Pressure mounts on Obama to act over alleged Syrian chemical attack
August 23rd, 20130 On Thursday Aug. 22, president Barack Obama faced growing calls at home and abroad for forceful action against the Syrian government, over accusations that it carried out a massive deadly chemical weapons attack.While the White House said it was "appalled" by reports of hundreds of people gassed near Damascus on Aug. 21, it made clear...U.S. arms industry would lose big from Egypt aid cut-off
UNITED NATIONS — The United States, which has refused to cut off its hefty 1.3 billion dollars in annual military aid to Egypt, continues to argue that depriving arms to the 438,500-strong security forces will only “destabilize” the crisis-ridden country.There is perhaps a more significant – but undisclosed – reason for...As Egypt smolders, churches burn
CAIRO — Churches across Egypt are being attacked heavily, following the brutal killing last week of supporters of deposed Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi.The Coptic Christian rights group, Maspero Youth Union estimates that as many as 38 churches have been “completely” devastated by fires across nine governorates since Aug. 14....
From Boston to Beirut: A comparison of “terror”
August 23rd, 20130 The Western media have double standards when it comes to “terrorism.” Within hours after two bombs were detonated at the Boston Marathon last April, many in the media had christened it a “terrorist attack.” Meanwhile, the August 15 bombing in south Beirut that killed at least two dozen is a “blast” that occurred in a...Yemen asks U.S. for drones to fight al-Qaeda
Sanaa — Yemen has asked the United States to supply it with drones, President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi said on Thursday, Aug. 22, to help it fight an al-Qaeda threat that recently forced Western countries to temporarily close diplomatic missions in Sanaa.State news agency Saba also quoted Hadi as telling police cadets that 40 suspected...Bomber hits Iraq military headquarters, killing 14
Baghdad — A suicide bomber drove a vehicle ,packed with explosives, to a military headquarters in western Iraq and blew himself up outside of it on Thursday, Aug. 22, killing at least 14 people, police said.The attack, which appeared to be the latest incident in a wave of violence by Sunni insurgents against the Shi'a-led government,...Saudi beheadings bring execution tally to 60 this year
Riyadh —On Tuesday, Aug. 22, two nations were convicted of murder and armed robbery, beheaded by the sword, the interior ministry said. Ibrahim al-Qanbar and Ahmed al-Musalam were found guilty of attacking a labor camp and opening fire on residents, killing Mohammed al-Shuja and wounding another person, the ministry...Jordan to build nuclear power plant
Amman — Jordan's Nuclear Regulatory Commission has given the go-ahead for a first nuclear research reactor to meet its energy needs.The five-megawatt reactor will be built at the Jordan University for Sciences and Technology near the northern city of Irbid, commission chief Majad Hawwari said."The approval of the project came after two...Tunisian Islamists accept union plan to resolve crisis
TUNIS - Tunisia's governing Islamists edged closer to negotiations with secular opponents on Thursday,Aug. 22, by agreeing in principle to a plan for a transition toward new elections proposed by the powerful trade unions.Rached Ghannouchi, chairman of the Islamist Ennahda party, said negotiations would quickly resolve the standoff that...Rockets fired at Israel from south Lebanon
Lebanese soldiers stand near the area where rockets were launched from southern Lebanon to Israel in Housh, Tyre August 22, 2013. REUTERS/Ali HashishoBeirut — The Israeli military said several rockets were fired at northern Israel from southern Lebanon on Thursday, Aug. 22, but one was intercepted by an anti-missile shield and three...Egypt: Mubarak under house arrest, Brotherhood leader in jail
Cairo — Egypt’s ex-president Hosni Mubarak was released from jail Thursday, Aug. 22, after a court ordered him freed, pending trial.Mubarak was taken from Cairo's Tora prison by helicopter to a military hospital in southern Cairo, where he is to remain under house arrest. Members of the April 6 Youth Movement and activists wear...State board rejects County Clerk’s modified version of Detroit election results
DETROIT — On Tuesday morning, it appeared that Benny Napoleon may have actually been the top vote-getting candidate in the Detroit Mayoral Primary Race when the Wayne County Clerk’s Office, headed by Clerk Cathy Garrett, announced that it was throwing out more than 20,000 votes.But later that evening, the Wayne County Board of...Israel to recruit students as undercover agents on social media
Tel Aviv - Israel is set to recruit students to work undercover in "covert units" at universities. The students will post messages on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube on the Israeli government’s behalf — without identifying themselves as government agents.The students participating in the project will be part of the public diplomacy arm...Israel defiant on settlements as peace talks open
WASHINGTON — Against the backdrop of two major announcements of Israeli settlement expansion, U.S.-brokered peace talks between the Israelis and the Palestinians resumed Thursday, Aug. 15, in Jerusalem.The talks are the result of an intense effort by Secretary of State John Kerry to overcome the impasse that has kept talks frozen for...
