I am reading
 |
|
/ 256 Pages
|
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.
Iran rejects claims of cleaning up secret nuclear works at military site.
Iran executed some 670 people last year, most of them for drug crimes that do not merit capital punishment under international law and more than 20 for offenses against Islam.
Iran stands fully behind Syria and blames the United States and Arab nations for the bloody unrest shaking its ally, media on Monday quoted a deputy foreign minister as saying. “The Islamic Republic of Iran underlines its total support for the Syrian people and government,” reported by Al Arabiya.
(AP) — The UN refugee agency say 230,000 Syrians have fled their homes since the outbreak of violence last year. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees’ coordinator for Syria says 30,000 people have already fled to Turkey,
Syria is laying landmines near its borders with Lebanon and Turkey, along routes used by refugees to escape the violence, Human Rights Watch reports.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has issued a decree for parliamentary elections to be held on May 7th.The poll will be the first under the new constitution approved by a referendum in February. But the move has been rejected by opposition groups,.
(AP) – Saudi Arabias oil minister says his country and other oil exporters are ready to offset any shortfalls in supply because of market volatility _ an apparent reference to showdowns with Iran over its nuclear program. Ali Al-Naimi made the comments during a major oil conference in Kuwait where he was scheduled to speak alongside Iranian oil minister Rostam Ghasemi.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has appeared in parliament for an unprecedented grilling by lawmakers dissatisfied with his performance, Iranian media has reported. Ahmadinejad was accompanied by a number of cabinet ministers to the special session, Fars news agency reported.
Egyptian artists condemned on Tuesday Cairo University’s decision to ban the screening of the Oscar-winning Iranian film “A Separation”. It is alleged that Islamist students were behind the decision as they believe the movie spreads Shiite and atheist ideas, according to a report in Ahram
The United States has asked Russia to warn Iran it has a last chance in negotiations expected in April to avoid military strikes against its nuclear program a report said Wednesday.
(Reuters) – China’s Premier Wen Jiabao said that Beijing has no favorites in the Syrian crisis and that he is “deeply pained” by the suffering of the Syrian people.
The United States on Tuesday labeled as “ridiculous” a plan announced by Syria embattled President Bashar al-Assad to hold parliamentary elections May 7 in the violence-wracked nation.
Pakistan’s army chief General Ashfaq Kiani has cemented his control over the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) with the appointment of close confidant Lt Gen Zaheer ul-Islam to lead the country’s spy agency.
The Islamist group, which controls the Gaza Strip, is undergoing “fundamental change,” according to analysts and the statements of its senior leaders. Hamas leaders say there are divisions among the ranks as they try to grapple with where to push the movement reported NPR.
Five Al-Qaeda militants were killed in an air strike on their car in Yemen’s Bayda province on Tuesday after deadly unrest there, and with the air force blasting jihadist positions in nearby Abyan, security officials said.
Human rights group Amnesty International says the Syrian regime is using systematic torture against its opponents.
Israel and militants based in the Gaza Strip agreed to a truce Tuesday, ending a four-day cross-border battle whose intensity and resolution highlighted shifting regional dynamics. The cease-fire was brokered by Egypt, which has served as a negotiator between Israelis and Palestinian militants in the past.
Jordan’s opposition Islamists on Tuesday accused Syria’s regime of “genocide,” urging Arab League action to stop the killing.
Syria has planted landmines near its borders with Lebanon and Turkey, along routes used by refugees fleeing the strife-torn country, Human Rights Watch (HRW) charged yesterday.
Mohamed Emad Eddin, a leader of the Freedom and Justice Party, has threatened to expel young members of the Muslim Brotherhood if they support Abdel Moneim Abouel Fotouh in the presidential election.
In a highly controversial move, the head office of the National Assembly approveda modification made to the petition filed against the incident in which the Parliament was stormed, setting free lawmakers complicit in the event that took place.
Egypt’s new Parliament, in its first legislative act since convening in January, passed a law yesterday increasing by more than threefold the proposed compensation to families of protesters killed in the country’s popular uprising.
A Salafi leader has for the first time spoken openly on Monday about a possible deal between the Salafi Nour Party and the military over a particular candidate in the upcoming presidential election reported he website of the state-run daily Al-Ahram.
Secretary of State said Monday that the U.S. would judge newly empowered Islamist parties in the Arab world by their deeds rather than their names.
A spokesman for President Nicolas Sarkozy of France denied a suggestion by Mediapart that the campaign received illegal financial support from Col. Muammar Gaddafi.
