Gaza reconstruction to cost $7.8 billion
GAZA — Rebuilding Gaza will cost $7.8 billion, the Palestinian Authority said on Thursday, Sept. 4, in the most comprehensive assessment yet of damage from the seven-week Israeli assault during which whole neighborhoods and vital infrastructure were flattened.The cost of rebuilding 17,000 Gazan homes razed by Israeli bombings would...Israel sentences former MP to jail for visiting Syria
Israel sentenced a former member of parliament to 18 months in prison on Thursday, Sept. 4, for traveling to Syria and making contact with a "foreign agent," the justice ministry said.Said Naffa travelled in 2007 to Syria, with which Israel is technically still at war, as part of a delegation of 300 Druze religious leaders, the charge...Saudi court jails 24 for “terrorism”
RIYADH — A Saudi court on Wednesday, Sept. 3, sentenced 22 Saudi citizens, an American and a Yemeni to jail terms of between two and 27 years on terrorism charges, according to the official news agency SPA.The court said charges ranged from "the establishment of a terrorist cell planning to targeting oil pipelines", having...Jordan to sign $15 Bil deal with Israel
AMMAN — Israel will sign a deal to supply natural gas from its Leviathan field to Jordan for 15 years, Israeli Energy Minister Silvan Shalom said on Wednesday, Sept. 3.Shalom said the agreement comes after many meetings with Jordanian officials but gave no other details.An industry official who asked not to be identified said the deal...Saudi Arabia beheads three for murder
RIYADH — Saudi authorities beheaded three citizens, on Wednesday, Aug. 27, after they were convicted of murder in separate cases, the Interior Ministry announced, bringing the number of executions in the kingdom to 41 this year.Nawaf al-Mutairi was executed in the western city of Medina for the machine-gun killing of fellow Saudi Adel...Libya’s old parliament elects new prime minister as chaos spreads
Smoke is seen rising from the Brigade Qaqaa headquarters. TRIPOLI — The Libyan parliament that was replaced in an election in June reconvened on Monday and chose an Islamist-backed deputy as the new prime minister, leaving the chaotic country with two rival leaders and assemblies, each backed by armed factions.As political unrest...Two Americans die fighting for “Islamic State” in Syria
Douglas McAuthur McCain.DAMASCUS — On Wednesday, a day after news broke that Douglas McAuthur McCain, a 33-year-old man reared in Minnesota, died fighting for the "Islamic State," a coalition of Syrian opposition groups announced that its forces had killed another American in battle.The second American was identified Abdirahmaan...Egypt queries Morsi over documents “leaked” to Al Jazeera
Ousted Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi is seen behind bars during his trial at a court in Cairo May 8.CAIRO — Egypt is investigating jailed ex-president Mohamed Morsi in connection with documents that judicial investigators say were leaked to the Qatar-based Al Jazeera satellite news channel, security sources said on...Saudi Arabia, Iran hold “constructive” talks
RIYADH — Iran's deputy foreign minister said he held "positive and constructive" talks with Saudi Arabia's foreign minister on Tuesday, where Islamist militancy in Iraq was one of the topics discussed.Hossein Amir Abdollahian was in Jeddah for the first high-level bilateral talks between the two countries since Hassan Rouhani was...Clashes erupt between army and militants in east Lebanon
BEIRUT — Gunmen opened fire on a Lebanese army position at the border with Syria on Thursday near a town seized by "Islamic State" insurgents earlier this month, triggering an exchange of fire, a security source said.The fighting, which erupted before dawn, was still raging in late afternoon, with troops shelling the gunmen who had...
