Disagreements plague Arab League summit
KUWAIT CITY — Arab leaders, at loggerheads over inter-Arab issues including Egypt and Syria, offered little evidence of progress after a two-day summit in Kuwait focused largely on avoiding further splits.A declaration read out at the end of the summit said that the 22 members of the Arab League would "pledge to work decisively to put...Warren resident Nick Hawatmeh runs for state representative
WARREN — This week, Nick Hawatmeh. Nick Hawatmeh announced his candidacy for State Representative for Macomb County’s 25th House District currently held by Rep. Henry Yanez. The district includes parts of Sterling Heights and Warren. “I am running for State Representative to provide Sterling Heights and Warren residents...
Community holds fundraiser for Massachusetts gubernatorial candidate Juliette Kayyem
March 28th, 20140 DEARBORN — Massachusetts gubernatorial candidate Juliette Kayyem said her Lebanese American roots are what motivated her to enter the governor’s race, while speaking at a campaign fundraiser at the Arab American Museum in Dearborn, on Monday, March 25.Activists and local officials attended the event, which was organized by...Lebanese parliament approves new cabinet
BEIRUT - Lebanon's parliament gave a newly-formed cabinet a vote of confidence on Thursday, ending almost a year of political deadlock during which the country has been pulled further into the civil war in neighboring Syria.The approval - by 96 of the 101 parliamentarians who attended the vote - was widely expected after the government...Saudi Arabia sentences 28 for backing militants
RIYADH - A Saudi court has jailed 28 men for security offenses including material support to wanted Islamist militants, aiding terrorism and helping young men go to Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan to fight.The conservative kingdom has sentenced thousands of its citizens to prison terms for similar offenses over the past decade.The Saudi...Israel moves forward with plans for 2,269 settler homes
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM - Israel has moved forward plans to build more than 2,000 new housing units in six West Bank settlements, a defense official told AFP Thursday, March 20.Guy Inbar, a spokesman for the defense ministry unit responsible for civilian affairs in the Palestinian territories, said a ministry committee at a hearing last...Middle East sustains appetite for arms
WASHINGTON — The Middle East continues to be one of the world’s most lucrative arms markets, with two Gulf nations – Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) – taking the lead, according to a new study released Monday, March 16, by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).During 2009-2013, 22 percent...Libya asks for the world’s help in fight against “terrorism”
TRIPOLI - Libya called on the United Nations and international community to help fight what it called a war on terrorism. The government, which is struggling to stop the country from sliding into widening chaos and instability, asked for the world's help on Wednesday, March 19.The appeal came after a wave of bombings and assassinations...Clashes kill 10 across Egypt
CAIRO - Ten people were killed in violence across Egypt on Wednesday, March 19, months ahead of a presidential vote after last July's army takeover.In Qalubiya province, north of Cairo, two soldiers were killed in a shootout with Islamist militants, the Interior Ministry said, adding that six militants were killed and eight arrested in a...Syrian army retakes Crusader castle from rebels
DAMASCUS - Syrian soldiers have raised the national flag on the battlements of a 900-year-old Crusader castle after a three-month siege that ended on Thursday, March 20, after rebel fighters fled.The recapture of Crac des Chevaliers, a UNESCO World Heritage site, is a real and symbolic victory over divided rebel factions.The army has...Saudi Arabia’s grumpy foreign policy
Saudi Arabia’s royal family is not happy and wants the world to know it. The royal family has been more tight-lipped and diplomatic over the years. It would often hide its anger behind smiles in photos and vapid rhetoric about Arab brotherhood, even when it conspired against various Arab regimes.Nowadays, the Saudi royal family is...Al-Aqsa vs. Israel: The lurking danger beneath
Something sinister is brewing around and below al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem, and it has the hallmark of a familiar Israeli campaign to strip the mosque of its Muslim Arab identity. This time around, however, the stakes are much higher.The status of al-Aqsa mosque is unparalleled within the context of Muslim heritage in...UAE summons Iraq ambassador over accusing Saudis of funding terrorism
ABU DHABI - The United Arab Emirates summoned Iraq's ambassador on Wednesday, March 12, to protest against his prime minister's accusations that its ally Saudi Arabia was funding terrorism, state news agency WAM reported, while Bahrain called the comments "irresponsible."Saudi Arabia has already rejected Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri...Algerian PM steps down to run Bouteflika’s reelection campaign
Bouteflika.ALGIERS - Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal resigned on Thursday, March 13, state media said, to run the re-election campaign of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, the ageing independence leader who is widely expected to win five more years in power.Bouteflika, 77, registered his candidacy for the April 17 presidential...Egypt’s military blames Muslim Brotherhood for attack on army bus
CAIRO - Egypt's army blamed the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood for an attack on an army bus that killed one officer and wounded three others in the capital on Thursday, March 13.The Muslim Brotherhood strongly condemned the attack in an emailed statement, saying the targeting of army soldiers and civilians is a "heinous crime that requires......