The Syrian army has recaptured most of the northern rebel stronghold of Idlib, pushing hundreds of military defectors out of a major base they had held for months.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki heads Wednesday to Kuwait in a bid to boost ties still strained by Saddam Hussein’s 1990 invasion of the emirate.
Arab League chief says the Syrian regime’s killing of civilians amounts to crimes against humanity and is calling for an international inquiry.
Iraq is deploying an unprecedented number of security forces to protect the capital for an upcoming meeting of the Arab world’s top leaders.
The Libyan capital will elect its local council by May 5 in its first poll since the ouster Gaddafi, the deputy chairman of the Tripoli council announced.
Nine northern African countries including Libya, Algeria and Egypt agreed Monday to work together to secure their borders.
The new Islamic-dominated parliament has been preparing to approve a resolution to reject U.S. military aid to Egypt.The People’s Assembly has urged the Cairo government to stop accepting U.S. military aid to Egypt.
The Anonymous hacktivist group has hacked websites belonging to Tunisian. Hizb Ettahrir, an Islamist in Tunisia, wants to introduce Salafist laws.
Iranian MP Ahmad Tavakoli has announced that if President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad does not reduce the frequency of his “errors, replacing him should not be delayed.”
Azerbaijani Defense Minister Safar Abiyev has said that his country, under no circumstances, will allow any country to use its soil against Iran. Abiyev made the remarks during a meeting with Iranian Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi in Tehran on Monday.
Two Israeli naval vessels passed through Egypt’s Suez Canal on Tuesday, headed from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea, Israeli and Egyptian sources said.
The United States is pressing Saudi Arabia to boost oil output to fill a likely supply gap arising from sanctions on Iran, Gulf sources told Reuters, adding that such an increase is unlikely before July.”There were talks held between Saudi and the US.
A number of countries, including Qatar and Saudi Arabia, are supporting militant groups in Syria and bear responsibility for the bloodshed in the country, Sana news agency reported citing Minister of Information Adnan Mahmoud.“
(UPI) – It’s too early in the development of a natural gas pipeline planned from Iran to Pakistan to state what action the U.S. government would take, an official said.
(Reuters) – Iraq began loading oil from a long-awaited new floating Single Point Mooring (SPM) platform in the Gulf on Thursday, two sources at the state-owned South Oil Company said, in a breakthrough that could substantially boost its exports.
Russia is still not flinching in the face of Western and Arab pressure to change its stance on the Syria conflict and its defiance may yet increase as Vladimir Putin heads back to the Kremlin.
(Reuters) – Candidates in what is being billed as the first free presidential election in Egypt’s history were given their first chance to register on Saturday, more than a year after Hosni Mubarak was ousted from office.
Every Friday, bearded men in shin-length robes demonstrate in Tunisia’s capital against perceived insults to Islam in a country once known for its aggressive secularism. They have occasionally turned violent, attacking people savagely.
(RIA Novosti) – Russian contracts in Libya signed under the rule of Muammar Gaddafi will be re-examined, Libyan Prime Minister Abd al-Rahim al-Keeb said during his visit to Washington.
Artillery and tanks pound northern opposition strongholds in Syria, as UN envoy Kofi Annan meets with Bashar al-Assad in Damascus.
Iraq gears up to host Arab League Summit. Syria is expected to be high on the agenda for conference that Baghdad last hosted in 1990 after invading Kuwait.
Anti-American unrest over the burning of Korans, along with an Afghan government plan to abolish private security companies, has muddled the plans and projects of private aid groups, officials say.
Boosting exports from India to Iran would not only help right lopsided trade but also deepen ties between the two countries, a major Indian delegation said on Saturday at the start of a five-day visit.
French foreign minister Alain Juppe said on Saturday he was pessimistic over the chances of a U.N. Security Council resolution on Syria, after he and other EU foreign ministers discussed further sanctions on Bashar al-Assad’s government.
(VOA) – Syrian troops and tanks launched new assaults on the cities of Idlib and Homs, even as Syria’s embattled leader was promising to support what he calls “any honest effort” to bring peace to the country.
(AP) – Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Saturday that his government is not “protecting any regimes,” defending his country’s stance to Arab leaders angry over Moscow’s blocking of international pressure on Syria’s president.
(Reuters) – Syria has begun pre-emptively withdrawing ambassadors from Europe because it fears EU members will expel them in response to President Bashar al-Assad’s ruthless crackdown on an uprising, Arab diplomats said.
Arab and Russian foreign ministers met in Cairo on Saturday over Syria, amid splits over how to move forward to resolve a crisis that has left thousands dead in a year.