Lebanese Army Chief Jean Kahwaji: We defeated terror and changed the course of history
August 22nd, 20140 BEIRUT — The Lebanese town of Arsal was little-known to the outside world prior to the start of the civil war in Syria. But after thousands of Syrian refugees and militants linked to Syrian rebels flooded the town since the end of 2011, Arsal started making regional and international headlines. Two weeks ago, Arsal became the...Four beheaded corpses found in Egypt’s Sinai
CAIRO — Four beheaded corpses were found by residents of a town in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula on Wednesday, security sources said, blaming Islamist militants waging an insurgency against Cairo.The security sources in Sinai and Cairo, said residents of Sheikh Zuwaid found the bodies two days after the men were abducted by gunmen while...Kuwait nabs suspected Nusra Front financier
KUWAIT CITY — A Kuwaiti, Hajjaj bin Fahd al-Ajmi, considered a financier of Al-Nusra Front, a Syrian rebel group linked to al-Qaeda, was arrested Wednesday on his return from a visit to Qatar, activists said.They said on Twitter that Ajmi, 26, was arrested at Kuwait Airport.The UN Security Council last Friday placed Ajmi and five...Yemeni Houthis protest against fuel hike, government
SANAA — Tens of thousands of Yemenis converged on the capital Sanaa on Monday in a demonstration organized by the Shi'a Houthi movement, demanding the government rescind a decision to curb fuel subsidies and calling on the administration to resign.The three-hour demonstration was the latest move by the Houthis, whose fighters...
Islamic State beheads American photojournalist in Syria
August 22nd, 20140 James Foley, an American journalist who went missing in Syria more than a year ago, has been killed by the Islamic State, a militant group formerly known as ISIS.A YouTube video and photos purportedly of Foley emerged on Tuesday. The video -- entitled "A Message to #America (from the #IslamicState)" -- identified a man on his knees as......
Islamic State video shows conversion of Yazidis to Islam
Islamic State, a militant group that witnesses and officials say has executed hundreds of members of Iraq's Yazidis, has released a video that seeks to show it enlightened hundreds of members of the religious minority by converting them to Islam.The Yazidis, followers of an ancient religion derived from Zoroastrianism, who are part of...Israeli air strike kills three Hamas commanders in Gaza as talks collapse
GAZA — Israel killed three senior Hamas commanders in the Gaza Strip in an air strike on Thursday and said it would continue to target the group's armed leadership after a ceasefire failed.Hamas, which dominates Gaza, named the men as Mohammed Abu Shammala, Raed al-Attar and Mohammed Barhoum, the three highest-ranking casualties it has...Maliki steps down; pledges support to new prime minister Abadi
Haider al-Abadi.BAGHDAD — Nuri al-Maliki finally bowed to pressure within Iraq and beyond on Thursday and stepped down as prime minister, paving the way for a new coalition that world and regional powers hope can quash a Islamist insurgency that threatens Baghdad.Maliki ended eight years of often divisive rule and endorsed fellow...Libya’s parliament calls for U.N. aid to quell militia fighting
TRIPOLI — Libya's parliament on Wednesday voted to disband the country's militia brigades and called on the United Nations to protect civilians in an effort to end the worst fighting between armed factions since the 2011 fall of Muammar Gaddafi.Lawmakers appeared to be seeking to strip the groups of former rebel fighters of the......
Plot to kill former Yemeni president with bomb in tunnel foiled
SANAA — An aide to Yemen's former president Ali Abdullah Saleh said on Thursday his security team had uncovered a plot to kill him with explosives planted in a tunnel running to a mosque inside his residential compound in Sanaa.Yemen's authorities said they were investigating.Saleh, who stepped down in 2012 amid mass protests against...Lebanon charges 43 Syrians with belonging to terrorist groups
GAZA — A new, five-day truce between Israel and Hamas appeared to be holding on Thursday despite a shaky start, after both sides agreed to give Egyptian-brokered peace negotiations in Cairo more time to try to end the Gaza war.The Israeli military said Gaza militants had breached the truce by firing eight rockets at Israel shortly......
Syrian army recaptures major town in Damascus countryside, encircles Aleppo
DAMASCUS — Syrian government forces backed by Lebanon's Hizbullah took control of a town just outside Damascus from Islamist fighters on Thursday, a blow to the rebels who had held it for more than a year.Syrian state television broadcast showed government soldiers in the streets of Mleiha, which lies on the edge of the eastern...
Lebanese Speaker of the Parliament Nabih Berri: I’d rather deal with Hariri .. not his deputies
August 15th, 20140 Berry.BEIRUT — Lebanese Speaker of the Parliament Nabih Berri is known for his skills in finding solutions and settlements during tough political times, which made his post a focal point in Lebanese politics.Berri keeps the communication lines open with his opponents without compromising his convictions, creating a balance between his......
