials are expected to discuss Tehrans disputed nuclear program and the crisis in Syria with visiting Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Erdogan arrived in Tehran on Wednesday from South Korea, where he attended a nuclear security summit and also held talks with President Barack Obama.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak have formed an unexpected bond on the matter of Iran’s threat and in considering what must be done about it.
India could yet be exempted from tighter US sanctions on buyers of Iranian crude, and New Delhi would like to be judged on the size of term deals with Tehran which begin in April, the International Energy Agency’s executive director told Reuters last week.
Former defense chief Shaul Mofaz has unseated former diplomat Tsipi Livni as head of Kadima, Israel’s largest opposition party, results of a leadership vote showed on Wednesday.
All but one of Syria’s opposition groups agree at a meeting in Istanbul to unite behind the Syrian National Council reports BBC world.
Hosting an Arab summit that demands Assad stop violence places Iraq in a delicate position, because of the Baghdad government’s close ties to Iran. The preliminary meetings began Tuesday, and the leaders arrive for their summit Thursday.
(Reuters) – Iran expects to reopen talks with world powers over its disputed nuclear program on April 13, state news agency IRNA quoted Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi as saying.
The Obama administration sanctioned an Iranian airline for allegedly ferrying machine guns and munitions into Syria to help President Bashar al-Assad put down a rebellion against his rule.
Some 100 businessmen from Turkey have frozen their businesses in Syria and returned home following Ankaras call for Turkish nationals to leave the violence-hit country, said the head of a regional business association.
Syrian National Council President Burhan Ghalioun has said he would meet with all opposition blocs to discuss reform of his party.
Turkey is in negotiations with several nations to build a nuclear power plant announced at a summit Tuesday.
American diplomat stresses the need for free and fair elections, details some of the changes introduced in the electoral code, and urges the government, opposition and civil society to ensure the proper conduct of the May vote in Armenia.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Tuesday that Moscow will do everything in its power to persuade Iran and North Korea to return to talks on their nuclear programs.
Total Jordan opened four new service-stations located on the Airport Road , as well as in Hay Nazzal, Russyfeh, and Bayader in Amman, bringing the number of Total service-stations up to 17 across Jordan.
The US has responded cautiously to Syria’s sudden acceptance of a United Nations peace plan, wary that president Bashar Assad’s regime may use its apparent willingness to compromise as cover to press on with a year-longpolitical crackdown.
Syria accepted a cease-fire drawn up by U.N. envoy Kofi Annan on Tuesday, but the diplomatic breakthrough was swiftly overshadowed by intense clashes between government soldiers and rebels that sent bullets flying into Lebanon.
A Yemeni security official says a Saudi diplomat has been kidnapped in the country’s south.
(Daily Star Lebanon) – Three Syrian soldiers died in clashes with rebels in the central province of Homs on Wednesday, an activist group said, just a day after President Bashar Assad said he has accepted a U.N. plan to resolve the country’s crisis.
(UPI) – U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Syrian President Bashar Assad must prove he is committed to U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan’s peace plan.
The international motor racing body, the FIA, is emphatically denying that the controversial Bahrain Grand Prix, scheduled for next month, will be cancelled because of continuing disturbances in the Gulf kingdom reported the Guardian UK.
In a bid to save the CIA’s drone campaign against al Qaeda in Pakistan, US officials offered key concessions to Pakistan’s spy chief that included advance notice and limits on the types of targets but the offers were flatly rejected reported Pakistan news service.
Pakistan opposition parties are moving to block the reopening of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) supply routes into neighboring Afghanistan ahead of crucial deliberations to set new terms of engagement with the United States.
Ahmad Wali Siddiqui, a German-Afghani who is alleged to have been a member of al-Qaeda, said on both Monday and Tuesday during his trial that Iran harbored al-Qaeda terrorists.
(IPS/Al Jazeera) – Ilker Basbug, Turkey’s former army chief, has gone on trial on charges of leading a terrorist group accused of plotting to overthrow the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The number of Syrian citizens taking shelter in Turkey on Wednesday stood at 17,655, Turkish semi-official Anatolia news agency quoted the Prime Ministry Disaster and Emergency Management Directorate (AFAD) as saying.
