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Syria conflict uproots a half-million Palestinians
DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Syria's fighting has uprooted more than half of the country's 530,000 Palestinians — descendants of refugees from a Mideast conflict half a century ago — and their situation is becoming increasingly desperate, the head of a U.N. aid agency said Thursday.The Palestinians in Syria are particularly vulnerable because of their refugee status, ...
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Exchange rates and inflation hit Asian expats in the Emirates
Currency appreciation back home is hitting Asian expatriates hard on their pockets. Above, a daily scene at a currency exchange in the UAE. Jeffrey E Biteng / The ...
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Hizbollah sends hundreds of fighters to Qusayr as Syrias violence spreads
HERMEL // On a country road in Lebanon's north-east, traffic is heavy. Ambulances screech by, sirens blaring, and cars packed with mourners follow coffins as Hizbollah brings wounded fighters home from Syria, and its dead. With the bodies from the battle over the border at Qusayr, comes the violence, as civil conflict between Syria's Iranian-backed ruler and Sunni rebels spreads ...
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Eleven die in surge of Iraq violence
BAGHDAD // Attacks in Iraq yesterday killed 11 people, including four soldiers, officials said. It was the latest in a wave of violence that has left 420 people dead so far this month. Gunmen attacked a checkpoint in Taji, north of Baghdad, killing the four soldiers and wounding five others, security and medical officials said. Near Baquba, also north of the capital, a roadside bomb in a ...
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Irans Rafsanjani blasts clerics says report
In this picture taken on Saturday, May 11, 2013, former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani waves to media as he registers his candidacy for the upcoming presidential election, while his daughter Fatemeh, right, looks on, at the election headquarters of the interior ministry in Tehran, Iran. A hardline news website says Iran's election overseers have rejected a pair of powerful and ...
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How Lebanons Palestinians Are Being Pulled Into Syrias War
Refugee Camps as War Zones How Lebanon's Palestinians Are Being Pulled Into Syria's War by FRANKLIN LAMB Homs Palestinian Refugee Camp Historically, Palestinian refugees, wherever they have sought temporary sanctuary following the ethnic cleansing of their country by the 19th century Zionist colonial enterprise, and pending their return to Palestine, have insisted on ...
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Kerry stops for shwarma after meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas
RAMALLAH, West Bank - Secretary of State John Kerry says he's all in for Palestinian shwarma.Kerry chomped one of the meat sandwiches after meeting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank.Asked what toppings he wanted, Kerry said, quote, "I want everything. I'm all in."After the first bite, Kerry declared, "Fantastic."Kerry has been promoting ...
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Syrias Assad stresses resolve to keep fighting terrorism
Damascus, May 23 : Syrian President Bashar al-Assad stressed Thursday his resolve to continue fighting "terrorism" in tandem with efforts for a political solution to the country's 26-month-old crisis, reported Xinhua citing state-run SANA news ...
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Kerry samples Palestinian sweets shawarma
RAMALLAH, West Bank) - US Secretary of State John Kerry stepped off the diplomatic track on Thursday and onto a West Bank street where he sampled a shawarma sandwich and a pistachio-sprinkled Palestinian sweet.In a rare gesture for a US secretary of state - but a staple of US political campaigns - Kerry dropped by the Samer Restaurant in the Palestinian city of Ramallah to enjoy typical ...
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Glencore Iran deals don’t violate sanctions
United Nations - Swiss-based commodities giant Glencore Xstrata said on Thursday that it had done nothing wrong when it engaged in metal swaps with Iran, rejecting a suggestion by UN experts that such bartering could have been a way of evading sanctions against Tehran over its nuclear ...
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Israel Corp. mulling closure of Better Place
ILCO ), Better Place's main investor, on the electric car venture's future, and whether or not it will continue will depend upon its ability to continue raising cash. In that regard, Idan Ofer, who controls Israel Corp., recently approached potential investors. Better Place said in response to the report, "In the past few months Better Place has continued its many efforts to ...
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Strife in Iraq Worse and worse
A WIDENING arc of violence across Iraq is raising fears that the country could fracture under the weight of sectarian and political strife. Attacks in the past week stretched from north of Baghdad, the capital, to the normally calm southern city of Basra, killing more than 200 people. The targets included Sunni mosques as well as Shia districts and Iraqi security forces. On May 20th alone, at ...
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Syria’s war How about diplomacy
Do they have ways of making Assad talk? "WE'RE back where we were a year ago," says a Western diplomat of the latest international push to bring Syria's warring parties to the negotiating table. Since the American secretary of state, John Kerry, and his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, announced on May 7th their intention to back a peace conference, the pace of ...
