Latest Middle East News
RSS-
Syria’s rebels blame Putin for prolonged fight
Khalid Dayli, a 23-year old fighter with Syria's rebel forces, flicked through the channels on his television, ogling at the scantily clad female singers and dismissing the talents of a Saudi soccer team. But when he reached a news channel reporting on Russian President Vladimir Putin's efforts to end the Syrian civil war he sneered. "Without Russian support, we could have toppled ...
-
Oman Project Is A Step Toward The Ikea Of Solar
GlassPoint installation in Oman, with oil rigs in background (Credit: GlassPoint) In the desert of southern Oman, near the border with Yemen, 4 acres of glass houses catch the sun. They sit in the Amal West oilfield, operated by Petroleum Development Oman. But these glasshouses aren't growing tomatoes, or any other crop, rather they are making steam. When it comes to developing its oil ...
-
Third exchange of fire over Golan Heights in a week heightens concern at violence on Israel-Syria border
Israeli and Syrian troops exchanged fire across the Golan Heights today, the third time this week that the two sides have clashed across the disputed ...
More Middle East News
RSS-
Iran bars Rafsanjani Rahim Mashaei from June ballot Reports
Iranian news websites have boosted speculation that election overseers have barred two prominent but divisive figures from next month's presidential ballot.The hardline website Tasnimnews.com says the Guardian Council has rejected former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, a close confidant of outgoing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The semiofficial Mehr news ...
-
Taste of Iran Lari kebab recipe
The Leaning Tower of Pisa is lit against the night sky, the square empty save for a couple walking hand in hand and a man with a dog by his side. In a top-floor apartment a few blocks away, Peyman Majidzadeh is putting the finishing touches on his favorite dish, Lari kebab, made on the stove instead of the grill and with chicken instead of lamb. It might be a stretch to call it Lari kebab, but ...
-
Iran cracks down on activists in runup to election
Iran has launched a public crackdown on dissent before next month's presidential election, executing two men charged with espionage and waging war against God, arresting a group of activists and summoning campaigners for questioning. Political prisoners in some of the country's most notorious jails have had their parole or visiting rights withdrawn and some transferred to solitary ...
-
Irans prisoners of conscience – an interactive guide
As Iran gears up for a presidential election in June, the conditions in which prisoners of conscience are held in some of the country's most notorious prisons have worsened. Below are some of the activists, students, journalists, women's rights campaigners, lawyers, artists, former politicians and members of Iran's religious and ethnic minorities who have been jailed or convicted ...
-
Iran reportedly bars 2 top figures from presidential ballot
FILE -- In this Saturday, May 11, 2013 file photo, former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, 78, waves to media, as he registers his candidacy for the upcoming presidential election, at the election headquarters of the interior ministry in Tehran, Iran. Iran's election overseers say they will bar physically weak hopefuls from running in next month presidential election, a direct ...
-
Iran acts to expand sensitive nuclear capacity diplomats
VIENNA (Reuters) - A U.N. nuclear agency report due this week is expected to show Iran further increasing its capacity to produce material that its adversaries fear could eventually be put to developing atomic bombs, Western diplomats said on ...
-
Iraq bleeding from north to south
22/01/2013 17:34 CET At least six people have been killed in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, after three car bombs exploded near a market on Tuesday May 21. A local resident said: ';They didn’t distinguish between Arab, Kurd and Turkmen in the market. But this is the destiny of the Iraqi people – no more bloody Tuesday or bloody Wednesday because Iraq is bleeding from ...
-
Syria activists 31 Hezbollah fighters killed in Qusair
BEIRUT Three members of Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group died of wounds sustained while fighting for control of a strategic Syrian town near the Lebanese border, activists said Tuesday, as the battle in the area raged for its third straight day. According to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the deaths brought the total number of Hezbollah fighters killed since Sunday ...
-
Qatar should consider more flexible exchange rate
Qatar and other Gulf states should consider moving to a more flexible exchange rate from long-entrenched pegs to the US dollar, to better manage inflation risk in the next decade, a senior Qatar central bank official said on ...
-
Israel Appears to Have More Natural Gas
Operators of two large Israeli natural gas fields said that another offshore field under exploration shows promise. The Karish field, off Israel's northern coast, contains "significant signs of natural gas," according to a statement from Delek Group Ltd., whose subsidiaries also control the large Tamar and Leviathan fields along with U.S.-based Noble Energy Inc. Although it ...
-
Syrian attack on Israeli patrol Accounts contrast
JERUSALEM - Israel's army and Syrian forces exchanged fire across the sensitive ceasefire line on the Golan Heights on Tuesday, but Israel denied one of its vehicles had been ...