(UPI) — Clashes between Turkish police and members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, in southeastern Turkey left five officers dead, officials said. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a statement Wednesday Turkey will continue fighting terrorism, which he called a threat to the country’s unity and its citizens’ security.
The United States added an Iranian cargo airline, three officials from Irans Revolutionary Guards and a Nigerian trading agent to its Iran sanctions blacklist on Tuesday, on evidence they had conspired to funnel illicit weapons shipments to Syria.
A standoff between Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood and the country’s military rulers deepened Tuesday as dozens of non-Islamist politicians said they would boycott the writing of a new constitution because Islamists dominate the panel selected to draft the document.
Leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood met Tuesday to decide whether the group should field its own candidate for president, a proposition that would require the Islamist group to abandon a pledge to back an outside candidate. But the meeting broke up late Tuesday without reaching a consensus, said Mahmoud Hussein, the Brotherhood’s secretary general reported NY Times.
Turkish media has emphasized the declaration by the PKK’s de facto leader Murat Karayilan that “If Turkey intervenes against our people in western Kurdistan, the area will turn into a battlezone.” Western Kurdistan is the name the Kurds call eastern Syria, inhabited by more than two million Kurds. Turkey now blames Syria for using the PKK as an additional arm, allowing members of the organization to roam freely in its territory with weapons and permitting them to carry out terror acts in Turkish territory reports Haartz.
US President Barack Obama has departed for Seoul, South Korea, for an international summit on keeping nuclear materials out of the hands of terrorists.
The United States defended the record of the UN Human Rights Council on Friday, saying that the international organization had taken “robust action” against human rights abuses. The US State Department statement came amid increased controversy over the Council after it established a fact-finding mission to probe the effects of settlements on Palestinian human rights. The move drew condemnation from Israeli political authorities, with Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman on Friday announcing that he was considering withdrawing the Israeli ambassador to the UNHRC and severing ties with the body.
Investigators have found no signs the suspected gunman behind a deadly string of attacks in southern France was under orders from al-Qaeda or any militant group, a top French official said Friday.
The United Nations Human Rights Council on Friday adopted a resolution demanding that the Syrian Government cease all violence, protect its people, and put an end to widespread and systematic abuses such as the killing and persecution.
Dozens of Libyans were arrested on Friday for attacking Libyas Istanbul consulate, demanding financial aid to pay for treatment they received in Turkey after being injured in the Libyan unrest. Police arrested nearly 70 Libyan protesters.
(Agencies) – Syrian forces bombed towns and clashed with rebels in several regions Friday as activists said thousands staged anti-regime protests and the European Union slapped sanctions on the country’s First Lady.
As activists are planning to lead a Global March to Jerusalem next Friday, Israel has warned neighboring countries that it would forcefully respond to attempted breaches of its borders. The Global March to Jerusalem initiative aims at getting over one million participants.
(UPI) – Israel is to send diesel fuel to the Gaza Strip Friday in response to a critical fuel shortage, sources told Ynetnews. The Palestinian Authority is to pay for about 118,877 gallons of fuel.
Republican Lawmaker, Representative Kay Granger, stated Friday that she will be releasing $147 Million to the Palestinian Authority headed by Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank after she withheld the money since August of last year in protest to the Palestinian National Unity deal. It remains unclear if the funds will be released due to another hold put by a different lawmaker.
The United States and Turkey have announced plans to provide “non-lethal” aid such as communications equipment and medical supplies to Syrian rebels, and will urge other key allies to do the same.
Tunisians are likely to vote for their first full post-revolutionary parliament in just under a year’s time, a government official told Reuters on Saturday.
US envoy to Sanaa tells ‘al-Hayat’ that Washington believes Tehran working with Shi’ite Muslim rebels in northern Yemen to build its influence at expense of Yemen’s Gulf neighbors. Washington believes that Hezbollah and Hamas are helping their backers in north Yemen.
(Reuters) – Turkey could still get a waiver over sanctions which the United States plans to implement on countries buying oil from Iran despite not being named on a list of exempted nations released by Washington.
