Latest Middle East News
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UPDATE 1-U.S. Congress moves to tighten sanctions on Iran
Wed May 22, 2013 6:34pm EDT (Updates with Senate vote) By Patricia Zengerle WASHINGTON May 22 (Reuters) - A U.S. House of Representatives committee approved legislation on Wednesday seeking to impose tighter sanctions on Iran, the latest congressional effort to slow development of the Islamic Republic's disputed nuclear program. The "Nuclear Iran Prevention Act of 2013" passed the ...
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Exclusive Glencore Trafigura deals with Iran may have skirted sanctions - U.N.
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Metals swap deals with Iran by Switzerland-based commodities giants Glencore Xstrata and Trafigura could have been a way of skirting international sanctions against Tehran over its nuclear program, according to a confidential U.N. Panel of Experts report seen by Reuters on ...
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Muslim Brotherhood Not Qualified to Run Egypt Says Former Member
Hossam Abdel Moniem, a former leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood, said that the leaders of the Egypt's ruling group are not qualified to rule the country, given that the members were once prevented from taking any executive position during the era of the Hosni Mubarak ...
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Friends of Syria demands withdrawal of Hezbollah Iran fighters
AMMAN (Reuters) - The Friends of Syrian alliance called on Iran and its Lebanese Hezbollah ally on Thursday to withdraw fighters immediately from Syrian territory and described their armed presence in the country as a threat to regional stability. In a communiqué issued after a meeting in Amman, the alliance said any transitional government in Syria being proposed as a core of a ...
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UN concerned by new reports of chemical weapons in Syria
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N.'s top Mideast envoy says there are mounting reports of chemical weapons use in Syria.In response, Robert Serry said the United Nations is again urging the Syrian government to allow chemical weapons experts into the country without further delay to investigate the allegations.Syria asked Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to investigate an alleged chemical ...
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IAEA report Iran expands nuclear technology
Herman Nackaerts, left, Deputy Director General and Head of the Department of Safeguards of the International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA, shakes hands with Iran's Ambassador to the IAEA, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, after their talks at the permanent mission of Iran in Vienna, Austria, Wednesday, May 15, 2013. U.N. nuclear agency officials are meeting with Iranian counterparts in a renewed attempt ...
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Egypt leader claims victory in captives release
This image made from video broadcast on Egyptian State Television shows members of the Egyptian security forces after their release by kidnappers, in Cairo, Egypt, Wednesday, May 22, 2013. Six Egyptian policemen and a border guard kidnapped by suspected militants in the volatile Sinai Peninsula last week were freed by their captors Wednesday after successful mediation, the country's ...
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A Decade In The Making West Bank Barrier Is Nearly Complete
Ibrahim Shomali, a Palestinian priest, offers Communion under the olive trees of the Cremisan Valley in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. This is part of a regular protest against Israeli plans to build a section of its West Bank barrier here that would separate Palestinians from their agricultural ...
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U.S. Non-Intervention In Syria Could Mirror Outcome In Congo
This week, we're exploring how lessons learned from U.S. intervention and non-intervention in foreign conflicts can inform policy decisions toward Syria today. Robert Siegel talks with Chester Crocker, formerly assistant secretary of state for African affairs in the Reagan administration, about how the U.S. has dealt with the decades-long conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo that ...
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Tunisia Salafist spokesman released on bail
Ansar al-Sharia spokesman Seifeddine Rais, detained in the Tunisian city of Kairouan at the weekend as police enforced a government ban on its annual congress, was released on bail on Wednesday, ...
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Egypt to boost fuel supply to ease power shortages
CAIRO: The Egyptian government said on Wednesday it would supply more gas and diesel to power stations to deal with electricity shortages that have worsened in recent months after the cash-strapped country failed to import enough fuel. The government has set aside $200 million to finance the additional petroleum products and is in the process of approving an additional $525 million, the cabinet ...
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Letters Hopes for a negotiated settlement of the conflict in Syria
The civil war is still to come , 16 May), consider that the solution to such conflicts must be through developing better mechanisms for encouraging a negotiated settlement. Only a few weeks ago the UN general assembly overwhelmingly agreed an arms trade treaty that is intended to prevent the supply of arms, especially where there is an embargo, to people who are likely to use them in breach of ...
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Palestinians have little faith in John Kerrys efforts to restart peace talks
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry speaks during a joint news conference with his Jordanian counterpart, Nasser Judeh, not pictured, in Amman Wednesday, May 22, 2013. Secretary of State John Kerry says the United States and its Arab and European allies will step up their support for Syria’s opposition to help them ';fight for the freedom of their country'; if President Bashar ...
