U.N. urges Israel to stop settler attacks on Palestinian civilians
Tuesday, 11 October 2011
The U.N. human rights office called Tuesday for Israel to stop Jewish settlers from attacking Palestinian civilians in the West Bank, accusing the army of failing to restrain settlers while being quick to use force against Palestinians. Israeli diplomats expressed surprise at the statement, saying it was ... Read More
Three U.N. peacekeepers killed in Darfur ambush
Tuesday, 11 October 2011
Attackers killed three U.N. peacekeepers in an ambush at a refugee camp in Sudan’s Darfur conflict zone, the United Nations said Tuesday. Six peacekeepers were wounded, three seriously, in the attack Monday night at the Zam Zam camp near the Darfur city of El Fasher, the U.N. mission in Darfur (UNAMID) said in ... Read More
Tunisian TV station apologizes for airing God in broadcast
Tuesday, 11 October 2011
The head of a private Tunisian TV channel apologized Tuesday for airing part of a film judged blasphemous by Muslims, after Islamists launched an attack on the network’s offices in protest. “I apologize,” Nessma TV president Nebil Karoui said on Monastir radio about Friday’s broadcast of “Persepolis”, a ... Read More
Egypt’s largest political bloc recognizes Syria’s opposition council
Tuesday, 11 October 2011
The Democratic Coalition for Egypt, made up of about 40 political parties, including the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party, the Wafd Party, and the Salafist al-Nour Party, recognized the recently formed Syrian opposition National Unity Council as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people. The ... Read More
Iran, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait to meet to discuss disputed sea border
Tuesday, 11 October 2011
A tripartite meeting between Gulf neighbors Iran, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait will be held to resolve a decades-old dispute over maritime borders, the Kuwaiti foreign minister said Tuesday. “It’s basically a technical issue but it will need a political decision from Iran, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait,” Sheikh Mohammad ... Read More
Egypt’s deputy prime minister resigns after deadly clashes in Cairo
Tuesday, 11 October 2011
Egyptian Deputy Prime Minister Hazem al-Beblawi, who is also the country’s finance minister, resigned on Tuesday following deadly clashes in the capital that left 25 people dead, the official MENA news agency reported. Beblawi – one of two deputy prime ministers who also has the finance portfolio – said he tendered his ... Read More
Iran’s top court ready to examine appeal of pastor who converted from Islam
Tuesday, 11 October 2011
Iran’s supreme court said Tuesday it would again examine any appeal by an Iranian pastor who is currently awaiting a verdict in his retrial for apostasy ─ a crime which could be punished with a death sentence. “If there is an appeal and the case is returned to the supreme court, the case will be reviewed,” it ... Read More
Yemeni protesters call for trial of President Saleh ahead of U.N. vote
Tuesday, 11 October 2011
Thousands of Yemenis on Tuesday rallied in the capital Sanaa, demanding the United Nations to take President Saleh to the International Criminal Court as Western allies prepare a U.N. Security Council resolution on Yemen. Britain has been drafting a resolution on Yemen in consultation with France and the United States and ... Read More
Iranian president criticizes student’s flogging
Tuesday, 11 October 2011
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad spoke out Tuesday against the weekend flogging of a student convicted of insulting him, saying other, more powerful people criticized him with impunity, the presidency website said. “Since influential people can freely defame us, I disapprove of flogging a young man for ... Read More
Syria must move faster to implement reforms: China
Tuesday, 11 October 2011
China urged Syria on Tuesday to move faster to implement reforms, a week after Beijing infuriated the West by blocking a U.N. resolution against President Bashar al-Assad’s deadly crackdown on protests. It is the first time that China has veered away from its longstanding policy of non-interference in the ... Read More
After crisis talks, Egypt probes deadly sectarian clashes as first victims buried
Tuesday, 11 October 2011
Egypt’s military rulers ordered a speedy probe into clashes that killed 36 people, mostly Coptic Christians, as the cabinet held crisis talks and thousands attended the funerals of 17 victims. The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) “tasked the government with quickly forming a fact finding committee to ... Read More
Israeli prime minister accepts EU invitation to meet Palestinians
Tuesday, 11 October 2011
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday accepted a European Union invitation to meet Palestinian leaders in an effort to restart peace talks, his office said in a statement. Netanyahu told EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton in a telephone conversation that he “is happy to meet (Palestinian President) ... Read More
Syrian technocrats create alliance to establish framework for post-Assad era
Tuesday, 11 October 2011
A group of Syrians opposed to President Bashar al-Assad have created an alliance of technocrats to help fill a void of expertise within the opposition and lay out a roadmap for Syria once its current leadership falls, a founder said on Monday. Set up by U.S.-based doctor and activist Ayham Haddad and the owner of Orient TV ... Read More
EU targets three Iranian government ministers in new set of sanctions
Monday, 10 October 2011
Three Iranian government ministers are on a list of 29 people targeted by new European Union sanctions, diplomatic sources told AFP on Monday. The present ministers for intelligence (secret services), justice and culture are joined by a former interior minister as well as regional governors, prosecutors and prison directors, ... Read More
Obama urges restraint as Egypt’s Christians vent fury at army after clash
Monday, 10 October 2011
U.S. President Barack Obama is “deeply concerned” about violence in Egypt, the White House said Monday, calling for minority Copts to be protected and stressing the need for timely elections. White House spokesman Jay Carney issued a statement after clashes in Cairo killed 25 people, mostly Coptic Christians ... Read More
Egypt’s Copts: the Middle East’s main Christian community
Monday, 10 October 2011
Egypt’s Copts, at the center of clashes which left 24 people dead on Sunday in Cairo, are the largest Christian minority community in the Middle East, and one of the oldest. The Copts are generally estimated at between six and 10 percent of Egypt’s population of 80 million. The Coptic Church itself claims it ... Read More
Suicide bombers in U.S., UK and France ready to strike if Syria attacked: Grand mufti
Monday, 10 October 2011
Syria’s grand mufti, Shiekh Ahmad Badreddin Hassoun, in a video posted on YouTube, said suicide bombers were present in the United States, France and Britain and are ready to strike if Western powers launch a military strike on his country. “I say this to all of Europe, and I say this to America: We will prepare suicide ... Read More
17 NTC fighters killed in Libyan city of Bani Walid
Monday, 10 October 2011
Seventeen fighters of Libya’s new regime were killed and 50 wounded in clashes with Muammar Qaddafi loyalists in the desert town of Bani Walid, a military official in Tripoli said on Monday. “We lost 17 fighters in fierce clashes on Sunday and our forces have withdrawn from the airport where they had taken ... Read More
EU ministers say Egypt must protect minorities
Monday, 10 October 2011
European Union ministers expressed alarm on Monday about the deaths of at least 25 people in clashes between military police and Christians in Egypt and said the authorities had a duty to protect religious minorities. The violence, some of the worst in Egypt since an uprising toppled Hosni Mubarak in February, occurred on ... Read More
Palestinians to push heritage status at UNESCO for birthplace of Jesus
Monday, 10 October 2011
The Palestinians will seek World Heritage status for the birthplace of Jesus once the U.N. cultural agency admits them as a full member, and will then nominate other sites on Israeli-occupied land for the same standing, an official said. Hamdan Taha, a Palestinian Authority minister who deals with antiquities and ... Read More