The Syrian army has used civilians as human shields during arrest and combat operations in rebel- held towns and villages, Human Rights Watch said.
International peace envoy Kofi Annan was expected to head to China on Monday after asking Russia to back his mission to end fighting in Syria despite Moscow’s differences with Western and Arab states over who is to blame for the conflict, as a rights group accused the Syrian regime of using human shields as reported by Al Arabiya.
Iraq relies on oil exports for 95 percent of its revenues, and the uncertainty in the market stemming from the conflict between the West and Iran over its controversial nuclear program has helped support global crude prices but past year has seen 4% decline of output.
(AP) – The commander of a powerful Libyan militia said Sunday he has withdrawn from the country’s main airport, while some of his men remained behind to give the government another chance to either hire them or take over security.
(ANTARA News/AFP) – Baghdad will host an Arab summit from March 27-29, the first time such a gathering has been held in Iraq in more than 20 years. Here are key issues facing the Arab world:
- The Syria crisis
Monitors say that more than 9,100 people have been killed in Syria`s brutal attempt to repress an uprising against President Bashar al-Assad and his regime.
The uprising began as protests but has now shifted to armed conflict between rebel and pro-regime forces. Despite international efforts to curb the violence, it shows no sign of abating.
The Arab League voted on November 12 to suspend Syria, one of its founding members, over its crackdown on dissent, and has attempted to broker a solution to the unrest.
The small, wealthy emirate of Qatar sits at the head of an Arab League committee dealing with events in Syria, and is leading calls for armed intervention in the conflict there.
- Consequences of the Arab Spring
The December 2010 self-immolation of a Tunisian street vendor sparked protests that forced Tunisia`s long-time dictator from power and inspired uprisings across the Arab world that toppled autocratic rulers in Egypt, Libya and Yemen, and others that are still ongoing such as in Syria and regular protests in Bahrain.
The Arab world is still struggling with the fallout.
- Iran`s nuclear program
Tensions are high over Iran`s controversial nuclear program, which Tehran insists is for civilian purposes, while much of the West accuses Iran of seeking to acquire nuclear weapons.
Iran has warned that it will strike back in the event of an attack by the US or Israel, and has threatened to disrupt shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a Gulf choke point for global oil shipments.
- Arab League reforms
Secretary General Nabil al-Arabi has proposed a series of structural reforms aimed at strengthening the League and improving mechanisms for the implementation of its decisions.
- The economy in the Arab world
Oil-producing states continue to benefit from high oil prices, but others suffer from economic crises including from the collapse of tourism because of Arab Spring protests. Countries in the region also face problems related to water and food shortages.
Two “terrorist explosions” struck security targets in Syrian capital Saturday morning, killing a number of civilians and security forces, the state news agency said.
The trial over those accused of a big financial crime is being held in Iran. About 18 people are accused of misappropriating bank funds to the amount of $ 2.8 billion, Trend reported with reference to “Fars” agency on Saturday.
The United States has threatened to impose sanctions on India if it fails to reduce its purchases of Iranian oil, according to a media report citing unnamed Obama administration officials. “If India fails to cut Iranian imports sufficiently, Obama may be compelled to bar access to the US banking system for any Indian bank processing oil payments through Iran’s central bank,” the unnamed US officials were quoted as saying.
Not even a month after Azerbaijani counterintelligence services arrested Iranian agents planning terrorist attacks against Israeli diplomats and prominent members of the Jewish community, a network of 22 more Iranian agents were arrested.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al- Maliki confirmed that his country won’t be a passage for arms from Iran to Syria, Maliki’s office said.”Iraq does not allow its land and airspace to be a passage for arms in any direction.”
Syrian rebels ignited a new front Friday outside the capital, Damascus, in the first significant fighting there since regime forces swept over the suburbs weeks ago. The clashes highlight the shifting nature of Syria’s conflict, with rebels lying in wait.
UN / Arab League Joint Special Envoy Kofi Annan briefed the UN Security Council from Geneva on Friday about his upcoming humanitarian fact-finding mission to Syria.