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Bahrain Attends Arab League Meeting on Syrian Crisis
Cairo-May-23(BNA)Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Ghanim bin Fadhl Al-Buainain today led Bahrain's delegation to the extraordinary meeting of the Arab ministerial committee in charge of the Syrian Crisis. Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Shaikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr Al-Thani chaired the session which discussed Syrian developments in the aftermath of the US-Russian ...
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Minister of Human Rights Bahrain and Morocco are on the Path of Reform Democracy and Reinforcing Rights and Freedoms
Rabat, May 23rd (BNA) -Minister of Human Rights, Dr. Salah Bin Ali Abdul Rahman met with Moroccan Minister of Interior, Mohanad Laenser within the official Bahraini delegation's visit to Kingdom of Morocco, in reply to the invitation received by Ministry of Human Rights from the Moroccan Government through the ministerial commissary in charge of human rights. At the beginning of the ...
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Disputed deaths in Palestinian territories
Palestinian woman in the West Bank village of Bili'in died following a protest in which Israeli soldiers fired teargas . According to witnesses, Jawaher Abu Rahma collapsed after inhaling the gas, vomiting, convulsing and foaming at the mouth. After Palestinian leaders described her death as a war crime, anonymous IDF sources briefed the Israeli media to suggest she was not present at the ...
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Terror Engulfs Syria as Hezbollah Helps Assad Regain Military Foothold
With reports making headlines that the Syrian forces on the ground are making some progress and making gains with the support of Hezbollah forces, the United States of America today said an active military support to the Assad regime simply exacerbates the sectarian tensions and it perpetuates the regime's campaign of terror against its own people. According to US Secretary of State John ...
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Al-Jazeera in uphill battle for viewers Reality dismisses surveys
Qatar-based broadcaster says its daily viewership is 34% higher than all other pan-Arab channels combined as observers insist Al-Jazeera is losing audience ...
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Iraqi justice troubles Amnesty International
Amnesty International reports. Amnesty published its 328-page "State of the World 2013" report, highlighting the rights record of 155 countries and territories. In a forwarding statement, the rights group said the world is "an increasingly dangerous place" where governments are more interested in protecting their borders than the rights of their citizens. On Iraq, the ...
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Francis Meets with President Michel Sleiman of Lebanon
Importance of Dialogue, Humanitarian Assistance for Syrian Refugees Among Topics DiscussedBy Junno Arocho EstevesVATICAN CITY, May 03, 2013 (Zenit.org) - Pope Francis received President Michel Sleiman of Lebanon in audience today at the Vatican Apostolic Palace. The Lebanese President also met with Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican Secretary of State who was accompanied by the secretary for ...
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With youth pounding at kingdoms gates Saudi Arabia begins religious police reform
Saudi Arabia's religious police force is infamous for patrolling streets and shopping malls to enforce Islamic conduct. With an eye to restless youth, the kingdom's aging king has ordered ...
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Emirates increases Flights to Colombo from June 30
WAM DUBAI, 23 May, 2013 -- Emirates, will increase capacity on its services to Colombo from next month with the addition of three more flights per week. The addition of three more services, which will operate between Dubai and Colombo on Mondays, Thursdays and Sundays, will increase the number of flights between the two cities to four each day on those days, and take the total number of ...
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Garagsh chairs UAE delegation to ALs extraordinary meet on Syria
WAM Cairo, 23rd May 2013 (WAM) -- Dr. Anwar bin Mohammed Gargash, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, led today the UAE delegation to the Arab League extraordinary meeting on Syria. Chaired by Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber, the meeting took stock of the latest developments in Syria and discussed measures that should be taken to address the ...
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Lubna opens Mrajeeb Al Fhood camp for Syrian refugees in Jordan
WAM Amman, 23rd May 2013 (WAM) -- UAE Minister of Development and International Cooperation Sheikha Lubna bint Khalid Al Qasimi described the condition of the Syrian refugees as a complex humanitarian crisis, calling for concerted efforts from the international community and its active humanitarian organisations to alleviate their sufferings. ''The UAE humanitarian message is to ...
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4th Intl Conference of Global Forum for Combating Antisemitism
The 4th International Conference of the Global Forum for Combating Antisemitism Jerusalem 28-30 May 2013 For complete conference package: http://bit.ly/197Onvs The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry for Jerusalem and Diaspora Affairs are holding the 4th International Conference of the Global Forum for Combating Antisemitism on 28-30 May 2013. The delegates are convening to ...
Cairo Discussed
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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
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