Algeria pays final respects to Arab singing legend Warda
Saturday, 19 May 2012
Mourning Algerians paid tribute Saturday to Arab singing legend Warda, whose body was returned to her homeland after she died of a heart attack in Egypt two days earlier. Known throughout the Arab world as Warda al-Jazairia (Warda the Algerian), or simply as the “Algerian Rose”, the singer won a passionate ... Read More
Three anti-NATO activists accused of planning terrorism attacks on Obama’s election HQ
Saturday, 19 May 2012
Three protesters arrested on terrorism-related charges ahead of the NATO-summit considered targeting U.S. President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign headquarters and the home of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, according to court documents released on Saturday. The Chicago Police Department said the men were arrested on ... Read More
Human Rights Watch accuses Egyptian military of torture, beatings
Saturday, 19 May 2012
Human Rights Watch accused Egypt's military on Saturday of beating and torturing protesters arrested at a demonstration near the Defense Ministry on May 4, 2012. Following interviews with victims and lawyers, the rights group announced that the military also failed to protect the protesters from attacks by armed groups ... Read More
Clashes between Yemeni army and Qaeda over south town control kill 26
Saturday, 19 May 2012
Clashes between al-Qaeda gunmen and the army have killed 26 people dead near the jihadists’ stronghold of Jaar, and a drone killed two in a strike on a militant vehicle, military and tribal sources said. “Eight soldiers were killed and 15 others were wounded” in fighting that included artillery and machinegun ... Read More
Demonstrators in southern Iraq threaten to boycott Turkish business
Saturday, 19 May 2012
Around 200 protesters rallied on Saturday in front of the Turkish consulate in Basra, southern Iraq, threatening to boycott Turkish companies if Ankara does not hand over Iraq’s fugitive vice president. The demonstrators set fire to a Turkish flag, shouting, “No, No, Turkey!” and “Throw the Turks out!” amid a ... Read More
Cradle of Libya revolution votes for local council
Saturday, 19 May 2012
Residents in the eastern city of Benghazi, cradle of the revolt that led to the ouster and death of Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi, headed to the polls Saturday to elect a local council. “This is a first step in the transition from revolution to state building,” Suleiman Zubi, head of the local electoral ... Read More
Bahrain, Qatar, UAE urge citizens to avoid traveling to Lebanon
Saturday, 19 May 2012
Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates urged their citizens on Saturday urged its citizens to avoid travel to Lebanon, where clashes linked to the conflict in neighboring Syria have left 10 people dead. The three Gulf states’ Foreign Ministries urged all those already in Lebanon - a favorite destination for wealthy Gulf ... Read More
At least nine killed as suicide car bomb hits Syria’s Deir Ezzor: State TV
Saturday, 19 May 2012
A suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden car outside security headquarters in Syria’s biggest eastern city of Deir Ezzor on Saturday, killing nine people and wounding 100, Syrian state TV reprted. “A car bomb exploded in the Ghazi Ayyash neighborhood of Deir Ezzor,” said the report, adding the blast was ... Read More
Iran tells west to lift sanctions ahead of nuclear talks
Saturday, 19 May 2012
Iran on Saturday said sanctions over its disputed nuclear program should be lifted in talks with world powers next week in Baghdad, but maintained the punitive measures would not compel it to abandon its atomic “rights.” Foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast told the government daily Iran that the ... Read More
Damascus accuses Lebanon of ‘incubating’ terrorists along the border
Saturday, 19 May 2012
Damascus has sent a letter to the United Nations accusing some Lebanese areas of helping al-Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood to take root along the Syrian border, adding to its criticism of Turkey and Libya for allegedly providing arms to Syrian rebels. “Some Lebanese areas next to the Syrian border are incubating terrorist ... Read More
Decades after ‘reunification’ a divided Jerusalem remains
Saturday, 19 May 2012
Israelis this week mark Jerusalem Day, celebrating the “reunification” of the Holy City, but 45 years on, the contrast between quality of life in the Jewish west and the Arab east remain stark. The status of Jerusalem is one of the most sensitive issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. ... Read More
Six Ahwazi Arabs face unfair trial, risk death on charges of ‘enmity against God’: Amnesty
Friday, 18 May 2012
Six members of Iran’s Ahwazi Arab minority are due to go on trial in Iran on May 20, amid fears that they will not receive a fair trial and may be at risk of torture or death sentence, an international rights groups warned on Friday. The men were detained without charge for almost a year and all were arrested in connection ... Read More
U.S. lawmakers want to halt aid to nations hosting Sudan’s Bashir
Friday, 18 May 2012
A U.S. House of Representatives committee voted early Friday to cut off economic aid to any country that hosts Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of genocide and other crimes. The provision is not yet law, and could change as foreign aid legislation moves ... Read More
Egypt Brotherhood forms human chain for candidate
Friday, 18 May 2012
Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood organized a 760-km (470-mile)-long human chain of supporters across the country on Thursday to back the group’s presidential candidate Mohammed Mursi in a show of strength ahead of next week’s historic vote. From Cairo to Aswan, members of the Brotherhood and its Freedom and Justice Party ... Read More
Yemen army advances towards al-Qaeda bastion
Friday, 18 May 2012
Yemeni troops advanced Friday toward the city of Jaar, a bastion of al-Qaeda in the south of the country where five militants were also killed in clashes with tribesmen, local and military sources said. “Armed forces have made notable advance west of Jaar” and are near an ammunition depot controlled by ... Read More
Tunisian revolution victims sew lips in bloody protest
Friday, 18 May 2012
A group of victims of Tunisia’s Arab Spring revolt sewed their lips shut to express their anger and frustration on Thursday to highlight their plight. They call themselves ‘The Injured of the Tunisian Revolution’, and have been protesting for more than one year about the lack of health care. In protest, they set camp ... Read More
Radical mosques invite young Tunisians to jihad in Syria
Friday, 18 May 2012
Some of Tunisia’s radical mosques are calling on young people to fight in a jihad in Syria against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, a religious affairs official said Friday. According to official estimates, about 400 of Tunisia’s approximately 5,000 mosques are now in the hands of radical Islamists. The ... Read More
Turkish PM calls for up to 3000 observers for Syria
Friday, 18 May 2012
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged the United Nations on Friday to boost the number of military observers in Syria to far more than a planned total of 300. “Three hundred observers will not be enough ... maybe 1,000, 2,000 or even 3,000 observers are required in Syria,” Erdogan told journalists ... Read More
Observers alone cannot end Syria unrest; U.N. chief sees al-Qaeda behind bombings
Friday, 18 May 2012
The head of the U.N. ceasefire mission in Syria said on Friday that no number of observers could halt the violence in the country unless there is a genuine commitment from all sides for peace, as the U.N. chief said he believed al-Qaeda was responsible for two suicide car bombs that killed at least 55 people in Syria a week ... Read More
Israeli troops rearrests prisoner in Shalit deal
Friday, 18 May 2012
Israeli troops on Friday rearrested a Palestinian who was freed under terms of a prisoner swap deal between Israel and the Hamas movement, Palestinian security sources said. Arref Fakhuri, an officer in the Palestinian intelligence services, was arrested early on Friday at his home in Jaba village near the ... Read More