-
Deadly SARS-like virus reaches Tunisia
TUNIS - A man travelling from Saudi Arabia who was infected with the SARS-like coronavirus has died in Tunisia, the health authorities said on ...
-
Growth seen for Israels UAV exports
Israel's unmanned aerial vehicle manufacturers are the world's top UAV exporters, garnering $4.62 billion from 2005-12. A market analysis firm Frost and Sullivan said Britain is Israel's leading customer, with India and Brazil showing strong spending for UAVs from Israeli original equipment manufacturers. "Israeli defense firms rely on exports for the majority of their ...
-
Attacks Kill 8 in Iraq
New attacks in three Iraqi cities have killed at least eight people and wounded dozens more -- a day after more than 70 died in assaults on Shi'ite Muslims, stoking fears of all-out sectarian war with minority ...
-
Syria says destroys Israeli vehicle on its territory
By Dominic EvansBEIRUT (Reuters) - Syria said its troops destroyed an Israeli vehicle that crossed into its territory from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on Tuesday and warned that any attempt to violate its sovereignty would meet "immediate and firm retaliation".Israel said the incident took place on its side of Golan ceasefire line and the vehicle was damaged but not destroyed, ...
-
Iran throttles Internet ahead of upcoming presidential vote experts say
A protester who has her face painted in the colours of the Iranian flag with a blooded hand, as protesters gather outside the Iranian Embassy in London, Thursday June 18, 2009. Internet users in Iran say new online restrictions are related to the June 14 presidential vote, the first since the hotly contested 2009 polls in which accusations of fraud - denied by the government - kindled months of ...
-
More troops arrive in Egypts Sinai over hostages
An Egyptian Army vehicle with a tank heads to the closed Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza strip, in Sheikh Zuweyid, northern Sinai, Egypt, Monday, May 20, 2013. Security officials said 17 military and more than 20 police armored vehicles were deployed in northern Sinai Monday as a response to the kidnapping by suspected militants of six policemen and a border guard there last ...
-
Israel Syria clash on Golan Heights cease-fire line
By Albert Aji, The Associated Press DAMASCUS, Syria -- Syria said Tuesday it destroyed an Israeli vehicle that crossed the cease-fire line in the Golan Heights overnight, while the Israeli military said gunfire from Syria had hit an Israeli patrol, damaging a vehicle and prompting its troops to fire back.The two sides appeared to be referring to the same incident.Sporadic fire from Syria's ...
-
UN Drop in Syrians reaching Jordan unclear why
GENEVA -- U.N. officials say there has been a sudden fall in the number of Syrian refugees arriving in Jordan, but it's unclear why.Panos Moumtzis , the top U.N. refugee official for Syria, says the usual exodus of up to about 3,000 refugees daily has "dropped to almost zero" over the past four days.Moumtzis told reporters Tuesday in Geneva that his agency is asking if ...
-
Israels Facebook community numbers 4m real users
Israel's Facebook community numbers four million real users, who enter the social networking site at least once a month, and are not fake profiles. 60% of the Israeli users, 2.4 million people, enter Facebook daily, according to the company's official figures. 52% of Israeli Facebook users are men and 48% are women. People aged 18-24 are the biggest segment by age, accounting for 30% ...
-
Irans Guardian Council rejects Mashaei Rafsanjani
In this Saturday, May 11, 2013 photo, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei during a press conference after registering his candidacy for the upcoming presidential election, at the election headquarters of the interior ministry, in Tehran, Iran. (AP Photo/Ebrahim ...
-
Tunisia Salafist group calls for Friday demo
Saif Eddine Errais, center, spokesman of radical Islam Salafist group Ansar al-Sharia speaks during a press conference, Thursday, May 16, 2013 at the "Errahma" mosque in Cite Khadra, near Tunis. (AP Photo/Amine ...
Cairo Discussed
-
Cairo leading new wave in literature
The publishing industry in Cairo is undergoing a profound change that may have implications for the day-to-day life of Egyptians for years to come, it is a kind of revolution in literature that may one day put Cairo on the map, nestled among those other publishing powerhouses, New York, London, and Chicago primarily, but also regional publishing centers like Johannesburg, Mumbai, and Sydney.
Cairo is already a literature producing city, but it is more commonly associated with Arabic texts, and these pieces of literature are further associated with sweeping assessments of society, societal change, politics and religion on a macrocosmic level. Traditionally, there has also never been much of a local market for literature in Cairo or wider Egypt, leading to an old saying that books are written in Cairo, but published in Beirut and then read in Baghdad. Read more
News from around our Network