Afghanistan’s president called for U.S. and other foreign forces in Afghanistan to leave villages in the country and move to larger bases instead, according to Hamid Karzai’s office.
U.S. funding for Egyptian military to resume, senior administration officials say The Obama administration intends to resume funding for Egypt’s military, despite congressional restrictions and objections from human rights groups.
The Egyptian Football Association (EFA), acting on instructions of the interior ministry, has cancelled the rest of this season’s league matches.
Iran has stepped up its efforts to monitor, filter and block content on the Internet by forming a separate legal body to deal with online censorship.
Israel on Friday took its concern about Iran’s nuclear programme to one of Iran’s main partners, China, and hinted it could launch a preemptive attack on the Islamic Republic despite repeated calls by China to allow diplomacy.
Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, is booking the most tankers in years to supply the U.S., a sign the kingdom is fulfilling a pledge to compensate for a decline in Iranian sales, according to Dahlman Rose & Co.
Syria’s Kurds appear divided and unsure whether to join the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad as they marked the anniversary of bloody clashes between the Kurdish minority and security forces in 2004. Syria’s Kurds live mostly in the north-eastern border region with Iraq and Turkey, and make up 10-15% of the population.
Protesters demonstrating outside of the Yemeni capital of Sana’a are demanding that outgoing president Ali Abdullah Saleh, as well as many of his compatriots, face trial.
Political campaigns and international issues have a way of garnering human interest across the social networks. March 15th, 2011, anti government protests started in Syria and thus ensued constant violence between the government of Syria and protestors.
With financial sanctions against it getting tighter and tighter and the drums of war beating louder and louder, Iran appears to be getting proactive — at least on the food front. As Reuters reports, Tehran is busy stockpiling grain in anticipation of the sanctions’ effect on daily life. Food shipments are not targeted under western sanctions aimed at Iran’s disputed nuclear program, but financial measures have frozen Iranian firms out of much of the global banking system.
US imports of Saudi oil hit 1.5 million bpd in the first 10 weeks of 2012, up 300,000 bpd from the fourth quarter of 2011 (FILE).
Thousands of opposition supporters rallied in Bahrain on Friday to mark the one-year anniversary of the military raid on the capital’s Pearl Square, the epicenter of last year’s Shiite uprising in the Gulf kingdom.
Muslim Brotherhood says Turkey should lead in Syria. Mohammad Riad Shakfa, leader of the Syrian Muslim Brotherhoo, has said he would give priority to any initiative led by Turkey, a country that he described as the region’s most powerful player, in finding a way out of the “chaos” in Syria.
A source in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has claimed that the Emirates’ judiciary is still refusing to accept legal cases on behalf of the seven political reformists who were stripped of their citizenship last month.
Egypt’s Islamist-dominated parliament unanimously voted in support of expelling Israel’s ambassador in Cairo and halting gas exports to the Jewish state. The motion is largely symbolic, because only the ruling military council can make such decisions.
Hundreds of Egyptians rallied in Cairo today to protest the recent acquittal of a military doctor charged with forcing “virginity tests” on female activists. Protesters carried pictures of Samira Ibrahim, the young female activist who went public about the tests.
While participating in a panel on freedom of expression, Muslim Brother and MP Helmy al-Gazzar said that all citizens should be guaranteed the right to practice their own faiths.“Islam provides freedom of Religion,” he said.
(UPI) – Both parties to the conflict in Syria should lay down their arms in an effort to find a political solution to the conflict, the leader of Hezbollah said.
A member of the Muslim Brotherhood announced a decision to formally back a presidential candidate in Egypt, a decision that goes against the movement’s pledges.
Khairat el-Shater, a leader of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood and an alleged advocate for moderation and modernization, says that recent elections have proved that Egyptians want an explicitly Islamic state.
The International Monetary Fund on Saturday urged donors to meet their aid pledges to the Palestinian Authority, warning that unless funding was forthcoming it would be forced to cut public wages and social benefits to address a deepening fiscal crisis.
