drone strike kills 15 civilians in Yemen by mistake
SANAA - Fifteen people on their way to a wedding in Yemen were killed in an air strike after their party was mistaken for an al Qaeda convoy, local security officials said on Thursday, Dec. 12. The officials did not identify the plane in the strike in central al-Bayda province, but tribal and local media sources said that it was a...Uproar in Egyptian court halts Islamist leaders’ trial
wCAIRO - An Egyptian judge halted the trial of leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood on Wednesday, Dec. 10, after they shouted slogans and refused to cooperate with the court.Judge Mustafa Salama said the case of the Brotherhood's General Guide Mohamed Badie and fellow defendants, who are charged with inciting the killing of protesters,...Winter storm adds misery to Syrian refugees in Lebanon
SYRIA — Thousands of Syrian refugees living in makeshift camps in Lebanon were weathering a winter storm that brought snow, rain and freezing temperatures to the country.In northern Arsal, just across the border from Syria, layers of snow sat atop flimsy shelters housing tens of thousands of recently arrived refugees.The UN refugee...
Apartheid died on the sharp edge of principles
December 13th, 20130 Nelson Mandela’s death has produced both an outpouring of international solidarity, remembrance, and celebration commemorating Madiba’s leadership in defeating apartheid in South Africa. It has also generated a wave of historical revision and mythmaking—the sort of thing we’ve come to expect when radicals become icons. Mainstream...Jail without charge for African migrants in Israel
TEL AVIV - Israel’s parliament has passed a law allowing illegal immigrants from Africa to be held without charge for up to a year, despite the Israeli Supreme Court overturning a similar law in September.The new bill, which is backed by the Israeli government, amends earlier legislation from 2012, whereby illegal immigrants...
Iran, Saudi Arabia among 30 countries to attend Geneva II
December 13th, 20130 GENEVA - Iran and Saudi Arabia, which back opposite sides in Syria's war, are among more than 30 countries slated to attend a peace conference next month, diplomats said.The Geneva 2 conference, a follow-up to a 2012 meeting, is aimed at mapping out a political transition to end nearly three years of fighting that has killed more than...Saudi Grand Mufti to suicide bombers: You will go to hell
RIYADH - Saudi Arabia's grand mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah al-Sheikh branded suicide bombers as "criminals" who will go to "hell," Al-Hayat daily reported Thursday, Dec. 12.Suicide bombings are "great crimes" and bombers are "criminals who rush themselves to hell by their actions," Sheikh said during a lecture in Riyadh a few...Romania bars citizens from working in Israeli settlements
Bucharest - A diplomatic spat has erupted between Israel and Romania after Bucharest reportedly refused to allow Romanian construction workers to be employed in Israel's illegal West Bank settlements, Israel's military radio said on Tuesday, Dec. 10.The row comes in the wake of tensions between Israel and the European Union over new...Deceiving the U.S. Public on Syria
Investigative reporter Seymour Hersh has confirmed that President Barack Obama misled the American people over the Aug. 21 Syrian chemical attack by cherry-picking evidence about the Syrian government’s presumed guilt and excluding suspicions about the rebels’ capability to produce their own sarin gas.Hersh also reported that he...Nasrallah blames Saudis for Iran embassy bombings
BEIRUT — Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Tuesday, Dec. 3, blamed Saudi Arabia for a twin suicide attack on the Iranian embassy in Beirut that killed 25 people last month.The Abdullah Azzam Brigades, an Al-Qaeda affiliate that claimed responsibility for the attacks, "has an emir and he is Saudi, and I am convinced that it is...Egyptian activists to stand trial over breach of new protest law
CAIRO — Egypt ordered on Thursday, Dec. 12, three prominent political activists to stand trial on protest-related charges, judicial officials said, in another sign of growing intolerance of dissent.One of them, leading dissident Ahmed Maher, was charged with protesting without permission, marking the first time anyone had been ordered...Kuwaiti court upholds law restricting freedom of speech
KUWAIT CITY — Kuwait's top court on Monday, Dec. 2, upheld as constitutional a disputed law under which people who "offend" the emir can be jailed for up to five years. The constitutional court rejected challenges by lawyers defending activists to demand the penal code provision be abolished for allegedly suppressing freedom of speech...String of execution-style killings raises fears in Iraq
BAGHDAD — In the past week, Iraqi police have found the bodies of at least 41 men who were either shot in the head or decapitated in a wave of killings in Baghdad and northern Iraq.The spate of execution-style killings in Iraq has rekindled memories of attacks carried out at the height of the country's sectarian bloodshed and raised...Saudi women launch new drive to get behind wheel
RIYADH — Saudi women activists have re-launched a campaign for the right to drive in the ultra-conservative kingdom, urging women to get behind the wheel on Dec. 28.The call for action is a "reminder of the right so it is not forgotten," activist Nasima al-Sada said, adding that women nationwide are being urged to drive on the chosen...Tunisian rapper sentenced to four months in jail for insulting police
TUNIS — A Tunisian rapper who went on the run after receiving a 21-month jail sentence in absentia in August for songs deemed insulting to police was jailed for four months at a retrial Thursday, Dec. 5.Weld El 15, whose real name is Alaa Yacoubi, had surrendered to the authorities at the courthouse for the hearing. The court found......
