Netanyahu gambles by challenging Obama in Congress
Boehner is inviting Netanyahu back just four years after his last address to Congress.I know what America is," Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Israeli settlers in 2002 in a hot-mic moment captured on video by Israel’s Channel 10. “America is a thing you can move very easily, move it in the right...
Saudi King Abdullah dies, his brother Salman succeeds him
January 23rd, 20150 RIYADH — Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah died early on Friday and his brother Salman became king, the royal court in the world's top oil exporter and birthplace of Islam said in a statement carried by state television. King Salman has named his half-brother Muqrin as his crown prince and heir. "His Highness Salman bin Abdulaziz Al...Tunisian blogger jailed for “defaming the military”
Tunisian protestors shout slogans in front of the military tribunal in Tunis on January 20.TUNIS — A Tunisian military court sentenced blogger Yassine Ayari to a year in prison Tuesday for defaming the military, in a case that has been criticized by human rights groups. The 33-year-old was arrested on Dec. 25 on his return from...Bahraini activist sentenced to six months over a tweet
Nabeel Rajab, president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, pauses during a conference at the Swiss Press Club in Geneva June 18, 2014.MANAMA — Prominent Bahraini activist Nabeel Rajab was sentenced to six months in prison for a tweet posted last year, which was considered insulting to the Gulf Kingdom’s Ministries of Interior...
Egyptian court frees Mubarak’s sons
January 23rd, 20150 Gamal Mubarak, son of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, reacts inside a cage in a courtroom at the police academy in Cairo May 21, 2014.CAIRO — An Egyptian court ordered the release of the sons of ousted president Hosni Mubarak on Thursday pending a retrial, their lawyer said, as rare protests erupted days before the...Saudi prince: U.S. should stop Syria, not ISIS
DAVOS — U.S. policymakers should concentrate on eliminating the threat posed by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad instead of "Islamic State" militants in Iraq and Syria, according to an influential member of the Saudi Arabian royal family. Prince Turki bin Faisal Al Saud told CNBC at the World Economic Forum in Davos that the reason...Iraqi PM warns low oil prices could hurt fight against terror
LONDON — Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Thursday he feared lower revenues from falling global oil prices could hurt his country's military campaign against "Islamic State." Speaking after attending a meeting of members of the U.S.-led coalition against "Islamic State" in London, Abadi said allies could help by potentially...Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi resigns
SANAA — Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi resigned on Thursday, a government source said.Just before, Prime Minister Khaled Baha offered his government's resignation to Hadi, saying it did not want to be dragged into "an unconstructive political maze".This was an apparent reference to a stand-off between Hadi and...Lebanese army thwarts series of terrorist plots
A bombing targeted a cafe in a predominantly Alawite neighbourhood in Lebanon's second city, Jan 10.BEIRUT — The Lebanese army foiled a series terror plots Thursday, announcing the arrest of a cell planning a number of suicide attacks in the country and dismantling a car packed with explosives in northeastern Lebanon. Interior...Iraq asks for greater U.S. support in fighting extremists
Iraqi fighters prepare to fire a weapon during fighting with IS militants at Al-Nibai, north of Baghdad Jan. 12.BAGHDAD — Iraq told President Obama's envoy that the U.S.-led coalition battling "Islamic State" needs to do more to help Iraq defeat the jihadists controlling large areas of the north and west of the country. Parliament...Egypt’s high court overturns last conviction against Mubarak
Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak waves to his supporters inside a cage in a courtroom at the police academy in Cairo April 13, 2013.CAIRO — Egypt's high court on Tuesday overturned the only remaining conviction against former president Hosni Mubarak, opening the way for his possible release four years after the revolution that...
Nasrallah threatens Israel over Syria Strikes
January 16th, 20150 Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah.BEIRUT — Lebanon's Hezbollah leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, said on Thursday that Israeli strikes inside Syria were also an aggression against Syria's regional allies, and they have the right to retaliate. "The frequent attacks on different sites in Syria is a major breach," Nasrallah told...How did Yemen become the perfect home to al-Qaeda training camps?
