Saudi Arabia seizes 48,000 cans of beer disguised as Pepsi
RIYADH — A smuggler has been caught trying to sneak beer into Saudi Arabia, where alcohol is forbidden. Customs officers at the Al Batha border crossing with the UAE discovered the contraband disguised as soda, according to MBC.net. "A truck carrying what first seemed to be normal cans of the soft drink Pepsi was stopped and after...
Explosions rip thorough southern Beirut suburb
November 12th, 20150 Photo: AnnaharBEIRUT — Two explosions ripped through the southern Beirut suburb of Borj El-Barajneh Thursday afternoon.Lebanon's Red Cross reported that 37 people died in the explosions.Last year, Beirut's southern suburbs were repeatedly targeted by al-Qaeda suicide bombers.Initial reports cited by Lebanese media say the explosions...EU moves forward with labeling goods made in Israeli settlements
A worker carries boxes of wine bottles for export at Shiloh Wineries, north of Ramallah/REUTERSThe European Union published new guidelines on Wednesday for labeling products made in Israeli settlements, a move Brussels said was technical but Israel branded "discriminatory" and damaging to peace efforts with Palestinians.Drawn up over...Two Americans, one S. African shot dead at Jordan security training site
The King Abdullah Training Center where a Jordanian officer went on a shooting spree, Nov. 9AMMAN — Two American military personnel and one South African were killed when a Jordanian officer went on a shooting spree on Monday at a U.S.-funded security training facility near Amman, Jordan's government spokesman said.Mohammad Momani...Power struggle threatens top Tunisia party with collapse
TUNIS — Rival ambitions, insults and accusations of violence have brought Tunisia's ruling party to the brink of collapse as the country struggles to lead the way towards a post-Arab Spring democracy. The secularist Nidaa Tounes party was already weakened by the departure of its leader Beji Caid Essebsi, in line with the...Cyclone kills eight in Yemeni coastal province
A man tries to save a vehicle swept away by flood waters in Socotra Nov. 2SANAA — A rare tropical cyclone struck Yemen's arid eastern coastal province of Hadramout on Tuesday and killed eight people before gradually petering out inland, regional officials said. The storm was the worst the country had suffered in decades and came with...Bomb in northeast Lebanon kills nine
BEIRUT — A roadside car bomb killed at least nine people and wounded four others in northeast Lebanon on Thursday, in an area close to the Syrian border where violence has spilled over from the war next door, security sources said. The blast ripped through a commercial area of the Sabil neighborhood of the town of Arsal. Emergency...Report: ISIS used chemical weapons in Syria
DAMASCUS — Chemical weapons experts have determined that mustard gas was used in a Syrian town where ISIS insurgents were battling another rebel group, according to a report by an international watchdog seen by Reuters. A confidential Oct. 29 report by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), a summary of...Britain says ISIS likely brought down Russian plane
Wreckage of the Russian plane crash/REUTERSBritain said Thursday there is a significant possibility that the Egyptian affiliate of ISIS was behind a suspected bomb attack on a Russian airliner that killed 224 people in the Sinai Peninsula.Russia dismissed the claim as speculation and Egypt said there was no indication so far that a bomb...Iraqi politician Ahmed Chalabi who encouraged Bush to invade Iraq dies
Ahmed Chalabi speaks during a news conference in Baghdad, July 15, 2014.BAGHDAD — Ahmed Chalabi, the smooth-talking Iraqi politician who encouraged Washington to invade Iraq in 2003 with discredited information on Saddam Hussein's military capabilities, died on Tuesday of an apparent heart attack.Haitham al-Jabouri, secretary of the...Saudi-led air strike kills 10 Yemeni factory workers
SANAA — Warplanes from a Saudi-led military coalition bombed a bus carrying workers to a factory in the southwestern Yemeni city of Taiz on Thursday, killing 10 of them, medics said. The attack took place as battles for control of Yemen's third-largest city rage, with Gulf Arab countries backing local Islamist militias against the...Right wing Israelis push for takeover of Al-Aqsa compound
Since Oct. 1, Israeli forces or settlers have killed 66 Palestinians.JERUSALEM — Right-wing political leaders and groups have called for Israel to exercise control over the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound as the Israeli government takes harsh measures to quell ongoing Palestinian unrest. Returning to the Mount, a hardline right-wing...Death toll in Saudi Hajj disaster more than 2,000
Pilgrims on a road in Mina, near the holy city of Mecca Sept. 24. REUTERSThe deadly crush that occurred during the Hajj near Mecca last month killed at least 2,070 people, nearly triple the number reported by Saudi authorities, a Reuters tally indicated on Thursday. Saudi Arabia has come under heavy criticism for its handling of...Yemeni hospital bombed, Saudi-led coalition denies responsibility
People move boxes from a damaged truck outside a building hit by a Saudi-led air strike in Sanaa, Oct. 25.A hospital in north Yemen run by the medical aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), was destroyed by a missile strike late Monday, MSF said.The Saudi-led Arab coalition involved in Yemen’s civil war denied that its planes hit...Saudi prince held in record Beirut airport drug bust
The five Saudi citizens were held in the airport to be questioned by Lebanon's customs authority A Saudi prince and has been detained in Lebanon in the largest drug bust in the history of Beirut airport, according to a security source. Prince Abdel Mohsen Bin Walid Bin Abdulaziz and four others were detained by airport security......