Bombs kill 34 in Baghdad, Kerry warns of destabilization
August 16th, 20130 BAGHDAD - Car bomb attacks killed at least 34 people in Baghdad on Thursday, Aug. 15Baghdad- More than 100 people were wounded in at least eight blasts, one of which was near the "Green Zone" diplomatic complex, part of a wave of bloodshed that has taken the monthly death toll in Iraq to the highest levels in five years."Iraq's streets......
Large parts of the Middle East are now contaminated with war pollutants.
In Iraq, war debris continues to wear away and erode populated cities. Such debris includes the wreckage of tanks and armored vehicles, trucks and abandoned military ammunition, as well as the remains of bombs and bullets. Left unabated, the debris will act as dangerous toxic reservoirs; releasing harmful chemicals into the environment...What Egypt’s most powerful man learned from the U.S. military
In 2006, Professor Stephen Gerras hosted a Super Bowl party at his house for the foreign military officers who were taking his courses at the U.S. Army War College. As the Pittsburgh Steelers clobbered the Seattle Seahawks, Gerras kept one eye on a partygoer, who wasn't paying much attention to the game — Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Sisi,......
UN calls for end to violence in Egypt, as death toll rises
August 16th, 20130 NEY YORK - Supporters of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood stormed and torched a government building in Cairo on Thursday, Aug. 15, while families tried to identify hundreds of mutilated bodies piled in a Cairo mosque a day after they were shot dead by the security forces.Egypt's health ministry says 623 people were killed and thousands...
South Beirut bombing receives wide condemnation
August 16th, 20130 BEIRUT - A powerful car bomb struck the southern Beirut stronghold of Lebanon's militant Hizbullah on Thursday, Aug. 15, killing 22 people, wounding 120 and trapping many others inside damaged buildings, witnesses and emergency officials said.The blast, which comes a month after another car bomb wounded more than 50 people in the same...Nasrallah: We will confront Israeli incursions
BEIRUT - Israel’s recent failed operation in Labbouna, South Lebanon raises a number of questions as to what the commando force was planning to do before it fell into Hizbullah’s ambush.Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said Wednesday, Aug. 14, his party was responsible for the ambush that wounded four Israeli soldiers, who...Syria rebels fight each other in Raqa
BEIRUT - A jihadist group has expelled rebel Free Syrian Army fighters from their positions in the northern city of Raqa, a watchdog reported on Wednesday, Aug.14. "Fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) have taken control of the positions of the Ahfad al-Rasul brigade in Raqa," the Syrian Observatory for......
‘Sexual Jihad’ and the ‘Syrian revolution’
Damascus — It took her a long time to take the decision to talk and when she did, she would only meet in a public place.She was an ordinary Damascene, dressed in a long coat and a scarf that completely covered her hair. Light skinned and brown eyed, there was nothing outstanding about her – nothing outstanding until she told her...Bahrain bans protests in capital ahead of opposition demonstration
Manama- Bahrain's King Hamad has banned protests in Manama in an amendment to a law on public gatherings, ahead of a major opposition demonstration, expected in mid-August, the state news agency BNA reported.The monarch, whose kingdom has been rocked by protests since 2011, also toughened penalties against the guardians of minors caught......
Drone strikes kill eight suspected militants in Yemen
U.S. drone strikes killed at least eight suspected al- Qaeda militants in Yemen on Thursday, bringing the number of people killed by drones in less than two weeks to at least 25.The strikes follow Yemen's announcement on Wednesday that it had foiled a plot by al Qaeda to seize two major oil and gas export terminals and a provincial...
Bandar, ‘Prince of Jihad’: Expect a Syrian shift in power
August 9th, 20130 In theory, Syrian opposition fighters now have one single commander: Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan. The man, who had a failed military adventure in Beirut, is vying today to alter the balance of power in Syria. But his foes say they will not let him win this time either.Bandar bin Sultan, the Saudi intelligence chief, is no ordinary......