tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50280827521010321132012-01-14T05:22:31.233-08:00RKLnoreply@blogger.comBlogger8221100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-10251860322866440482010-02-18T03:41:00.003-08:002010-02-18T03:41:53.009-08:00

A suicide car bomb exploded Thursday outside the gate the main government compound in the capital of Iraq's Anbar province, killing at least 12 people, including four police, a security official said. The province, where al-Qaida-backed Sunni insurgents once held sway, has seen a rise in attacks against security forces and government officials in recent months. The incident also comes amid fears

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-39662552545008516592010-02-18T03:41:00.001-08:002010-02-18T03:41:22.277-08:00

Dubai's police chief says the investigation into the killing of a Hamas commander now points almost certainly to Israel's Mossad spy agency. The Web site of UAE daily The National on Thursday quoted Lt. Gen. Dahi Khalfan Tamim saying a probe into the slaying "reveal(s) that Mossad is involved in the murder" of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh. He says it "is 99 percent, if not 100 percent that Mossad is

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-23509213974195435592010-02-17T03:31:00.001-08:002010-02-17T03:31:18.731-08:00

Iraq's top Shiite cleric urged voters Wednesday to turn out for parliamentary elections set for March 7 but distanced himself from any particular coalition. Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani warned that failure to participate in the election would allow others to achieve "illegitimate goals." He did not say who he was referring to or what their goals may be. The Iranian-born al-Sistani has quietly

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-52800346081302599322010-02-17T03:30:00.001-08:002010-02-17T03:30:55.280-08:00

A senior U.S. official is meeting the Syrian president as part of President Barack Obama's attempts to improve ties with Damascus after years of tense relations. William Burns, the U.S. undersecretary of state for political affairs, was received Wednesday by President Bashar Assad. Burns is the highest ranking U.S. official to visit Syria since January 2005. The visit comes a day after Obama

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-36595842816387134632010-02-16T06:50:00.000-08:002010-02-16T06:50:23.883-08:00

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told Saudi college students Tuesday that if Iran gets a nuclear weapon it could trigger a nuclear arms race in the Middle East. "Then you have all kinds of opportunity for problems that can be quite dangerous," she said. Clinton spoke at an all-woman college in Jeddah called Dar al-Hekma, which translates in English to "House of Wisdom." Her

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-68610802583726784372010-02-16T03:31:00.001-08:002010-02-16T03:31:13.213-08:00

A car bomb exploded Tuesday outside a police crime lab in northern Iraq, killing at least two people, Iraqi authorities said. The bomb targeting the lab was the latest in a string of attacks against security forces in Mosul, an area where insurgents retain a foothold despite a sharp drop in violence across the rest of the country. The car bomb was parked outside a side entrance to the lab in

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-48145100623046094992010-02-15T11:23:00.001-08:002010-02-15T11:23:59.310-08:00

Dubai's police chief said Monday an 11-member hit squad with European passports was responsible for killing a Hamas commander in his hotel room last month, but he did not directly implicate Israel as the Islamic militant group has. The Gulf emirate released photos, names, nationalities and passport numbers of all 11 suspects. The details given by Lt. Gen. Dhahi Khalfan Tamim are the most

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-2713923693396428272010-02-15T03:01:00.001-08:002010-02-15T03:01:24.083-08:00

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday that Iran is becoming a military dictatorship, a new U.S. accusation in the midst of rising tensions with Iran over its nuclear ambitions and crack down on anti-government protesters. Speaking to Arab students at Carnegie Mellon's Doha campus, Clinton said Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps appears to have gained so much power that it

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-17351566155519106412010-02-12T04:45:00.001-08:002010-02-12T04:45:50.968-08:00

Iran's supreme leader praised the mass turnout at the government-backed rally marking the 1979 Islamic Revolution and warned the West to stop putting obstacles in his country's path, state Press TV reported Friday. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei thanked the "tens of millions" across the country who celebrated Thursday's anniversary, saying the turnout at rallies reflected the nation's strength. During

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-56457020245747309102010-02-11T11:01:00.001-08:002010-02-11T11:01:32.513-08:00

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claimed Thursday that Iran has produced its first batch of uranium enriched to a higher level, saying his country will not be bullied by the West into curtailing its nuclear program a day after the U.S. imposed new sanctions. Ahmadinejad made the announcement in a speech to hundreds of thousands of cheering Iranians at a rally to mark the anniversary of the 1979

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-59628025710966396792010-02-11T05:49:00.003-08:002010-02-11T05:49:48.829-08:00

The Saudi religious police are cracking down on stores selling items that are red or in any other way allude to banned celebrations of Valentine's Day. A Saudi official says policemen are inspecting shops for red roses, heart-shaped products or gifts wrapped in red, and ordering storeowners to get rid of them. Such items are legal at other times of the year, but as February 14 nears they become

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-15630618053322981562010-02-11T05:49:00.001-08:002010-02-11T05:49:22.578-08:00

Opponents of Israel's contentious separation barrier in the West Bank scored a long-awaited victory Thursday when the government began rerouting the enclosure to eat up less of a Palestinian village that has become a symbol of anti-wall protests and the site of frequent clashes. The move comes 2 1/2 years after Israel's Supreme Court ruled that the barrier must be moved to ease the hardship of

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-30196229550196780942010-02-11T05:48:00.001-08:002010-02-11T05:48:55.781-08:00

