U.S. may boost Syria rebels if Assad wont talk peace

Reuters - Wednesday 22nd May, 2013

1 of 5. Soldiers open a road that was blocked by supporters of Sunni Muslim Salafist leader Ahmad al-Assir during the funeral of Saleh Ahmed Sabagh, a Hezbollah member, in the port-city of Sidon, southern Lebanon May 22, ...

Israel Snipes warned to keep budgets lean | Video

Sun-Sentinel - Wednesday 22nd May, 2013

The budget outlook is brighter, but it's not time for a taxpayer-funded spending spree, county commissioners told the sheriff and other top county leaders Tuesday. Property tax money has started flowing back in, thanks to rising property values. But county commissioners said they still want to run the kind of lean government they pared down to during the Great Recession. And they said ...

Lebanon Spillover of violence from Syria

Euro News - Wednesday 22nd May, 2013

18/12/2012 04:06 CET Anti-government fighters in Syria are continuing to clash with the army in the border town of Al Qusair. It is some of the fiercest fighting seen in months in the country’s two year old civil war, which is now said to have cost over 80,000 lives. Government air strikes and shelling have rocked the town as the two sides battle it out for control. Syrian TV claimed ...

Blow for reformists as Rafsanjani and Mashaei are barred from Iran election

Euro News - Wednesday 22nd May, 2013

11/05/2013 17:35 CET Two important figures in Iranian politics including the former president, Akbar Hachemi Rafsanjani, have been barred from running in next month’s presidential election. In a blow to potential reformists, the list of eight cleared to stand by the electoral watchdog contains only candidates who are considered hardline conservatives. Also excluded by the Guardian ...

Israeli air force chief says military needs to be ready for surprise war from Syria

Canada.com - Wednesday 22nd May, 2013

JERUSALEM - Israel's air force chief warned Wednesday that tensions with Syria could escalate into a "surprise war" and that Israel need to be ready. The remarks by Maj. Gen. Amir Eshel Wednesday echoed statements by Israel's military chief of staff a day earlier. "A surprise war could take shape today in many configurations," Eshel said at a strategy conference ...

Syria to decide soon on peace talk participation minister

Baltimore Sun - Wednesday 22nd May, 2013

Bashar al-Assad 's government would decide soon whether to take part in peace talks with the opposition, Russian news agency Itar-Tass reported. Asked whether the Syrian government had committed to a Russian-U.S. effort to hold a peace conference, Mekdad told Itar-TASS: "We are still discussing this question." "A final decision will be taken after our return to ...

Bahrain hosts of US Navy fleet claims Iranian drone recovered

Canada.com - Wednesday 22nd May, 2013

MANAMA, Bahrain - Bahrain's Interior Ministry says an Iranian drone has been found in the strategic Gulf kingdom that hosts the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet. The statement Wednesday gave no other details. Bahrain has repeatedly accused Shiite Iran of encouraging the more than 2-year-long uprising in Bahrain by its majority Shiites. Iran denies it has any direct role. Iran has recently ...

Canada warns of risk of Iraq returning to civil war

Middle East Online - Wednesday 22nd May, 2013

OTTAWA - A spate of deadly violence risks plunging Iraq into a sectarian civil war, Canada's top diplomat warned Tuesday, adding that a Canadian was among the latest ...

EU approves civilian mission to help Libya tighten border security

Middle East Online - Wednesday 22nd May, 2013

"EUBAM Libya is an important mission for Libya and the entire region but also for the security of EU borders," EU foreign affairs head Catherine Ashton ...

Iraq may meet about 50 increase in world oil exports through 2030 Nahyan

WAM - Wednesday 22nd May, 2013

WAM Abu Dhabi, 22nd May 2013 (WAM) - Given Iraq's huge oil and gas reserves and rapid development of upstream and downstream sectors, the UAE Minister of Culture, Youth and Social Development, Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, expected Iraq to meet about 50% increase in oil exports in the world from today through 2030. Delivering the keynote address to Abu Dhabi to a key conference ...

Sinai Bedouin complain they suffer since Israel left Sinai

IMRA - Wednesday 22nd May, 2013

" The Bedouin have already paid a heavy price for the return of the land [the Sinai Peninsula] in the October 1973 War." Sinai residents blame interior ministry policies for Thursday kidnapping Residents of Sinai Peninsula tell Ahram Online that Thursday kidnapping of seven Egyptian security personnel came as 'Bedouin retaliation' for heavy-handed security practices by ...