Gaza militant group Islamic Jihad seeks to create a balance of terror with Israel, a senior member of its military wing has told AFP in an exclusive interview.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s suggested humanitarian buffer zone for refugees in Syria could prove a turning point in the conflict.
Egypt denied Friday a U.S. arms shipment headed to the Suez Canal would be unloaded in the country.
Witnesses say thousands of Libyans at a rally in an eastern city to press for an autonomous region came under attack by armed men wielding rifles and knives.
Officials marked the anniversary of the 1988 gassing of thousands of Kurds by handing local authorities the rope used to hang Saddam Hussein’s henchman who ordered the attack.
The foreign ministers of Tunisia, Egypt and Libya say their countries plan to increase border controls and boost cooperation to fight terrorism, drug running and organized crime.
The US said it is concerned about Iranian cargo flights over Iraq to Syria, saying it has warned Iraq they might contain arms that could be used by Damascus to crush protests.
Lebanon’s Druze chief Walid Jumblatt openly sided with the anti-regime camp in Syria on Friday as he marked the 35th anniversary of his father’s assassination, which he has blamed on Damascus.
The French military experience in Algeria 50 years ago has left an indelible mark on a new generation of US officers, who have tried to apply the lessons of the conflict to the fight against insurgents in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Fifty years after losing the Algerian war, France is still suffering fallout from a conflict that shamed its armed forces and fuels bitter political rows even in its latest election battle.
Algerias opposition Rally for Culture and Democracy elected its spokesman Mohcine Belabbas as its new leader at a conference in the capital.
Rumors of a papal trip to Lebanon have been confirmed by the head of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church, which will welcome Pope Benedict XVI at the start of his Sept. 14-16 visit.
In latest video, Ayman al-Zawahiri asks Pakistanis to follow example of Muslims in Egypt and Tunisia.
The UN and Arab League envoy on Syria, Kofi Annan, says he is sending a team to Damascus to discuss setting up a new international monitoring mission. After briefing the Security Council about his peace efforts, Annan renewed calls for an end to fighting.
Hackers calling themselves the ‘Iranian Cyber Army’ have attacked the website of mainly Muslim neighbour Azerbaijan’s state television station, the communications ministry said on Thursday.
(Reuters) – Turkey is ready to host an international meeting on Syria to follow up one being held in Tunis on Friday to raise pressure on Damascus to end a violent crackdown, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Thursday.
Turkey has that most scarce, yet highly sought-after, attribute among European economies: growth. With this rising tide, is now the time for investors to be contemplating Turkey’s growing Internet economy? Certainly the statistics look good.
Yemen’s outgoing president has left the U.S. after more than three weeks of medical treatment. U.S. officials say Ali Abdullah Saleh departed Boston late Wednesday for Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Yemen’s new transitional government is facing an emboldened al-Qaida presence, and the United States and others have pledged to help fight them.
Yemen’s single-candidate election turned into an unexpected expression of choice as the country’s voters widened their options beyond a vote for Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi to include a creative assortment of write-in ballots or to opt out altogether.
A prominent Egyptian Islamist and presidential hopeful is in hospital after a carjacking attack overnight on a highway to Cairo.
‘LA Times’ reports highly classified US intelligence assessment indicates that Iran is conducting research that could eventually enable it to develop a nuclear weapon, but that it has not sought to do so.
A fruitless visit to Iran by United Nations (UN) nuclear inspectors heightened tensions as Russia warned of ‘catastrophic’ consequences if it leads to a military attack on its Middle East ally.
President refutes ‘Haaretz’ story saying he would tell Obama he doesn’t “believe Israel should attack Iran” in near future.
Algeria’s elderly first president Ahmed Ben Bella left the hospital in good health Thursday after undergoing medical tests, his daughter said after some reports that the former independence fighter had died.
The outlook for the underequipped members of the Syrian opposition appeared to have grown less bleak Thursday on the eve of a Friends of Syria meeting in Tunis, the cradle of the Arab Spring movement.
The latest events that swept through some Arab nations known, as “ The Arab spring” were at the center of the discussions during the fifth session of the supreme Council of the Arab Woman Organization held here in Algiers.