The cause of last month's Ethiopian Airlines crash into the Mediterranean appears to be neither a technical problem nor an explosion, a top Lebanese official said Thursday, without elaborating on what it actually could be. The Boeing 737 crashed on Jan. 25, just minutes after takeoff from Beirut during a fierce thunderstorm. All 90 people on board died. Asked whether the reason behind the "

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-51567309142399224552010-02-10T07:45:00.001-08:002010-02-10T07:45:36.877-08:00

Iranian authorities have conducted a series of arrests against alleged opposition activists before expected protest rallies during events to mark the anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, the country's top police official said Wednesday. The reported raids are part of a broad offensive by Iran's leadership to intimidate anti-government demonstrators from trying to disrupt state-backed

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-75436307243698377162010-02-10T03:41:00.001-08:002010-02-10T03:41:36.382-08:00

Reuters says an Iraqi freelance photographer who worked for the news agency has been released by the U.S. military after being held some 17 months in detention without charge. Reuters says the U.S. freed Ibrahim Jassam on Wednesday. Jassam was detained in September 2008 in Mahmoudiya, about 20 miles (30 kilometers) south of Baghdad. The Iraqi Central Criminal Court ruled last year there was no

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-1294013867636096862010-02-09T08:09:00.001-08:002010-02-09T08:09:21.066-08:00

The security men brandished their weapons and ordered the suspicious car to halt, forcing the occupants to get out and put their hands in their air. The suspects were quickly handcuffed, frisked and made to kneel on the ground as the vehicle was swept for explosives. The crackdown, carried out by elite Palestinian forces at a training base on the outskirts of this dusty West Bank town, was only

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-91459911032182954922010-02-09T07:41:00.001-08:002010-02-09T07:41:42.897-08:00

The Israeli government has stepped in to save a house built illegally by Jewish settlers in a volatile Palestinian neighborhood in east Jerusalem, complicating already troubled U.S. efforts to renew Mideast peacemaking. The move is meant to skirt a court order to evacuate and seal the house, thus easing settler anger over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision to slow Jewish settlement

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-15933866537297523122010-02-08T04:30:00.004-08:002010-02-08T04:30:55.885-08:00

Iran has launched two production lines to build unmanned aircraft with surveillance and attack capabilities, the defense minister announced Monday. It also announced that Iran would soon deploy a missile air defense system more powerful than the advanced Russian S-300 system Tehran has ordered from Moscow in 2007 but has yet to receive. The state television quoted Defense Minister Gen. Ahmad

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-52942975856694765182010-02-08T04:30:00.002-08:002010-02-08T04:30:29.665-08:00

A semiofficial news agency says a court has sentenced a former deputy foreign minister to six years in prison after convicting him of security charges. Monday's ISNA agency report quotes Mohsen Aminzadeh's defense lawyer Abbas Shiri as saying his client was convicted of conspiring to "disturb security" and spreading propaganda against the Islamic establishment. Aminzadeh served during former

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-27094908550898793292010-02-08T04:30:00.000-08:002010-02-08T04:30:02.890-08:00

The No. 2 leader of Egypt's opposition Muslim Brotherhood and two other top figures have been arrested by police in a dawn sweep that also grabbed 10 senior members across five provinces, police and members of the group said. Police arrested the newly elected deputy leader, Mahmoud Ezzat, and two other members of the top level Guidance Council, Essam el-Erian and Abdul-Rahman el-Bir. The

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-18656784975138495622010-02-05T05:53:00.000-08:002010-02-05T05:53:14.524-08:00

A suicide attacker detonated a car bomb Friday alongside a crowd of Shiite pilgrims packing a highway as they walked to a holy city south of Baghdad for a major religious ceremony, killing at least 27 people and wounding more than 70, Iraqi police officials said. It was the third deadly bombing this week hitting the ceremony in which hundreds of thousands of Shiites have been converging on the

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-69004355126484416172010-02-03T01:50:00.001-08:002010-02-03T01:50:30.037-08:00

A bomb on a parked motorcycle exploded early Wednesday on the outskirts of the holy city of Karbala, killing at least 10 Shiite pilgrims and wounding around 25 others, officials said. The blast was the latest in a string of attacks this week that have targeted pilgrims making their way to an important Shiite religious observance in Karbala, raising fears of a spike in attacks when the pilgrimage

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-14638983238103704462010-02-02T09:52:00.002-08:002010-02-02T09:52:49.282-08:00

Palestinian militants claimed Tuesday they had sent a barrage of floating barrels filled with explosives toward Israel's beaches to avenge the killing of a Hamas leader in the Gulf emirate of Dubai. Police cordoned off beaches, ordered surfers out of the water and deployed robotic bomb squads along a large swath of southern Israel's coastline after two explosive-laden barrels washed up on shore,

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-27055838117174714482010-02-02T09:52:00.000-08:002010-02-02T09:52:20.739-08:00

Saudi Arabia will not get involved in peacemaking in Afghanistan unless the Taliban stops providing shelter and severs all ties with Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaida movement, officials said Tuesday. Afghan President Hamid Karzai is visiting Saudi Arabia hoping for an active Saudi role in his plan to persuade Taliban militants to switch sides. Saudi Arabia has a unique relationship with Taliban

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-57939299536418439032010-02-02T03:39:00.001-08:002010-02-02T03:39:51.567-08:00

