Israel charges Tel Aviv bus bomb suspect
Wednesday, 19 December 2012
Israel charged an Israeli Arab citizen on Wednesday over a bomb explosion on a Tel Aviv bus during Israel's November military offensive in the Palestinian Gaza Strip, the Justice Ministry said. The bus was driving close to Israel's defense ministry complex when the bomb went off on Nov. 21, wounding 15 ... Read More
Palestinian refugees need help to enter West Bank, Gaza: Abbas
Wednesday, 19 December 2012
Palestinian refugees fleeing violence in camps in Syria should receive international help to enter the West Bank and Gaza, Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas said on Wednesday. Abbas called on the United Nations to lend a helping hand to Palestinian refugees who have been embroiled in deadly fighting in the past week at the ... Read More
Iraq’s President Talabani to go to Germany for treatment
Wednesday, 19 December 2012
Iraq’s ailing President Jalal Talabani will be transferred to Germany on Thursday for further treatment after an emergency that saw him hospitalized in Baghdad, according to Al Arabiya’s correspondent. “The president’s condition is improving, and he will be transferred to a hospital in Germany tomorrow,” Najm ... Read More
Israeli Arabs unenthusiastic about Jan. 22 vote
Wednesday, 19 December 2012
Israeli Arab activist Rasool Saada is crisscrossing the country to encourage fellow Arab citizens to vote in Jan. 22 parliamentary elections, convinced they can make a difference. Numerically, he’s right. Historically, it hasn’t worked out that way. Arabs make up about a fifth of Israel’s population, but ... Read More
U.S. depleted uranium casts horrific shadow on Iraq’s newborns
Wednesday, 19 December 2012
American ammunitions may be the reason behind the mounting number of babies born with birth defects in Iraq, a study revealed on Tuesday. Accounts of children being born with cancer and birth defects have been highlighted in German newspaper Der Spiegel, where Iraqis who were interviewed were not sure of the explanation ... Read More
Will he stay or will he go? Egypt’s new prosecutor in limbo
Wednesday, 19 December 2012
Egypt’s newly-appointed prosecutor general, who resigned earlier this week amid political unrest sweeping the country, may not get the green light he needs in order to officially step down. The Muslim Brotherhood has called on the Supreme Judicial Council to reject Prosecutor General Talaat Ibrahim Abdallah’s ... Read More
$1 billion Prophet Mohammed series planned by Qatar firm
Wednesday, 19 December 2012
A movie series on the life of Prophet Mohammed with a budget of $1 billion has been planned by a Qatar-based firm, AFP news agency reported on Tuesday. Alnoor Holding has said it will raise the budget for the planned production to $1 billion from the $1.5 million announced three years ago. The company said ... Read More
Benghazi inquiry says security was grossly inadequate
Wednesday, 19 December 2012
Systematic failures within the U.S. State Department led to grossly inadequate security measures being taken up to deal with a Sept. 11 attack that killed a U.S. ambassador and three others at the American embassy in Benghazi, Libya. “Leadership and management” deficiencies at the U.S. mission were cited in an official ... Read More
Russia may ease Muslim Brotherhood ban to boost Egypt ties
Tuesday, 18 December 2012
Russia may ease restrictions on the Muslim Brotherhood soon to improve relations with Egypt and rebuild influence lost during the Arab Spring revolutions, diplomatic sources say. The election of President Mohammed Mursi, propelled to power by the Islamist group, offers President Vladimir Putin a chance to improve relations ... Read More
UAE denies Egypt media reports of plot against Mursi
Tuesday, 18 December 2012
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has rebuffed claims carried by Egyptian media that it was behind a plot against the Egypt’s leadership, saying they were “fabricated,” state news agency WAM reported. UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahayan has summoned Egypt’s ambassador to discuss the claims aimed “to damage ... Read More
Iraq is a failed state and needs a revolution: former diplomat
Tuesday, 18 December 2012
Iraq missed out on the Arab Spring, but it not late for its youth to rise up against their government and turn Iraq, now a failed state, into a prosperous, functioning democracy, Iraqi veteran politician, Adnan al-Pachachi, has said. The 90-year-old Pachachi, former Iraqi foreign minister and representative to the United ... Read More
TV sheikh gets jail sentence for defaming Egyptian actress
Tuesday, 18 December 2012
An Egyptian court sentenced Islamic preacher Abdullah Badr on Monday to one year in prison and set the bail at 20,000 Egyptian pounds (U.S.$3242.48) for defaming prominent Egyptian actress Elham Shaheen, Egyptian’s daily Al-Masry Al-Youm reported. Badr, a professor of Interpretation and Quranic Sciences at Egypt's ... Read More
Iraq’s foreign minister says President Talabani not dead
Tuesday, 18 December 2012
Iraq’s Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari told Al Arabiya on Tuesday that President Jalal Talabani was not dead, adding that the leader’s health stabilized after suffering a stroke. President Talabani, a former Kurdish rebel who became a major player in Iraq’s politics and worked to reconcile its feuding leaders, was in ... Read More
Two Russians abducted in Syria: Lavrov
Tuesday, 18 December 2012
Russia said Tuesday that two of its nationals along with an Italian steel worker had been abducted in Syria on a motorway from the port city of Tartus. “By all appearances, they are Russians,” Russian news agencies quoted Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as saying on a visit to the Central Asia state of ... Read More
Nuclear stalemate with world powers must end: Iran
Tuesday, 18 December 2012
Iran’s foreign minister said on Monday that it was time to end the country’s long standoff with world powers over its disputed nuclear program. “The parties have reached a conclusion that they must exit the current deadlock,” Ali Akbar Salehi told the Iranian ISNA news agency. The six major ... Read More
Free Syrian Army take control of Palestinian refugee camp
Tuesday, 18 December 2012
Following the shelling of the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp earlier this week by Syrian regime warplanes, Syrian opposition fighters took full control of the camp on Monday, according to opposition and Palestinian sources. The move followed pleas from Palestinian officials to halt Syrian regime attacks on the camp, ... Read More
Syria’s chemical arms match Israel’s nuclear arsenal: defected general
Tuesday, 18 December 2012
The Syrian regime has a large arsenal of chemical weapons, which matches up to Israel’s nuclear arsenal, the defected former head of Syria's chemical warfare program told Al Arabiya on Monday. Major-General Adnan Sillu, who defected from the regime earlier this year, was party to top-levels talks about the use of ... Read More
Mursi opponents protest over Egypt’s Islamist-backed charter
Tuesday, 18 December 2012
Egypt’s opposition launched fresh protests on Tuesday in a last-ditch bid to scuttle a draft constitution pushed by President Mohammed Mursi and his Islamist backers ahead of a second round of voting. Hundreds of people had already begun gathering in Cairo by late afternoon ahead of the evening rallies, AFP ... Read More
Stones thrown at Tunisian president marking revolt anniversary
Tuesday, 18 December 2012
Protesters on Monday hurled rocks at Tunisia's President Moncef Marzouki and parliamentary speaker Mustapha Ben Jaafar in Sidi Bouzid, cradle of the revolution that erupted exactly two years ago. The incident began after a speech by Marzouki and as Ben Jaafar was about to address the crowd in the poor Tunisian town, ... Read More
‘Carrefour Couple:’ Saudi supermarket marriage attracts media attention
Tuesday, 18 December 2012
If Tom Cruise climbed the Eiffel Tower in Paris to propose marriage to Katie Holmes, a Saudi man chose to exchange rings with his fiancé at Carrefour supermarket in Sulaimaniya, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on Thursday. The supermarket was where they first laid eyes on each other, the Saudi Gazette reported this week. “You ... Read More