SANAA — Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula on Wednesday claimed responsibility for the Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris last week. Nasr al-Ansi, a top commander with the group, made the claim in a video on its Twitter account. According to Yemeni intelligence, both Cherif Kouachi and Said Kouachi, the two brothers who carried out the...Kuwaiti MP jailed for criticizing Sisi
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi (L), speaks with the Emir of Kuwait, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah during a meeting on Jan. 5.KUWAIT CITY — Authorities in Kuwait detained a former liberal opposition lawmaker for allegedly insulting the Gulf state's ruler and criticizing a visit by the Egyptian president, his lawyer said on...“Islamic State” militants execute two Tunisian reporters in Libya
Executed journalist Sofiene Chourabi at his office in Tunis, September, 2012.TUNIS — The Libyan branch of the "Islamic State" jihadist group on Thursday claimed to have killed two Tunisian journalists who went missing in September. In a statement released on jihadist websites showing pictures of Sofiene Chourabi and Nadhir Ktari, IS......
Saudi Arabia to publicly flog liberal activist
Leafletss promoting the release of Saudi activist Raif Badawi.RIYDH — A liberal activist sentenced to prison and flogging in Saudi Arabia will face a first round of lashes on Friday, rights watchdog Amnesty International said on Thursday. Raif Badawi, who set up the "Free Saudi Liberals" website, was arrested in June 2012 and charged...Yemeni police arrest six suspects in police college bombing
People look at the wreckage of a car at the scene of a car bomb attack outside the police college in Sanaa Jan. 7.SANAA — Police in Yemen arrested six people suspected of involvement in Wednesday's bombing of a police college in Sanaa, the capital's police chief told Yemeni television on Thursday. The car bomb, which exploded in the...Winter storm threaten refugees in the Middle East
Syrian refugee children look out of their tent at a refugee camp in Zahle, in the Bekaa valley, Lebanon.BEIRUT — A storm buffeted the Middle East with blizzards, rain and strong winds on Wednesday, keeping people at home across much of the region and raising concerns for Syrian refugees facing freezing temperatures in flimsy...Palestinian “Santas” protest in Bethlehem
Palestinian protesters wearing Santa Claus costumes scuffle with Israeli soldiers during clashes at Bethlehem checkpoint, West Bank.BETHLEHEM, West Bank — Palestinian protesters festively dressed as Santa Claus marched Tuesday in Bethlehem, a day before the beginning of Christmas celebrations in the West Bank city revered as the......
“Islamic State” captures Jordanian pilot in Syria
"Islamic State" extremists with the Jordanian pilot, in Raqqa, Syria, Dec. 24.AMMAN — "Islamic State" militants took a Jordanian pilot prisoner after his warplane came down in northeast Syria on Wednesday, the first captive taken from the U.S.-led coalition battling the jihadi group. Jordan's armed forces said one of its pilots had...Qatar and Egypt discuss reconciliation
CAIRO — Egyptian and Qatari intelligence officials have met in Cairo to discuss reconciliation as part of Saudi-brokered efforts to end an 18-month standoff over Doha's support of the Muslim Brotherhood, security and diplomatic sources said. The sources said Qatar's intelligence chief — Ahmed Nasser Bin Jassim al-Thani — was......
Egyptian satirist Bassem Youssef fined $6.5 million
CAIRO — A prominent Egyptian satirist has been fined millions of dollars over a dispute with a television channel which suspended his show after it lampooned military leaders, officials said Tuesday. Bassem Youssef, often compared to U.S. satirist Jon Stewart, moved al-Bernameg (The Program) to Saudi-owned channel MBC last year after...Veteran secularist Essebsi wins Tunisia’s first free presidential vote
TUNIS — Veteran Tunisian politician Beji Caid Essebsi won the country's first free presidential election in the final step of a transition to democracy after an uprising that ousted autocrat Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali in 2011. Essebsi, a former Ben Ali official, beat rival Moncef Marzouki with 55.68 percent of the vote against 44.32......