Iran on Tuesday criticized the U.S. move to boost the defensive missiles system in Gulf Arab countries against potential strikes by Tehran, calling it a political ploy to increase American military presence in the region. Parliament speaker Ali Larijani said upgrading the missile defense systems in the Persian Gulf would only bring more trouble for U.S. forces. "Regional countries should know

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-5895710683855769722010-01-29T03:34:00.001-08:002010-01-29T03:34:59.435-08:00

Hamas claimed on Friday that Israeli agents assassinated one of the Palestinian militant group's veteran operatives in a killing allegedly carried out last week in Dubai, and vowed to retaliate. The militant group identified its slain figure as Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, one of the founders of Hamas' military wing that has been responsible for hundreds of deadly attacks and suicide bombings targeting

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-17493010827261846172010-01-29T03:24:00.000-08:002010-01-29T03:24:29.826-08:00

A senior hard-line Iranian cleric has called for more activists to be executed to silence anti-government protests, a day after two men were hanged. Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati says in a Friday prayer sermon that the clerical leadership's opponents must be killed "for the sake of God" and that Islam permits rulers to execute "hypocrites." He also praises the hanging on Thursday of two men who were

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-72022415477256136272010-01-28T08:24:00.001-08:002010-01-28T08:24:51.178-08:00

An international human rights group on Thursday disputed Hamas' claim that it did not target civilians during last year's war against Israel, saying there was strong evidence the Islamic militant group intentionally aimed its rockets at Israeli towns. The criticism from New York-based Human Rights Watch drew fresh attention to Hamas' actions in the three-week war, during which about 1,400

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-73316360148845137442010-01-28T04:24:00.001-08:002010-01-28T04:24:16.493-08:00

Iran on Thursday executed two men accused of involvement in an armed anti-government group, as the public prosecutor announced that new death sentences have been issued against opposition activists involved in protests over June's disputed presidential election. The two men, who were hanged before dawn Tuesday, did not appear to be connected to the postelection protests — at least one of them

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-58443024827315086372010-01-28T04:23:00.001-08:002010-01-28T04:23:27.062-08:00

An Iraqi police official says a sniper taking cover in a building in central Baghdad has opened fire on a checkpoint. The official says one policeman has been killed and another wounded in the attack Thursday afternoon. Police have sealed off the area and are searching for the sniper, he added. The attack in the primarily commercial district Karradah neighborhood is the latest in a string of

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-82704924437027668142010-01-27T06:02:00.001-08:002010-01-27T06:02:12.177-08:00

Two German diplomats have been detained in connection with deadly protests in December, Iran's state radio quoted an unnamed Iranian deputy intelligence minister as saying Wednesday. The report also quoted the intelligence official as saying the Germans had been involved in organizing the riots, but he provided no further details. In Berlin, Foreign Ministry spokesman Andreas Peschke said he

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-18513438768954164902010-01-27T06:01:00.001-08:002010-01-27T06:01:39.640-08:00

An al-Qaida front group in Iraq claimed Wednesday it carried out the deadly bombings against Baghdad hotels earlier this week, boasting its suicide car bombers were able to breach extensive Iraqi security. The same group, the Islamic State of Iraq, has claimed responsibility for three previous waves of coordinated bombings in Baghdad going back to August. The attacks have hit government offices

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-88794812982717925882010-01-26T05:17:00.000-08:002010-01-26T05:17:48.276-08:00

The pilot of an Ethiopian Airlines plane that crashed into the sea flew in the opposite direction from the path recommended by the control tower after taking off from Beirut in thunderstorms, Lebanon's transportation minister said Tuesday. All 90 people on board were feared dead after the plane went down in flames minutes after takeoff at around 2:30 a.m. Monday, during a night of lightning and

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-78544516906434519282010-01-25T11:56:00.001-08:002010-01-25T11:56:14.671-08:00

Saddam Hussein's cousin Ali Hassan al-Majid, who was hanged Monday, ordered the infamous poison gas attack on the northern Iraqi Kurdish village of Halabja in 1988 that killed 5,000 people and earned him the chilling moniker "Chemical Ali." The chemical air raid is thought to be the worst single attack of its kind against civilians. Graphic pictures taken after the attack showed bodies of men,

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-60459419332533678162010-01-25T05:34:00.001-08:002010-01-25T05:34:56.570-08:00

Iraqi police say three blasts have struck near three hotels in downtown Baghdad, killing at least 11 people. The officials say the blasts wounded at least 20 people. The first blast struck at about 3:40 p.m. near the Sheraton Hotel along Abu Nawas Street, just across the Tigris River from the Green Zone. The officials say two others struck near the Babylon Hotel and al-Hamra Hotel, which is

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-13588540192650748092010-01-21T04:08:00.000-08:002010-01-21T04:08:00.770-08:00

Washington's Middle East envoy faced a new obstacle Thursday as he launched his latest attempt to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace talks: Israel wants to keep troops on the West Bank's border with Jordan even if a deal is reached. Palestinians rejected Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's demand, made just before U.S. envoy George Mitchell arrived in Israel on Wednesday. Mitchell has been

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-59255720751580885582010-01-21T04:07:00.001-08:002010-01-21T04:07:34.095-08:00

Iraq's president said Thursday a high-level commission will investigate the legitimacy of a decision to ban candidates with suspected ties to Saddam Hussein's regime from running in the March 7 parliamentary election. Jalal Talabani said a presidential panel will study whether the committee that issued the ban against 511 candidates has been given the full authority and support from parliament.