Russian arms to Egypt threaten to undermine U.S. influence in Mideast
March 14th, 20140 Russia, which is at loggerheads with Washington over the spreading political crisis in Ukraine, is threatening to undermine a longstanding military relationship between the United States and one of its traditional allies in the Middle East: Egypt.A photograph of Russian President Vladimir Putin shaking hands with Egypt’s de facto...vIslamist militants in Syria claim kidnapping of 94 civilians, parliament passes election law
DAMASCUS - Islamist militants in Syria have claimed responsibility for kidnapping at least 94 women and children belonging to President Bashar al-Assad's minority Alawite sect, according to a video published on Thursday, March 13.The civilians were abducted in August from villages in rural Latakia, the president's coastal stronghold. The......
Rebel chief says forces take town in Sudan’s Darfur
KHARTOUM - Worsening violence in the Darfur region of western Sudan spread to another town on Thursday, March 13, where a rebel commander said his forces were in control."This evening our troops captured Mellit town," Minni Minnawi, who heads a faction of the Sudan Liberation Army, told AFP.Mellit is more than 50 kilometres (30 miles)...At least 42 African migrants drown off Yemeni coast
Sana - At least 42 illegal African migrants drowned in the Arabian Sea off the southern coast of Yemen late on Sunday, March 9, the defense ministry said on its website.The ministry's website quoted a local official in Shabwa province as saying the migrants drowned off the coastal town of Bir Ali. A naval patrol managed to rescue 30...UAE summons Iraq ambassador over accusing Saudis of funding terrorism
ABU DHABI - The United Arab Emirates summoned Iraq's ambassador on Wednesday, March 12, to protest against his prime minister's accusations that its ally Saudi Arabia was funding terrorism, state news agency WAM reported, while Bahrain called the comments "irresponsible."Saudi Arabia has already rejected Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri...Sectarian clashes in Lebanon’s Tripoli kill two
BEIRUT - Fighting between rival sects in Lebanon's second city killed two people including a 10-year-old girl on Thursday, March 13, security and medical sources said, in violence stoked by the war in neighboring Syria.Clashes between Sunni and members of the Shi'a-derived Alawite sect in the northern city of Tripoli broke out after......
Former Mubarak PM backs Sisi presidential bid
CAIRO - The last prime minister of fallen strongman Hosni Mubarak reiterated his support Thursday for the army chief as president but also slammed the military for initially backing his candidacy openly.Ahmad Shafik - who lost Egypt's 2012 presidential election - endorsed Field Marshal Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who ousted the Islamist...Netanyahu shape-shifts Iran reality
Benjamin Netanyahu’s tiresome vilification of Iran has taken on the characteristics of a rote obsession that diverges farther and farther from truth, reality and his own ostensible objective. It is as if — in pursuing his real objective of keeping Iran ostracized, preventing any U.S. agreements with it, and keeping the specter of......
UAE sentences Qatari doctor to seven years in prison for ties to the Brotherhood
ABU DHABI - The United Arab Emirates' top court sentenced a Qatari doctor to seven years in prison on Monday, March. 3, for supporting supporting al-Islah, a group banned in the UAE for its link to the Muslim Brotherhood.The Federal Supreme Court in the UAE capital Abu Dhabi found Mahmoud al-Jaidah guilty of cooperating with an "illegal...Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, UAE recall envoys in rift with Qatar, Doha vows “not to bow to pressure”
DOHA - Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain withdrew their ambassadors from Qatar on Wednesday, March 5, in an unprecedented public split between Gulf Arab allies who have fallen out over the role of Islamists in a region in turmoil.Qatar's cabinet voiced "regret and surprise" at the decision by the fellow-members of the......