Fed to tighten rules for foreign banks in U.S.
Saturday, 15 December 2012
The United States Federal Reserve plans to subject large foreign banks to the same rigorous standards applied to U.S. banks. This includes subjecting them to stress tests. Draft rules were unveiled Friday and obtained by the media. The new rules, which if finalized will come into effect on July 1, 2015, would apply to around ... Read More
AU calls for urgent talks on flashpoint Abyei
Saturday, 15 December 2012
The African Union calls for urgent talks between Sudan and South Sudan over the flashpoint Abyei region. It has backed off from a threat to refer the matter to the UN Security Council. The AU's Peace and Security Council had given the two countries until December 5 to settle the final status of ... Read More
Hamas at its quietest in 20 years, claims Israeli military officer
Saturday, 15 December 2012
Israel’s offensive on Gaza has deterred Hamas from new hostilities despite its claims of victory and the front is now at its quietest in 20 years, a senior Israeli military officer Read More
Israel's Women of the Wall pray for equality
Friday, 14 December 2012
Israeli security guards at the Western Wall on Friday searched women worshippers arriving at the holiest place where Jews can pray for a seemingly inoffensive object - the Jewish prayer shawl, which under the Orthodox tradition can be worn only by Read More
Israeli FM Lieberman resigns after indictment
Friday, 14 December 2012
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, a key ally of the premier, resigned on Friday after having been charged with breach of trust, barely five weeks ahead of general elections. “I am not legally bound to submit my resignation... but I have decided to step down from my duties as foreign minister and ... Read More
Maliki tells EU to stop encouraging Christians to leave Iraq
Friday, 14 December 2012
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki urged the European Union (EU) to stop encouraging the emigration of Iraqi Christians from the country, a local news website reported Friday. “I urge the EU countries to refrain from encouraging Iraqi Christians to emigrate…we lived side by side in harmony and enjoyed good relations ... Read More
EU to consider all options to help Syrian opposition fighters
Friday, 14 December 2012
All options are on the table to support the Syrian opposition fighting President Bashar al-Assad, European Union leaders said on Friday, raising the possibility that non-lethal military equipment or even arms could eventually be supplied. In their strongest statement of support for the Syrian opposition since the uprising ... Read More
Palestinians to decide soon which U.N. bodies to join
Friday, 14 December 2012
The Palestinians will shortly decide which international organizations to join in the wake of their new-found U.N. status, including courts likely to act against Israel, negotiator Mohammed Shtayeh says. “We have put together a legal team to study to which organization we shall apply first and what are the procedures of ... Read More
IAEA confident of nuclear deal with Iran in January
Friday, 14 December 2012
The U.N. nuclear agency expressed confidence Friday that it will clinch a deal with Iran next month under which Tehran will at last answer “credible” evidence that it has conducted atomic weapons research. Herman Nackaerts, International Atomic Energy Agency chief inspector, said after what he called “good meetings” in ... Read More
Ben Ali’s son-in-law detained in Seychelles
Friday, 14 December 2012
The son-in-law of Tunisia’s deposed former dictator Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali has been arrested in the Seychelles, the Tunisian authorities announced on Friday. Sakhr el-Materi, who was convicted in absentia for corruption by a Tunisian court, fled to Qatar after the mass uprising that toppled his father-in-law in January ... Read More
Car bomb kills three in Somali capital: police
Friday, 14 December 2012
A car bomb in the Somali capital killed three people and wounded several others in the latest attack in war-ravaged Mogadishu, police said Friday. “The car exploded while the driver was moving in it... three people were killed,” said police officer Aden Mohammed, adding it was not clear if the driver had been targeted. “We ... Read More
Female students in Saudi university banned from wearing trousers
Friday, 14 December 2012
The Princess Nora bint Abdul Rahman University for women in Saudi Arabia has banned students at the school of arts and design from wearing trousers, urging them to abide by the campus dress code. The statement was issued by the dean of the school of arts and design, for reasons unstated by al-Hayat Read More
Yemeni soldiers swap guns for brooms in a bid to clean the streets
Friday, 14 December 2012
Soldiers swapped their guns for brooms and students replaced the classroom for the Sanaa streets as they joined workers to clean the roads of the Yemeni capital. Armed with brooms they swept pavements and roads, as traffic passed them by. Their work is all part of a campaign to boost living conditions in the impoverished ... Read More
ICC prosecutor considering new Darfur war crimes charges
Friday, 14 December 2012
The International Criminal Court prosecutor may seek new war crimes charges against leading Sudanese officials over the Darfur conflict, she said Thursday. Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda told the U.N. Security Council that aerial bombardments of civilians, deadly attacks on U.N. peacekeepers and humanitarian aid ... Read More
Israeli court urges reroute of planned West Bank barrier
Friday, 14 December 2012
Israeli judges have ordered changes in Israel’s barrier through occupied land before, but the latest decision on followed a rare appeal involving support from an Israeli government environmental agency for a Palestinian challenge. In their ruling on Thursday, judges wrote that only a 500-metre long section of the wall was ... Read More
Syrian refugees call home from Jordanian camp
Friday, 14 December 2012
As the violence intensifies and spreads in Syria, some 250,000 people have fled into Jordan, according to Jordanian official sources. About 45,000 Syrians are sheltering in al-Zaatari refugee camp, 15 km from the Syrian border. Fearful for the safety of family members still in Syria, refugees cover their faces for interviews ... Read More
Europe gets a taste of Palestinian strawberries
Friday, 14 December 2012
Farmers in Gaza’s Beit Lahia are out in force in the coastal enclave’s strawberry fields. Israel has given them the green light to start exporting their produce to Europe, and the farmers are keen to fill as many boxes with their locally grown produce. But strawberry farming is a costly and labor intensive process, and the ... Read More
Late Egyptian journalist’s fiancé vows to ‘shame’ Brotherhood
Thursday, 13 December 2012
As Egyptian journalists and activists mourned the death of a young reporter this week, his fiancé on Thursday vowed to “shame” the Muslim Brotherhood whom she held responsible for his death. El-Hosseiny Abu-Deif, a 33-year-old journalist who worked for private weekly Al-Fajr, was shot to death during last week's clashes ... Read More
Jihadist group claims Syria interior ministry attack
Thursday, 13 December 2012
Al-Nusra Front, the Syrian jihadist opposition group, took responsibility for a bombing attack on Syrian Ministry of Interior the day before, via its official Twitter account. “Thank God, we targeted the interior ministry building in Kfar Sousa district in Damascus at 5:30 pm on Wednesday, Dec. 12,” the ... Read More
‘Made in KSA:’ Saudi Arabia unveils first locally manufactured truck
Thursday, 13 December 2012
Saudi Arabia’s trade minister has unveiled the first “made in KSA” truck during a ceremony in the kingdom’s eastern city of Dammam. Tawfiq al-Rabee'a, the trade and industry minister and the director general of the Saudi Industrial Property Authority “Modon,” drove the truck, the International Isuzu company’s first ... Read More