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-7713660886949539582010-01-20T05:41:00.001-08:002010-01-20T05:41:56.206-08:00

Israel has deported an American journalist who worked for a Palestinian news agency. Israel's Interior Ministry said Wednesday that a court rejected Jared Malsin's appeal and boarded him on a flight to New York. Malsin was detained at Israel's international airport last week after arriving on a flight from Prague. He was accused of lying about his reasons for wanting to enter Israel and

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-14154134065559173772010-01-20T02:26:00.000-08:002010-01-20T02:26:07.123-08:00

U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell says Lebanon is key to regional peace. He was in Beirut on Tuesday and Wednesday at the start of a regional tour aimed at restarting Middle East peace talks. Mitchell's visit is part of a U.S. effort to forge a wider peace that would end Israel's conflicts with the Palestinians, Syria and Lebanon and normalize Israel's ties with the rest of the Arab world.

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-71104459081247424262010-01-20T02:25:00.000-08:002010-01-20T02:25:34.322-08:00

In this small Galilee town where tradition says Jesus turned water to wine, an ambitious priest hopes to perform his own miracle — revive a shrinking flock. Father Masoud Abu Hatoum, nicknamed "the bulldozer" for his enthusiasm, has come up with a few ideas, like re-enacting the New Testament story of Jesus transforming the water for guests at a wedding in the Galilee hamlet of Cana, now this

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-82370152559307681972010-01-19T11:38:00.002-08:002010-01-19T11:38:32.557-08:00

Nearly 50,000 Sunni fighters who sided with American forces against al-Qaida and other militants in Iraq are now in government jobs, a top official said Tuesday in an attempt to soothe fears they would be neglected by the country's Shiite leaders. The announcement, made during a press conference at a U.S. military base in the heart of Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, was a reminder that

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-34526924886253102612010-01-19T11:38:00.000-08:002010-01-19T11:38:05.566-08:00

Israel is arresting a growing number of prominent opponents to its policies toward the Palestinians, say critics who are accusing the government of trying to crush legitimate dissent. In the most high-profile case yet, Jerusalem police detained the leader of a leading Israeli human rights group during a vigil against the eviction of Palestinian families whose homes were taken by Jewish settlers.

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-80866916402900272332010-01-19T04:52:00.003-08:002010-01-19T04:52:52.421-08:00

The Israeli military has discharged a soldier for waving a banner at a ceremony protesting the army's demolition of a West Bank settler outpost. The military said Tuesday the soldier was dishonorably discharged because he did not express remorse or promise to refrain from similar actions in the future. The soldier waved the political sign at his unit's swearing-in ceremony in October at the

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-29302687198543743482010-01-19T04:52:00.001-08:002010-01-19T04:52:21.052-08:00

An Iranian official says Kurdish rebels may have been involved in the assassination of a court prosecutor in the country's northwest. Gunmen fatally shot Vali Hajgholizadeh outside his home late Monday in the town of Khoy, near the Turkish border. The area has seen occasional clashes between security forces and separatist Kurdish groups. The semiofficial ISNA news agency on Tuesday quoted the

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-63978022451013393342010-01-18T08:56:00.003-08:002010-01-18T08:56:56.774-08:00

Iran vowed Monday to take revenge on Israel and the United States for the slaying last week of a physics professor in a mysterious bomb attack, the official news agency reported. Iranian officials have blamed the bombing on an exiled opposition group known as the People's Mujahedeen, accusing it of acting on behalf of Israel and the U.S. The armed opposition group and Washington have denied

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-8117396589354868712010-01-18T08:56:00.001-08:002010-01-18T08:56:19.586-08:00

Officials said gunmen broke into the office of an Iraqi humanitarian organization in Baghdad on Monday and killed five employees. The attackers also left behind a bomb, which exploded later when security forces arrived at the scene, according to an interior ministry official and a police officer who described the attack. They said the blast in the mainly Sunni Azamiyah neighborhood in northern

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-77640575687440700852010-01-18T08:55:00.001-08:002010-01-18T08:55:52.791-08:00

Heavy rains and flash floods left seven people dead in Egypt and Israel on Monday, including a British tourist who was killed when a sailboat capsized on the Nile River. Egyptian police said the British tourist was with three companions on a Nile sailboat cruise when their boat overturned in heavy winds and sudden rain. The three others, including the victim's wife, survived. The other two in

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-68880243685807068172010-01-18T01:15:00.000-08:002010-01-18T01:15:00.261-08:00

Israeli police said Monday they have arrested nine people at a radical Jewish settlement in connection with the torching last month of a West Bank mosque and other attacks on Palestinian property. Five people arrested in the pre-dawn police raid were linked to the mosque blaze, while four others are suspected in connection with what police described as "severe damage" to other Palestinian

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-34576067438914658792010-01-12T06:38:00.000-08:002010-01-12T06:38:05.318-08:00

Israel has responded angrily to Turkey's latest criticism of the Jewish state, saying the Turks should be "the last to preach morality" and scolding their ambassador in a highly publicized snub. Turkey's ties with Israel have been strained by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's fierce criticism of the Jewish state's use of force against Palestinians. For years Israel's isolation in

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-52675247778824000452010-01-12T06:35:00.003-08:002010-01-12T06:35:35.226-08:00

A nuclear physics professor who publicly backed Iranian opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi in the disputed June presidential election was killed Tuesday when a remote-controlled bomb rigged to a motorcycle blew up outside his home. State media identified the victim as Masoud Ali Mohammadi, 50, a professor at Tehran University, which has been at the center of recent protests by student