One dead in suicide attack at Saudi mosque
The bombing took place in Najran, the capital of the region in southern Saudi ArabiaA suicide bomber blew himself up at a Shi'a mosque in Najran in southern Saudi Arabia on Monday. At least one person was killed and several others were wounded, the Saudi interior ministry said.The SPA news agency and Al Arabiya television delivered the...U.S. commando killed in raid to free ISIS hostages in Iraq
BAGHDAD — One member of a U.S. special operations force was killed during an overnight mission to rescue hostages held by ISIS militants in northern Iraq, the first American to die in ground combat with the militant group, U.S. officials said on Thursday. Sixty-nine hostages were rescued in the action, which targeted an ISIS prison......
Assad visits Moscow; Putin says he is open to working with some rebels
MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin said his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad had told him he was ready to talk to armed opposition groups if they are genuinely committed to dialogue and to combating ISIS. Speaking a day after Assad made a surprise visit to Moscow for talks with Putin -- underlining Moscow's new role as a...Situation turns “dire” in Taiz as Yemen war continues
Taiz, considered Yemen's cultural capital, has suffered huge destruction since becoming a main battleground in the warSANAA — At least 20 Houthi fighters were killed in heavy clashes in Yemen's third-largest city Taiz on Thursday, a day after they pounded it with rockets, forces loyal to the government said. Taiz, considered Yemen's...Israelis kill Jewish man, mistaking him for attacker
JERUSALEM — Israeli soldiers have shot dead a Jewish Israeli man mistaken for a Palestinian attacker less than a week after an Eritrean refugee - also mistaken for a Palestinian attacker - was murdered. A sense of paranoia has gripped Israel and the occupied territories in recent weeks amid renewed violence which has seen Israeli...UNESCO condemns Israel for limiting al-Aqsa mosque access
UNESCO condemned restrictions of freedom of worship at the al-Aqsa mosque Wednesday The United Nations cultural heritage body UNESCO condemned Israel on Wednesday for limiting Muslim access to Jerusalem's al-Aqsa mosque compound, a flashpoint in a recent wave of Israeli-Palestinian violence.The resolution approved by UNESCO's executive......
Syrian army and Russian jets attack on several fronts
DAMASCUS — Syrian troops and their allies, backed by Russian jets, attacked rebel-held towns north of the city of Homs on Thursday, targeting a long-held and strategic enclave of opposition to President Bashar al-Assad. The offensive that began before dawn builds on more than a week of ground attacks launched with Russian air...Yemen Houthis fire missile in retaliation for Saudi “war crimes”
SANAA — Yemen's Houthi forces fired a ballistic missile on Thursday in retaliation for attacks by a Saudi-led coalition, a source in the Iranian-allied group said, and a Houthi-linked television station said a Scud missile had been fired at a Saudi air base. Al-Masirah television reported that the Scud, a powerful Cold War-era......
Israeli man stabs fellow Israeli Jew after ‘mistaking him for Arab’
A bus window after an attack in Jerusalem Tuesday, Oct. 13/ReutersHAIFA, Israel – An Israeli man was stabbed Tuesday afternoon after another Israeli Jew mistook him for an Arab. The stabbing comes after a wave of attacks by Palestinians and amid increasing tension and violence in the country.The victim, who has not yet been...Israeli forces kill Palestinian youth in Jerusalem
Undercover Israeli security personnel (R) and Israeli soldiers detain a wounded Palestinian protester during clashes near the West Bank Jewish settlement of Bet El, Oct. 7.RAMALLAH — A Palestinian youth was shot dead by Israeli forces during a protest in Jerusalem, Palestinian medical sources said. Ahmad Bitawi, the director of......