Rivals banned in run up to Irans election

New Zealand Herald - Wednesday 22nd May, 2013

Two key challengers in the race to succeed Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as President of Iran have been banned from taking part in next month's elections. In a move consolidating the grip of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's electoral watchdog blocked candidacies by both Hashemi Rafsanjani, a former President, and Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, a presidential adviser. Although both were drawn from ...

House committee passes Iran sanctions legislation

Sign on San Diego - Wednesday 22nd May, 2013

The House Foreign Affairs Committee approved legislation Wednesday that would impose even tougher economic sanctions against Tehran. The bill seeks to further curb Iran's oil exports, limit Tehran's access to overseas foreign currency reserves, and expand the list of blacklisted Iranian ...

Iraq’s Al Maliki continues to insist bogus device detects IEDs

World Tribune - Wednesday 22nd May, 2013

Special to WorldTribune.com BAGHDAD -- Iraq, in wake of a British court ruling, still insists that the thousands of British-origin fake bomb detectors remain effective. The government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki continues to claim that the ADE-651 hand-held device can actually detect bombs. The claims have come from Al Maliki as well as senior ministers in his Cabinet amid the ...

What Will Arrested Development Be Without the Iraq War

U.S. News & World Report - Wednesday 22nd May, 2013

Within its many layers of jokes, meta-jokes, cultural references and series-long gags that made "Arrested Development" the beloved and recently resuscitated show it is today, the Iraq War provided a great deal of material for the ...

Iran pushes ahead with new nuclear plant that worries West

West Australian - Wednesday 22nd May, 2013

By Fredrik DahlVIENNA (Reuters) - Iran is pressing ahead with the construction of a research reactor that Western experts say could offer it a second way of producing material for a nuclear bomb if it decides to make one, a U.N. report showed on Wednesday.Iran has transported the reactor vessel to the heavy water plant near the central town of Arak but has not yet installed it, the International ...

Noble Energy Hits Nat Gas Pay Offshore Israel

Rigzone - Wednesday 22nd May, 2013

Noble Energy, Inc. announced Wednesday a natural gas discovery at the Karish prospect offshore Israel. The discovery well was drilled to a total depth of 15,783 feet and encountered 184 feet of net natural gas pay in high-quality lower Miocene sands. The Karish well, located in the Alon C license approximately 20 miles northeast of the Tamar field, is in 5,700 feet of water. Discovered gross ...

Friends of Syrian Opposition Meet in Jordan

Prensa Latina - Wednesday 22nd May, 2013

Amman, May 22 (Prensa Latina) Delegates from 11 countries supporting irregular armed groups in Syria began a meeting today in this capital, to discuss the current context and adopt decisions on the beginning of talks with the government of the Arab country. Diplomats from the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Jordan, Turkey, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia are attending the ...

Iran bars 2 leading candidates from presidential vote

MSNBC - Wednesday 22nd May, 2013

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (L) and presidential candidate Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei (R) flash the victory sign as Mashaie registers his candidacy at the Interior Ministry during the registration for Iran's upcoming presidential election on 14 June, in Tehran, Iran, on May ...

Iran upping nuclear capacity but below Israeli red line

Jerusalem Post - Wednesday 22nd May, 2013

VIENNA - Iran has increased its capacity to refine uranium by installing hundreds more centrifuges, a UN nuclear agency report said on Wednesday, underlining Tehran's defiance of Western demands to curb the activity.But, in a development that could help buy time for diplomacy between Iran and world powers, the report showed limited growth of Iran's most sensitive nuclear stockpile and ...

Assad’s departure urged as Friends of Syria meet

Inquirer - Wednesday 22nd May, 2013

Syrian President Bashar Assad. AP FILE PHOTO AMMAN -- Britain and Qatar urged President Bashar al-Assad to step down, as major world powers gathered on Wednesday to seek ways toward a peaceful end to Syria’s conflict. And the United States urged Assad to make a ';commitment to find peace'; in a country whose conflict has killed more than 94,000 people and threatens to spill ...

The Optimist’s Case for Yemen - By Jeff Gedmin

Foreign Policy - Wednesday 22nd May, 2013

Where is the decision on Afghanistan? Amid comeback, Petraeus at center of Benghazi; Sexual assault prevention workers to get furlough reprieve; Whose fault is sexual assault? No pics of bin Laden; and a little bit more. - by Gordon ...