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-48169428020354450712010-01-12T06:35:00.001-08:002010-01-12T06:35:07.354-08:00

Seven members of Iran's Baha'i minority have gone on trial, accused of spying and acting against the country's national security. The state TV Web site says the Baha'is have also been charged with cooperating with archenemy Israel and gathering classified documents. They were arrested in 2008. The charges against them also include "corruption on earth" — an Islamic term for crimes punishable

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-82689126011699781252010-01-11T03:02:00.003-08:002010-01-11T03:02:36.548-08:00

Israel's defense minister says it will take years before the country's new rocket defense system will be fully deployed along borders with Gaza and Lebanon. But Defense Minister Ehud Barak predicts that once in place, the Iron Dome system would significantly reduce hostilities. Israel has had no system to guard it against the thousands of rockets that militants rained down on its southern and

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-89554576542413329642010-01-11T03:02:00.001-08:002010-01-11T03:02:13.232-08:00

A rights group is demanding Iran release 33 mothers detained during their weekly memorial vigils for their children killed in the nation's ongoing violence. The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran says that nine of the jailed woman received emergency medical treatment after they were rounded up by security forces Saturday in a Tehran park where they hold their demonstrations. The

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-56236128334403229382010-01-11T03:01:00.001-08:002010-01-11T03:01:45.694-08:00

Afghan President Hamid Karzai paid tribute on Monday to a British journalist killed in Afghanistan while travelling with US Marines fighting the Taliban. Rupert Hamer of the Sunday Mirror newspaper was blown up Saturday by a roadside bomb as he accompanied Marines patrolling near Nawa in the southern province of Helmand, the Ministry of Defence in London said. Philip Coburn, 43, a photographer

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-6686232311475100432010-01-05T14:55:00.002-08:002010-01-05T14:55:58.043-08:00

Yemen insisted Tuesday it is capable of leading the fight against al-Qaida, revealing friction with the United States in their growing alliance against the terror group. The Yemen government sent thousands of troops this week to remote provinces where al-Qaida has set up strongholds, and it has carried out a series of U.S.-backed strikes against militant hideouts in the past month. Yemeni

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-3997518128150331902010-01-05T14:55:00.000-08:002010-01-05T14:55:01.441-08:00

With a book written by one of Osama bin Laden's sons, and with news of a daughter sheltering in the Saudi Embassy in Iran, some of the blanks are being filled in on the life of the 9/11 mastermind's large family, including lurid details of his parenting style. Two weeks ago, the son, Omar bin Laden, revealed that many of the children who had been with their father in Afghanistan escaped to Iran

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-51379928034972851852010-01-05T07:31:00.002-08:002010-01-05T07:31:55.254-08:00

Yemen showed signs of friction Monday with the United States over the fight against al-Qaida, insisting it has the terror group under control, as the U.S. Embassy in San'a ended a two-day closure. Comments by Yemeni officials appear to reflect fears that Washington will try to take the lead in directing Yemen's counterterror campaign or take too public a role. The government is deeply sensitive

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-27358144204612107492010-01-05T07:31:00.000-08:002010-01-05T07:31:29.640-08:00

Relatives and friends of the Jordanian suspected as a double agent who killed eight people on a CIA base in Afghanistan say he wanted to die in a holy war, and wrote fiery Internet articles calling for jihad against the U.S. and Israel. Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, a 32-year-old physician, struck the base near the Pakistani border last week, killing seven CIA employees and a Jordanian

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-83021353923435648462010-01-05T07:30:00.001-08:002010-01-05T07:30:32.847-08:00

Iraqi police on Tuesday seized a small cache of ancient statues and other artifacts in the south of the country, officials said, after authorities feared the items would be smuggled abroad. A police official said the 29 artifacts were discovered hidden near a shrine outside the southern city of Nasiriyah. They included statues and shards with writing on them dating back to the ancient Sumerian

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-13580361012431800612010-01-04T08:57:00.001-08:002010-01-04T08:57:51.700-08:00

Dozens of Tehran University professors appealed Monday to Iran's supreme leader to halt the ongoing violence against protesters, adding a new and respected voice in support of the opposition. The government, meanwhile, stepped up its accusations that the West is fomenting Tehran's post-election turmoil, saying that foreign nationals were among those arrested in the most recent clashes between

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-33096126648556131232009-12-30T09:38:00.001-08:002009-12-30T09:38:19.226-08:00

Yemeni security forces stormed an al-Qaida hide-out Wednesday in a principle militant stronghold in the country's west, setting off clashes, officials said, as a security chief vowed to fight the group's powerful local branch until it was eliminated. A government statement said at least one suspected al-Qaida member was arrested during the fighting in Hudaydah province. The province, along

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-42687473700046474532009-12-30T09:37:00.002-08:002009-12-30T09:37:40.782-08:00

Twin bombings — one an assassination attempt against an Iraqi provincial governor — killed 23 people and wounded the governor Wednesday in the worst violence in months to hit the western province that was once al-Qaida's top stronghold in Iraq. Also on Wednesday, a British hostage held for more than two years by militants was released safely in Baghdad and is now in the care of the British

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-60917809604729754032009-12-30T09:37:00.000-08:002009-12-30T09:37:03.853-08:00

