Palestinians to commemorate ‘Nakba’ day
Monday, 14 May 2012
On Tuesday, Palestinians will commemorate the exodus of hundreds of thousands of their kin following the foundation of the Jewish state in 1948. Nakba Day, commemorated annually on May 15, is normally marked by protests, and often by clashes with Israelis in the Palestinian territories. The Higher Arab Monitoring ... Read More
Saudi Arabia says Syria peace plan faltering, Iran should keep out of affairs with Bahrain
Monday, 14 May 2012
Saudi Arabia said on Monday the confidence in international mediator Kofi Annan’s peace efforts in Syria is diminishing due to continued violence in the country and asked Iran to keep out of the kingdom’s relations with Bahrain. “The violence is still continuing, the bloodshed is still continuing. Nothing has been ... Read More
Jordan investigates reported abuse of children
Monday, 14 May 2012
King Abdullah II on Monday instructed Jordan’s government to probe reports of abuse at homes for children with physical and mental disabilities. “I instruct the government to form an investigation committee to review all these public and private homes, and complete this task in two weeks from now,” the king ... Read More
Refugees mark 64 years of ‘Nakba,’ still hopeful of returning home
Monday, 14 May 2012
Palestinians prepare to commemorate the 64th anniversary of the Nakba, which means the catastrophe in Arabic, when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled or were forced to leave their lands and homes in 1948 when the state of Israel was established. An estimated 10,000 Palestinian refugees remain living in the Aqabit ... Read More
Former Tunisian prime minister’s visit to Qatar stirs controversy
Monday, 14 May 2012
Former Tunisian Prime Minister Beji Caid al-Sebsi latest visit to Qatar has stirred controversy in his home country amid allegations of Doha’s interference in Tunisian domestic affairs, a claim denied by delegate Interior Minister and Sebsi’s aid Lazhar Akremi. “There is no connection between Sebsi’s visit to Doha and the ... Read More
Israel lets Gaza export clothes after long break
Monday, 14 May 2012
Israel allowed on Monday the export of Palestinian-made clothes from the Gaza Strip for the first time in at least five years, a Palestinian official said. Raed Fattouh, who coordinates supplies into Gaza, said a truck carrying 2,000 pieces of mainly woolen garments were exported through the Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom ... Read More
Israel fears Assad fall may bring al-Qaeda to Golan
Monday, 14 May 2012
A senior Israeli military official said that Israel is closely tracking events in Syria, fearing the collapse of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime could see the Syrian Golan Heights fall to groups like Al-Qaeda. The military official told AFP that such a situation could create a dangerous security vacuum ... Read More
Gulf countries agree to continue looking at possible union
Monday, 14 May 2012
Gulf Arab leaders agreed to continue discussions on a closer political, economic and military union on Monday as part of strategy proposed by Saudi Arabia to primarily develop closer ties with the unrest-hit Bahrain and provide economic development support for the Kingdoms of Morocco and Jordan. “Leaders of the Gulf ... Read More
EU slams Israel over settlements, treatment of Palestinians
Monday, 14 May 2012
EU foreign ministers on Monday issued a harsh critique of Israel, saying the gathering pace of settlement-building, settler extremism, and ill-treatment of Palestinians threatens a two-state solution. “The EU expresses deep concern about developments on the ground which threaten to make a two-state solution ... Read More
Iran ‘could order Hezbollah hit on Israel’
Monday, 14 May 2012
Lebanon’s Hezbollah may not want a new war with Israel but an order to attack would come from Tehran in the event of a strike on Iran, a senior military official in Israel’s northern command told AFP. And should another conflict break out between Israel and the Shiite militia, it would be “much faster” than the ... Read More
Egyptian police raid Iran TV office in Cairo
Monday, 14 May 2012
Egyptian police raided the Cairo office of Iranian television channel, Al-Alam, confiscating its equipment after it was found to be operating without license, a security source said on Monday. The raid was carried out on Sunday and the head of Al-Alam’s Cairo office, Ahmed Sioufi, was charged with working ... Read More
Egypt vote won’t push the generals aside as army will continue to have big say
Monday, 14 May 2012
Near the rock-strewn scene of a bloody anti-army protest, Islamist, liberal and other politicians sat with ruling generals this month to haggle over Egypt’s future after its first presidential vote since Hosni Mubarak’s fall. At stake in the Defense Ministry meeting, held just hours after 11 people were killed in another ... Read More
Egypt’s liberals call for sexual harassment law
Monday, 14 May 2012
Egypt’s liberal Free Egyptians Party (FEP) declared its support for the calls by women’s rights organizations and NGOs , which called for anti-harassment laws, an Egyptian online news website reported on Monday. The party said it stands against “the phenomenon of sexual harassment” and called for the passing of a law ... Read More
At least six people killed in spate of Iraq bombings
Monday, 14 May 2012
Six people were killed in attacks in central and northern Iraq on Monday, including five who died in a spate of bombings in the former insurgent bastion of Fallujah, officials said. In Fallujah, just west of Baghdad, three bomb attacks in close succession killed five people and wounded 18 others. ... Read More
U.N. nuclear watchdog urges Iran access as first talks in three months start
Monday, 14 May 2012
Iran and the U.N. nuclear agency started their first meeting in three months Monday, with world powers watching closely for clues on whether progress can be made in their talks in Baghdad next week. The two-day meeting between Iran’s envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, and ... Read More
Israel says world demands of Iran are ‘minimalist’
Monday, 14 May 2012
World powers are only making “minimalist” demands of Iran which would never be enough to make it halt its disputed nuclear drive, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said on Monday. His remarks were made a week after top Israeli officials met in Jerusalem with EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton to ... Read More
Moderate Taliban speaks of divisions
Monday, 14 May 2012
One of the most powerful men on the Taliban council, Agha Jan Motasim, nearly lost his life in a hail of bullets for advocating a negotiated settlement that would bring a broad-based government to his beleaguered homeland of Afghanistan. In an exclusive and rare interview by a member of the so-called Quetta ... Read More
NATO fails to acknowledge deaths of Libya civilians: HRW
Monday, 14 May 2012
NATO’s bombing campaign in Libya left 72 civilians dead last year, a leading human rights group said Monday, accusing the military alliance of failing to acknowledge the deaths. In a 76-page report, Human Rights Watch urged NATO to provide “prompt and suitable compensation” to families for the civilian deaths, ... Read More
South Sudanese airlifted from Khartoum return home
Monday, 14 May 2012
The first batch of up to 15,000 South Sudanese to be airlifted from Khartoum were welcomed in their homeland Monday, after they were ordered to leave Sudan for the newly independent South. The first plane, chartered by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), landed in the South’s capital Juba ... Read More
EU agrees new Syria sanctions; clashes kill 23 troops amid fresh scuffles in Lebanon
Monday, 14 May 2012
European Union foreign ministers agreed fresh sanctions against Syria on Monday, the 15th round so far against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, as 23 Syrian troops were killed in heavy clashes in the Syrian town of Rastan. An EU statement issued shortly after ministers from the 27-nation bloc began ... Read More