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Kerry in Oman praises Raytheon defense contract
Raytheon Co. 's $1.6 billion contract for an Omani air defense system. In remarks Wednesday before his meeting with Omani Defense Minister Sayyid Badr al-Busaidi, Kerry mentioned Raytheon's presence in his home state, Massachusetts, and praised Omani Sultan Qaboos, with whom Kerry met Tuesday. Kerry also noted a "transition taking place throughout the Middle East, throughout the ...
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Iran calls attention to aggressive plans of the U.S. and Israel
"Some Persian Gulf countries are supporting U.S. plans in the region and it harms the countries of the region", the Chairman of the National Security and Foreign Policy of the Islamic Consultative Assembly of Iran, the national parliament, Alaedin Boruyerdi said on Saturday (27th). Crimes and discord are the buzzwords of the ...
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Civil wars and Syria lessons from history
A man at a site recently hit by what activists said was a Scud missile in Aleppo's Ard al-Hamra neighborhood, February 23, 2013. REUTERS/Muzaffar Salman Most of the international debate about Syria policy focuses on how to remove President Bashar al-Assad from power. Options for NATO states and key Arab League partners include everything from enlisting Russias help in a diplomatic approach, ...
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How to Arm the Rebels in Syria’s Civil War
The options for the United States are narrowing rapidly as the Syrian civil war rages on. Although Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, announced recently that they are arranging an international conference aimed at ending the conflict, their effort may not be any more successful than previous failed attempts to find a diplomatic solution. ...
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Syria rebels in plea for weapons to hold Qusayr
AMMAN // Syrian rebels pleaded yesterday for weapons and ammunition to combat Hizbollah fighters and Assad regime forces in the crucial battle for Qusayr. "If we lose Qusayr, we lose Homs, and if we lose Homs, we lose the heart of the country," said one rebel fighter. George Sabra, acting chief of the Syrian National Coalition, said "forces from outside Syria" were seeking ...
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Video Paris Hilton Sharon Stone attend jewelry designer De Grisogonos party
Swiss jewelry designer De Grisogono celebrated the brand's 20th anniversary with a glamorous party in Cannes. Among the attendees were Paris Hilton, Sharon Stone, and Victoria's Secret model Alessandra Ambrosio. (May ...
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Video Kerry warns Syrias Assad against rejecting political solution
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says western governments are ready to bolster opponents of Syria's Bashar al-Assad if he rejects a political solution to civil ...
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The Tyrant of ash-Sham and the Iranian Regime and its Hizb in Lebanon Repeat Hulagus Destruction of Baghdad in Qusair
Approximately seven centuries ago in the year 656 AH, Hulagu Khan destroyed Baghdad after a severe siege. People were massacred in large numbers, houses and mosques were demolished, books and libraries were burned, and crops and livestock were destroyed. The Tigris River, penetrating Baghdad, was witness to this destruction as its water was diluted with human blood and the ink from books. Today ...
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With Hezbollah coffins Syria now exporting conflict
HERMEL, Lebanon - On a country road in Lebanon's northeast, traffic is heavy; ambulances screech by, sirens blaring, and cars packed with mourners follow coffins as Hezbollah brings wounded fighters home from Syria, and its dead.With the bodies from the battle over the border at Qusair, comes the violence, as civil conflict between Syria's Iranian-backed ruler and Sunni rebels ...
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Syria - Today is Bassel Khartabils second birthday in a Syrian jail
Software engineer and open-source advocate Bassel Khartabil will spend his second birthday in prison today. Palestinian-born Bassel was arrested on 15 March last year by Syrian security forces, and has been in prison ever since. On his birthday and the 799th day of Syria's conflict, Index calls on the Syrian government to release Khartabil.Index CEO Kirsty Hughes said:'Following ...
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New U.N. Atomic Watchdog Report Details Concerns On Iran’s Nuke Program
latest report from the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog shows that Iran continues to process nuclear fuel, it is making sure to keep its total amount low enough to not cross Israel’s so-called ';red-line.'; According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, since ...
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Sharon Osbourne returns to X Factor panel
The X Factor judging panel to replace Tulisa Contostavlos, ITV has confirmed.She will join Louis Walsh, Gary Barlow and Nicole Scherzinger - who have all signed up - on the ITV series when it comes back to screens later this year.Osbourne, last on the show as a judge six years ago, had been widely expected to return after it emerged she had been in negotiation with programme chiefs. She said she ...
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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