Tens of thousands of hard-line government supporters turned out for state-sponsored rallies Wednesday, some of them calling for the execution of opposition leaders as Iran's police chief threatened to show "no mercy" in crushing any new protests by the pro-reform movement. Pro-government rallies were staged in Shiraz, Arak, Qom and Tehran, among other cities. Demonstrators at a rally in Tehran

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-3225392645065060912009-12-29T11:02:00.003-08:002009-12-29T11:02:46.733-08:00

Iranian security forces have limited the movements of a leading opposition figure by refusing to protect him when he leaves his home, his son said Tuesday as authorities broadened their crackdown with a new wave of arrests that included the sister of Nobel peace laureate Shirin Ebadi. Iran's worst internal violence in three decades has grown increasingly violent and bitter in the wake of clashes

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-1825077307106067152009-12-29T11:02:00.001-08:002009-12-29T11:02:17.358-08:00

Israel's prime minister on Tuesday presented Egypt with ideas for restarting Mideast peace talks, impressing his hosts with proposals that go further than past Israeli positions, Egypt's top diplomat said. The meeting took place as a Hamas official said his group had rejected Israel's latest proposal for a prisoner swap with the Islamic militants. A top Hamas official in Syria told The

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-34226575527410576782009-12-28T13:52:00.001-08:002009-12-28T13:52:40.912-08:00

Iranian authorities said Monday that they were holding the bodies of five slain anti-government protesters, including the nephew of the opposition leader, in what appeared be an attempt to prevent activists from using their funerals as a platform for more demonstrations. Pro-reform Web sites and activists said the government also detained at least eight prominent opposition figures — including a

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-89994377272065527782009-12-28T13:51:00.001-08:002009-12-28T13:51:44.052-08:00

The Yemeni government says the Nigerian accused in the Christmas day attack on a U.S. airliner visited Yemen this year. In a statement, the Yemeni Foreign Ministry says Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was in Yemen from August until early December after receiving a visa to study Arabic in a school in Sana'a. Monday's statement said Abdulmutallab had previously studied at the school, indicating it was

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-1553487393847059632009-12-28T07:39:00.001-08:002009-12-28T07:39:47.435-08:00

A relative of Iran's opposition leader says the body of the leader's nephew has been removed from a hospital without the family's permission, a day after he was slain in an anti-government protest. Reza Mousavi said Monday that the body of his brother, Ali Mousavi, was taken from a Tehran hospital, possibly by authorities seeking to deter mourners from organizing more protests around his funeral

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-57343101909818918172009-12-28T07:38:00.001-08:002009-12-28T07:38:57.153-08:00

Iran will possess the technology to build a nuclear bomb by early 2010 and be able to produce one the following year, Israeli media quoted Israel's defense minister as saying Monday. Defense Minister Ehud Barak delivered his assessment before the Israeli parliament's defense and foreign affairs committee. It broadly matches assessments from other nations including the U.S., which estimates that

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-45707605943901393382009-12-24T14:05:00.001-08:002009-12-24T14:05:25.356-08:00

A southern Sudanese official says parliament will review a disputed law on holding a referendum over his region's independence after it was altered in a way that violates a fragile peace deal. The 2005 north-south peace deal brought the former rivals into a temporary unity government, promising a crucial 2011 referendum on southern independence. Pagan Amum of the Sudan People Liberation

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-25634723322200510732009-12-24T14:04:00.001-08:002009-12-24T14:04:50.380-08:00

Thousands of pilgrims from around the world descended on the traditional birthplace of Jesus on Thursday, greeted by choruses, scout troops and rock bands for the most upbeat Christmas celebrations this Palestinian town has seen in years. But the Holy Land's top Roman Catholic clergyman reminded followers that peace remains elusive, while the threat of sectarian violence in the Islamic world and

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-71597378779927529952009-12-24T00:18:00.001-08:002009-12-24T00:18:43.462-08:00

About 200 Israeli teenagers soon to be drafted have sent a letter to Israel's defense minister saying they won't enforce any government orders to dismantle settlements in the West Bank. The teenagers say their paramount loyalty is to Jewish law. They say Jewish law forbids the destruction of Jewish construction, even if it's unauthorized by the government. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-76737618348988278582009-12-18T10:08:00.001-08:002009-12-18T10:08:48.638-08:00

Rescue workers searched the stormy waters off Lebanon on Friday after a cargo ship sank, killing at least nine crew members and leaving dozens missing. The Panamanian-flagged cargo ship carrying thousands of sheep and other livestock went down Thursday in heavy rain. A senior Lebanese army officer said 35 people were still missing. Of the 83 crew members on board, 39 were rescued and nine

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-69278012360254275942009-12-16T09:26:00.000-08:002009-12-16T09:26:58.825-08:00

Iran on Wednesday test-fired an upgraded version of its most advanced missile, which is capable of hitting Israel and parts of Europe, in a new show of strength aimed at preventing any military strike against it amid the nuclear standoff with the West. The test stoked tensions between Iran and the West, which is pressing Tehran to rein in its nuclear program. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-34416976893945881482009-12-16T09:25:00.001-08:002009-12-16T09:25:38.390-08:00

Massive bombings and scattered daily violence won't impede American troops from leaving Iraq by the end of 2011, the country's prime minister said Wednesday. Nouri al-Maliki blamed explosions in two major Iraqi cities a day earlier on al-Qaida extremists and former Baath Party loyalists. He said both groups, whom he accused of carrying out three massive bombings since August, seek to derail

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-88361150755163556502009-12-15T11:43:00.004-08:002009-12-15T11:43:58.287-08:00