Somalia should be enjoying an Arab Spring of its own but its Al-Shabab insurgents are fomenting jihad both in and out of the country.
A Lebanese man with links to Hezbollah is being charged by the U.S. military of helping kill American troops in Iraq, the New York Times reported Thursday.
After months of reassuring secularist critics, Islamist politicians in Tunisia and Egypt have begun to lay down markers about how Muslim their states should be — and first signs show they want more religion than previously admitted. Reported by Arab News.
Police in a Tunisian town used tear gas on Thursday to break up a crowd of about 200 hardline Islamists, armed with sticks, swords and petrol bombs, who set fire to a police station, witnesses told Reuters. “The security forces are chasing about 200 Salafists armed with swords and sticks.
(UPI) – The Muslim Brotherhood’s political wing in Egypt isn’t endorsing a presidential candidate until after the registration period closes in April, an official said.
The Somali Islamist group Al-Shabab has said that they have taken over areas seized by the government forces in Bay Region, southwestern Somalia, reported the privately-owned Radio Shabeelle on 23 February.
(UPI) – A Western-Arab meeting will pressure Syria’s Assad regime to let humanitarian aid into hardest-hit areas, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said.
The head of the main opposition Syrian National Council (SNC) sought on Friday to reassure Syrian Kurds they would have a place in a post-Bashar al-Assad country, promising decentralised government.
Western and other countries are turning a blind eye to weapons purchases by Syrian exiles who are already smuggling light arms, communications equipment and night vision goggles to rebels inside Syria, a Syrian opposition source said Friday.
The U.S. and allies from the “Friends of Syria,” meeting today in Tunisia, will ratchet up pressure on President Bashar al-Assad by announcing plans to deploy United Nations peacekeepers after his ouster.
The main opposition Syrian National Council (SNC) outlined on Friday its vision for a post-Bashar al-Assad Syria, proposing an interim presidential council of national leaders and a truth and reconciliation committee.
Thai police is seeking a fifth suspect and New Delhi is scrutinizing the telephone calls made to the Middle East around the time of the attacks.
At least 26 civilians were killed in Syria on Friday as tens of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets to demand President Bashar al-Assad’s ouster, a watchdog said.”The toll of martyrs from Popular Resistance Friday has reached 26 civilians,”
In an article he wrote before his death on Thursday, Mr. Shadid examined how a party shaped by repression hopes to act as a regional model after being voted into power in Tunisia as reported by NYTimes.com
(UPI) – Egyptian political activists said they have formed a “revolutionary council” focused on achieving and realizing the 2011 revolution’s goals and aspirations.
An international human-rights organization said Saudi Arabia has reversed its decision to allow women to participate in the London 2012 Olympics.
Iran’s nuclear ambitions could plunge the world into “a new Cold War” with the Middle East, Foreign Secretary William Hague has warned. He predicted a nuclear arms race among rival Middle Eastern states that would carry the dangers without the safety.
SWIFT to ban Iran after pressure from United States on Belgium-based international financial transactions firm to block Iranian banks from network; SWIFT waiting for “clarity” on EU legislation.
Two Iranian warships sailed from the Suez Canal into the Mediterranean the first such trip in at least three decades, eliciting Israeli charges that Tehran is seeking to dominate the Middle East.
Israel has reached a $1 billion preliminary deal to buy 30 Italian military training jets, Israeli defense said.
Syrian troops intensively shelled rebel-held neighborhoods in the restive central city of Homs Friday and killed at least five people, activists said.
An international banking clearinghouse crucial to Iran’s oil sales said Friday that it is preparing to discontinue services to Iranian financial institutions, an unprecedented and potentially devastating blow to Tehran as the West ramps up a campaign to stop its nuclear program.
An American antiwar activist and another Westerner who were leading a women’s protest were detained by the police in the capital, Manama, on Friday.
After winning elections, members of Tunisia’s Ennahda Party have a chance to apply their belief that faith and democracy are compatible, a concept shaped by decades of struggle, theoretical debates and exile.
The Obama administration is trying to shrink market for Iranian oil to deprive Tehran of funds for its nuclear program.