A year into the uprising in Syria, senior U.S. intelligence officials described the nation’s president, Bashar al-Assad, on Friday as firmly in control and increasingly willing to unleash one of the region’s most potent militaries.
Turkey and Tunisia said their nations are opposed to any force from outside the region intervening in Syria, but warned that no government could survive by using violence against its people.
(ANSAmed) – Yet another insult to the national flag has been carried out by Salafis in Tunisia, who replaced it with their own black standard on the mausoleum which (on the Djellaz hills) celebrates one of the most widely-revered Sufis.
Tunisia’s transition to democracy has put it on track to repeat Turkey’s own success in balancing secular democracy and political Islam, said President Abdullah Gül during a diplomatic visit to Tunisia.
Dozens of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula fighters were killed in a pair of airstrikes in the southern Yemeni cities of Jaar and Al Baydah over the past 24 hours. The strikes are suspected to have been carried out by US aircraft.
The Pentagon is planning to restart programs that would fund military training and equipment in Yemen, nearly a year after they were shut down because of escalating chaos in the embattled country.
A top U.S. intelligence official had talks in Algiers Saturday ahead of a regional security conference, the official APS news agency reported. Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence Michael Vickers discussed the security situation and U.S.-Algerian cooperation.
Israel is to begin construction soon on a vast detention facility in the Negev desert to house the thousands of immigrants that cross illegally into Israel from Egypt every year as reported by Independent.
(AP) — Protesters outside the U.S. Embassy in Cairo supporting the Egyptian military’s crackdown on international pro-democracy groups clashed Friday with demonstrators rallying against the country’s military leadership. Dozens of people were injured.
The Iranian minister of communication and technology accused Western nations of using the internet as a tool for spying and spreading corruption, Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency reported on Saturday.
In a bid to pressurize Iran into giving up its nuclear weapons ambitions, the Chairman of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee said a naval blockade of Iranian oil exports should precede a U.S.-Israel joint military action against the Islamic nation.
The US has asked Pakistan to abandon the Iran gas pipeline project and counselled Islamabad to explore alternative energy sources.
Turkey is expected to host the meeting between Iran and G5+1 (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany) in Istanbul in early April, Hurriyet Daily News reported on Friday.
The appointment of a new Saudi ambassador to Iraq may not signal a thaw in relations between the two countries, writes Salah Nasrawi.
Sweden’s role in assisting Saudi Arabia to construct an advanced arms factory able to produce anti-tank missiles has left many frustrated over the Scandinavian country’s role in the ultra-conservative Gulf Kingdom.According to reports in Riyadh,
Tens of thousands of Bahrainis demonstrated outside the capital Manama yesterday to demand urgent political reforms, a year after the Gulf Arab state crushed an uprising, witnesses said.
The Saudi foreign ministry has directed all its diplomats abroad to not wear their national dress in public places or go out late at night.
Four generals who had defected from the Syrian army arrived in Turkey Friday, Anatolia news agency reported, citing local Turkish sources. The four were among some 10 high-ranking army officers stationed in cities including Damascus.
Amr Moussa, a former Egyptian foreign minister, was head of the Arab League until he stepped down in mid-2011 to run as a presidential candidate. He told the BBC that Egypt had been “left in total disarray” and his goal was to rebuild the country. He is seen a moderate.
Witnesses say that at least 23 people were killed when Somali insurgents attacked Ethiopian troops near the two countries’ joint border.Residents in Yurkud village say Saturday’s battle lasted several hours.
In Lybia “The Muslim Brothers established this party. We are a national civil party with an Islamic reference…we have Islamists and nationalists,” said Al-Amin Belhajj, the head of the founding committee for the newly announced Justice and Construction Party.
(AFP) – Several hundred people, many of them close to Tunisia’s dominant Islamist Ennahda party, called for the state television’s output to be cleaned up in a demonstration Friday outside its studios.
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.
Syria
While tens of thousands of Syrians descended upon Umayyad Square in the capital of Damascus Wednesday to renew their support for President Bashar al-Assad, the West demands he step down from office.
The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously Wednesday to extend the U.N. peacekeeping force along the Israeli-Syrian border, warning that events in the region could impact its operations.
The attack on Tuesday pushed the death toll for two days of violence across Syria to more than 200, and was one of the deadliest single events of the entire nine-month uprising against President Bashar Assad’s authoritarian rule.
The White House is renewing its calls for Syrian President Bashar Assad to leave power, saying his regime does not deserve to rule.