An Egyptian airport official says the wall paintings that caused a feud between Egypt and the Louvre Museum have returned home. Ahmed al-Rawi of the customs authority said that the ancient artwork arrived to Cairo on a flight from Paris on Tuesday evening and were handed over to Egyptian antiquities authorities. Egypt's antiquities chief Zahi Hawass cut ties with the Louvre in October, saying

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-49003033809739037152009-12-15T11:43:00.002-08:002009-12-15T11:43:33.330-08:00

Israeli intransigence caused a breakdown in negotiations to release an Israeli soldier held by the militant Palestinian group Hamas, its leader said Tuesday. Speaking in the Iranian capital of Tehran, Khaled Mashaal said the Israelis have no choice but to free the Palestinian prisoners Hamas wants if it ever wants to see Sgt. Gilad Schalit again. "Israeli stubbornness is disrupting the process,

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-47967804999575357472009-12-15T11:43:00.000-08:002009-12-15T11:43:08.407-08:00

Angry settlers beat and seriously injured a female Israeli police officer Tuesday, police said, as she tried to enforce a government ban on new housing construction in Jewish West Bank settlements. It was the most serious clash between settlers and authorities since the building restrictions were imposed last month. Settlers have vowed to defy the orders and have confronted government inspectors

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-31947126394107338742009-12-10T10:20:00.001-08:002009-12-10T10:20:09.395-08:00

Iraq says it plans transfer members of an Iranian opposition group from a camp in northeastern Iraq to a desert outpost that was once a detention facility. It's the latest effort to pressure the nearly 3,500 Iranians exiles currently in Camp Ashraf. In July, Iraqi forces raided the camp in a melee that reportedly left 11 people dead. The plan announced on a government Web site Thursday calls

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-83892500459552877112009-12-10T10:19:00.001-08:002009-12-10T10:19:37.913-08:00

Egypt has been digging trenches and installing metal sheets underground along its border with Gaza in an apparent attempt to curb smuggling into the Palestinian territory through tunnels, Gaza border guards and area residents said Thursday. The project appears to be one of a series of measures Egypt has taken, some of them in cooperation with the U.S., to crack down on smuggling since the end of

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-83998491025353942492009-12-10T10:18:00.001-08:002009-12-10T10:18:58.838-08:00

Al-Qaida's umbrella group in Iraq claimed responsibility Thursday for coordinated Baghdad bombings this week that killed 127 people and wounded more than 500, warning of more strikes to come against the Iraqi government. The group, known as the Islamic State of Iraq, said in a statement posted on the Internet that the attacks in the Iraqi capital targeted the "bastions of evil and dens of

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-65516025362950863482009-12-07T09:51:00.000-08:002009-12-07T09:51:05.854-08:00

Iraq's electoral commission on Monday recommended a 45-day delay in parliamentary elections until Feb. 27, raising concerns that the postponed balloting could complicate the planned withdrawal of U.S. combat troops and bring a possible surge of violence. American commanders have noted the chance of increased pre-election bloodshed aimed at destabilizing the pro-Western government. A series of

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-1703755967268405052009-12-07T09:50:00.001-08:002009-12-07T09:50:31.842-08:00

Security forces and militiamen clashed with thousands of protesters shouting "death to the dictator" outside Tehran University on Monday, beating them with batons and firing tear gas on a day of nationwide student demonstrations, witnesses said. The protests were the largest in months, bringing tens of thousands out in marches at more than a dozen campuses around the country and in several

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-33725138046105918252009-12-04T18:33:00.001-08:002009-12-04T18:33:33.025-08:00

Members of an Iranian opposition group claimed Friday that Iraqi authorities are limiting their access to outside health care at a camp in northern Iraq where they have been under watch since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003. The charges are the latest complaints about conditions at Camp Ashraf, which was raided by Iraqi security forces in July in a melee that reportedly left 11 people dead

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-87014826338553912182009-12-04T18:32:00.001-08:002009-12-04T18:32:58.486-08:00

As they gear up for a major anti-government protest Monday, Iranian students are besieged by a clampdown in the universities, with a wave of arrests and expulsions. At the same time, authorities are intensifying enforcement of Islamic morals on women's dress and men's hair length as a way to punish political dissent. They say authorities have cracked down at campuses nationwide to prevent the

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-38119915560813110382009-12-03T09:54:00.003-08:002009-12-03T09:54:47.748-08:00

Iraqi officials say a suicide bomber has killed at least five people in Saddam Hussein's hometown, including the chief of riot police. A police official says the blast Thursday in Tikrit killed Lt. Col. Ahmed al-Fahal, two of his bodyguards and two civilians. The official says the bomber targeted al-Fahal, who had been touring central Tikrit. The attack prompted security officials to impose a

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-15755311769222474312009-12-03T09:54:00.001-08:002009-12-03T09:54:18.130-08:00

A blast at a gas station in a Damascus suburb killed three people Thursday, gutting the back of an empty bus and blowing out nearby windows, officials said. Syria's interior minister, Said Mohammad Sammour, ruled out a terrorist attack. Sammour said on state-run Syrian TV that the Iranian bus driver and two Syrian gas station workers were killed when a tire they were pumping air into exploded.