Saudi Arabia mosques called for an end to the bloodbath in Syria, where innocent people are being killed mercilessly.
A senior Israeli official accused Iran’s shadowy Quds Force on Friday of masterminding a string of attacks on Israeli diplomats abroad this week, fleshing out allegations denied by Tehran.
Turkey’s Parliament voted late to stop prosecutors questioning spies without the prime minister’s permission, after a row which analysts said revealed divisions inside the state on ending the war with Kurdish militants.
Upheaval in Egypt hit Jordan’s trade deficit last year, helping it widen by 21 percent to 7.3 billion dinars ($10.3 billion) by cutting off cheap gas supplies, official data showed.
Iran’s top oil buyers in Europe are making substantial cuts in supply months in advance of European Union sanctions, reducing flows to the continent in March by more than a third — or more than 300,000 barrels daily, industry sources said.
European Union lawmakers approved a new trade deal with Morocco that will significantly extend duty-free sales of agricultural, food and fisheries products between the North African kingdom and the 27-nation bloc.
A sharp rise in trading turnover shows money is pouring back into Middle Eastern stock markets, after a year in which the global financial crisis and political turmoil in the Arab world kept most markets depressed.
After years of attacking the West, Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood is now courting Western businesses to help revive the country’s sick economy.
Bahrain announced the deportation of four foreign activists for “taking part in illegal demonstrations,” bringing to 12 the number expelled over the past week.
US National Security Advisor Tom Donilon will travel to Israel on Saturday for talks with senior Israeli officials on a range of issues, including Iran and Syria, the White House announced.
Turkish soldiers, air force bombers and helicopter gunships reportedly launched an incursion into Iraq on Wednesday, hours after Kurdish rebels killed 26 soldiers and wounded 16 others in multiple attacks along the border.
Turkish authorities did not immediately confirm the incursion, which was first reported by the websites of Hurriyet newspaper and the pro-Kurdish Firat news agency.
However, the chief of the military as well as interior and defense ministers rushed to the area while Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan cancelled a visit to Kazakhstan.
NTV television reported Turkish troops penetrated as deep as four kilometres into Iraq and artillery units were shelling Kurdish rebel bases across the border. Turkey last staged a major ground offensive against Iraq early in 2008.
"No one should forget that those who make us suffer this pain will be made to suffer even stronger," President Abdullah Gul told reporters on Wednesday.
"They will see that the vengeance for these attacks will be immense."
The rebels launched simultaneous attacks on military outposts and police stations near the border towns of Cukurca and Yuksekova early on Wednesday, authorities said.
The attacks left 26 soldiers dead and 16 others wounded, NTV television said.
It was the deadliest Kurdish rebel attack in several years.
Around 100 Kurdish rebels were believed to have participated in the attacks, according to TRT television. The rebels fled to northern Iraq at dawn after nearly four hours of intense fighting as Turkish military shelled their escape routes, NTV said.
The rebels have lately intensified their attacks in a war for autonomy in the country’s Kurdish-dominated southeast, killing dozens of members of the country’s security force and at least 18 civilians since mid-July.
On Tuesday, a roadside bomb blast killed five policemen and three civilians, including a four-year-old girl.
The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people since 1984.
VIA AFP
Turkey‘s parliament voted Wednesday to extend the government’s mandate to order military strikes against Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq.
Lawmakers passed the measure by a wide margin. The current mandate was due to expire on October 17.
Rebels from the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) have increased attacks in Turkish territory recently, sometimes targeting civilians.
Last month, Kurdish rebels killed five people during multiple attacks on police facilities in southeastern Turkey. Turkish forces have responded by increasing their airstrikes against suspected rebel bases in northern Iraq.
Turkey, the European Union and the United States regard the PKK as a terrorist group.
In August, Turkey’s military said it killed about 160 Kurdish rebels in cross-border air and artillery strikes.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said Ankara‘s "patience is running out" in dealing with the rebels, who have been fighting for autonomy in Turkey’s largely Kurdish southeast since 1984. The conflict has killed more than 40,000 people.
VIA VOA