The London-based al Hayat newspaper reported on Wednesday that the relations between the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement “Hamas” and the Syrian authorities have been severely strained over the first’s position regarding the Syrian uprising.
Iran said on Wednesday five of its technicians had been kidnapped in the Syrian city of Homs, the semi-official Mehr news agency reported.
NATO officials claim the military bloc was not responsible for a single civilian casualty during its seven-month bombing campaign in Libya.
The police detained at least 38 people, many of them journalists, in dawn raids across Turkey on Tuesday as part of an investigation into a network accused of being the political wing of an outlawed Kurdish separatist rebel group.
Egypt
The head of the United Nation entity tasked with promoting gender equality today voiced concern over reports of attacks against female protesters in Egypt who turned up to exercise their freedom of assembly and expression.
Thousands of women, enraged by images of female protesters being dragged through the streets by soldiers during weekend protests, marched Tuesday in central Cairo to decry the Egyptian military’s recent use of force against demonstrators.
In unison a Egyptian women march through the streets of Cairo to object to the army’s mistreatment of female protesters.
The Arab Spring has increased pressure on Egypt’s Coptic Christians, with attacks on churches and bloody clashes with Muslims and the military.
Contrary to the expectations of many analysts, both the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice PartyA and the Salafist al-Nour coalition trounced the secular Egyptian Bloc and the Wafd Party in theA first stage of voting for the parliamentary elections.
Tunisia
Relatives of former Tunisian president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali are under increasing pressure from Canadian authorities, with the RCMP raiding their lawyer’s office and their Montreal-area mansion being put on the auction block.
Tunisia’s newly elected president called Monday for the country’s Jewish population to return, in statements carried by the state news agency.
Bahrain
Head of the Bahrain nursing society, Roula al-Saffar flashes a victory sign during a demonstration by dismissed Shia employees yesterday AFP/Manama Dozens of Bahraini Shia employees fired over pro-democracy protests rallied yesterday demanding a return to
Anti-government protesters run with a Bahraini flag from tear gas fired by riot police toward protestors along a highway near the Shiite Muslim village of Maqsha, Bahrain, Sunday, Dec.
Israel
In a highly unusual response to criticism from European nations on the Security Council, the Israeli Foreign Ministry bluntly accused the countries of “interfering with Israel’s domestic affairs”
Jordan
Human Rights Watch urged Prime Minister Awn Khaswaneh on Wednesday to probe the death in custody of a 20-year-old Jordanian man, who allegedly helped two Syrians buy arms.
Energy-exporting Gulf Arab states decided at a summit on Tuesday to set up a $5 billion fund to help development projects in aspiring Gulf Cooperation members Morocco and Jordan, a final communique said.
Egypt’s army-appointed government handed in its resignation Monday, trying to stem a spiraling crisis as thousands of protesters in Cairo’s Tahrir Square clashed for the third straight day with security forces in violence that has killed at least 24 people and posed the most sustained challenge yet to the rule of the military.
The crowds in Tahrir, which had grown to well over 10,000 after nightfall, broke out into cheers with the news of the Cabinet’s move, chanting “God is great.” But there was no sign the concession would break their determination to protest until the military steps down completely and hands over power to a civilian government.
Beating drums, the protesters quickly resumed their chants of “the people want the ouster of the field marshal,” a reference to Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, the head of the council of generals that has ruled the country since the Feb. 11 fall of authoritarian President Hosni Mubarak.
The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, which Tantawi heads, did not immediately announce whether it would accept the mass resignation. Many Egyptians had seen the government, headed by Prime Minister Essam Sharaf, as a mere facade for them military and either unable or unwilling to press ahead with democratic reform or take action to stem increasing turmoil and economic crisis around the country.
The anger, however, has ultimately been focused on the generals themselves, who many activists accuse of acting as abusively as Mubarak’s regime and of intending to maintain their grip on power.
The turmoil comes only a week before Egypt is to start key parliamentary elections, which many had hoped would be a landmark in the transition to a democracy. Instead, they have been overshadowed by the standoff over the military. Activists believe that no matter who wins the vote, the generals will dominate the next government as much as they did Sharaf’s. The military says it will hand over power only after presidential elections, which it has vaguely said will be held in late 2012 or early 2013.
If Monday’s resignations are carried out, a crucial question will be who will replace the Cabinet. Some in the square demand the military immediately hand over all its authority to a national unity government made up of multiple factions.
“We are not clearing the square until there is a national salvation government that is representative and has full responsibility,” said activist Rami Shaat.
VIA AP