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-75858672687963008302009-12-03T09:53:00.001-08:002009-12-03T09:53:53.932-08:00

Defiant West Bank settler leaders rejected a personal plea from the prime minister Thursday to respect a government-ordered construction freeze in their communities, vowing to keep confronting security forces sent to enforce the edict. In the West Bank, Jewish settlers blocked inspectors from entering a settlement to search for unauthorized construction, the third straight day of such

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-24483237928510182102009-12-02T15:13:00.002-08:002009-12-02T15:13:37.866-08:00

In a defiant speech, Iran's president declared Wednesday that his country will enrich uranium to a much higher level — a fresh rejection of an international plan to curb Tehran's nuclear program. Experts said that could put Tehran on the road to making the material needed to arm a warhead within months. "I declare here that with the grace of God, the Iranian nation will produce 20 percent fuel

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-49170747282444109392009-12-02T15:13:00.000-08:002009-12-02T15:13:12.980-08:00

A 26-year-old doctor who exposed the torture of jailed protesters in Iran died of poisoning from a delivery salad laced with an overdose of blood pressure medication, prosecutors say. The findings fueled opposition fears that he was killed because of what he knew. Investigators are still trying to determine whether his death last month was a suicide or murder, Tehran's public prosecutor Abbas

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-34042581249632942202009-12-02T15:12:00.001-08:002009-12-02T15:12:26.327-08:00

Israeli police arrested the mayor of a West Bank Jewish settlement on Wednesday after protesters blocked security forces from entering the community to enforce a construction freeze. The showdown was the most serious incident of settler unrest since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week announced the 10-month building freeze, which bars the construction of new homes in West Bank

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-78446403853433952452009-12-01T15:17:00.000-08:002009-12-01T15:17:52.398-08:00

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Tuesday that Tehran is reviewing the option of decreasing cooperation with the U.N. nuclear watchdog after it issued a resolution critical of Iran last week. Speaking in a live television interview late Tuesday, Ahmadinejad also criticized Russia's support for International Atomic Energy Agency's resolution, calling it a mistake. "Friendly relations

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-90260025971867554262009-12-01T15:16:00.000-08:002009-12-01T15:16:38.066-08:00

Iran warned on Tuesday that it will prosecute five British sailors if it is proven they had "bad intentions" when their 60-foot racing yacht entered its waters, in what Britain says was an innocent case of a vessel accidentally going astray in the Gulf. London was trying to keep the incident from getting tangled up in politics — not only in the rancor between Tehran and the West over Iran's

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-33790540868571127682009-11-30T10:10:00.001-08:002009-11-30T10:10:15.649-08:00

Iraqi officials say fewer than 90 civilians were killed in violence in November in one of the lowest monthly death tolls since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. Figures compiled from various Iraqi ministries say a total of 88 Iraqi civilians were killed in violence last month. This compares with more than 300 killed in October, which included a major bombing in Baghdad. Violence from insurgent

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-56022779441175042212009-11-30T10:08:00.000-08:002009-11-30T10:08:27.930-08:00

One of the main rites at Islam's annual hajj centers on the bravery and determination of a woman. According to Muslim tradition, Hagar, the consort of the patriarch Abraham, ran between two hills searching for water for her dying young son after they were abandoned in the desert here. Then God brought forth a spring that still runs to this day. Every year, pilgrims at hajj re-enact her desperate

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-41865882931947836392009-11-30T10:04:00.001-08:002009-11-30T10:04:51.931-08:00

Senior Hamas officials said Monday that the Islamic militant group is still sparring with Israel over the names of 50 prisoners it wants released in exchange for a captive Israeli soldier, signaling there were still significant gaps before completing the anticipated deal. Last week, Israeli and Hamas officials spoke of progress, raising speculation that an agreement could be wrapped up within

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-38129872450219220462009-11-26T11:33:00.000-08:002009-11-26T11:33:27.924-08:00

Iranian authorities have confiscated Nobel Peace laureate Shirin Ebadi's medal, her lawyer and Norway's government said Thursday, in a sign of the increasingly drastic steps they are taking against any dissent. In Norway, where the peace prize is awarded, the government said the confiscation was a shocking first in the history of the 108-year-old prize. Ebadi, a human rights lawyer, won the

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-87716902123597308902009-11-23T08:55:00.000-08:002009-11-23T08:55:04.841-08:00

Israel and Hamas are close to a deal to swap 1,000 Palestinian prisoners for an Israeli soldier held for more than three years by the Islamic militant group, a Palestinian familiar with the talks said Monday. Israeli President Shimon Peres, who met with Egypt's president in Cairo Sunday, confirmed progress in the negotiations to free captured soldier Sgt. Gilad Schalit, but Israeli officials

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-80182789383203669682009-11-23T08:54:00.002-08:002009-11-23T08:54:29.880-08:00

Iranians authorities say they are banning the country's largest-circulation newspaper for publishing a photo of a Baha'i temple. The Shiite cleric-led regime views the Baha'i religion as heretical and has banned it since the 1979 revolution. The official IRNA news agency says the daily Hamshahri has been ordered closed for publishing a photo of a Baha'i temple that encourages tourists to visit

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5028082752101032113.post-47242527935459364262009-11-23T08:54:00.000-08:002009-11-23T08:54:00.325-08:00

Iraq's parliament on Monday amended the country's vetoed election law with a new version that doesn't address the concerns of the country's aggrieved Sunnis, prompting predictions of further vetoes and delayed elections. The dispute highlights the ethnic and sectarian divisions in Iraq, which, while more secure than in past years of war, has yet to attain the political reconciliation vital to

RKLnoreply@blogger.com0