Attack on Yemen’s Defense Ministry kills more than 50
SANAA — A car bomber and gunmen dressed in army uniforms attacked Yemen's Defense Ministry compound in the capital Sanaa on Thursday, Dec. 5, killing at least 52 people and injuring over 100, in the worst attacks in Yemen in 18 months.No one has claimed responsibility for the attack. But the country has been grappling with a security...
Gaza returns to donkey days
December 6th, 20130 GAZA CITY - The garbage trucks of Gaza city are at a standstill due to an ongoing fuel shortage affecting all aspects of daily life, including garbage collection, sewage and waste disposal and other vital services. But the local donkeys are here to help.Abu Hesham on his donkey cart won’t be able to clear all the streets of garbage. In...Lebanese burn down Syrian refugee camp
BEIRUT — Nasrallah blames Saudi for Iran embassy bombingsNasrallah blames Saudi for Iran embassy bombingsNasrallah blames Saudi for Iran embassy bombingsResidents of a village in eastern Lebanon forced hundreds of Syrian refugees from an informal campsite on Monday, Dec. 2, setting fire to tents after accusing them of raping a...Rebels abduct 12 Syrian nuns from Maaloula
DAMASCUS — Islamist fighters have abducted 12 nuns from the historic Christian town of Maaloula and moved them to a nearby town held by rebels. The leader of the Orthodox Church of Antioch has called on the international community to help save them.Vatican envoy to Syria, Mario Zenari, said on Tuesday, Dec. 3, that 12 nuns including......
Turkey loses popularity in Middle East
ISTANBUL — Turkey's popularity in the Middle East has dropped sharply over the past two years, an opinion poll showed Wednesday, Dec. 4, reflecting Ankara's sometimes controversial foreign policy strategy.The biggest decline was registered in Egypt and war-ravaged Syria, where Turkey is strongly opposed to those in power, according to...An embittered Riyadh may weigh nuclear option
UNITED NATIONS - Saudi Arabia’s unyielding opposition to last week’s interim nuclear agreement with Iran has triggered speculation about its own projection of military power in the Middle East.As the Wall Street Journal pointed out early this week, the Saudis may conclude that international acceptance of a nuclear program of any kind......
Beirut suicide bombers were followers of Assir
November 29th, 20130 BEIRUT — DNA tests revealed that the two suicide bombers behind the attack on the Iranian embassy in Beirut resided in South Lebanon and were followers of Salafi cleric Ahmad al-Assir.It was a sluggish weekend in Saida and its environs; the double suicide bombing of the Iranian embassy in Beirut resulted in a series of shocks for the...WHO: Syria polio cases spread to Damascus and Aleppo
BEIRUT — The World Health Organization said on Tuesday, Nov. 26, that additional polio cases had been confirmed in two new areas of Syria, including near Damascus and in the northern city of Aleppo near Turkey. UNICEF has joined the World Health Organization (WHO) and partners to launch a huge immunization campaign against polio in......