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...Israeli soldiers set Lebanese forest on fire after four soldiers injured by landmine
Israeli forces set fire to woodlands in South Lebanon near the border, the Lebanese National News Agency reported, on Wednesday, August 7.Civil defense and Lebanese army units were working on extinguishing the fire in Houla, the NNA added.The blaze was started after four Israeli soldiers were injured by a landmine after having crossed...Syrian rebels claim attack on Assad convoy, government denies report
Syrian rebels said on Thursday, Aug. 8, they had targeted President Bashar al-Assad's motorcade heading to a Damascus mosque to mark the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, but state television showed him unharmed and the government denied he had been attacked.The Tahrir al-Sham rebel brigade, a unit of the Free Syrian Army, said it fired...Israel to expand West Bank settlements
Israel has given preliminary approval for the construction of more than 800 new homes in Jewish settlements on the occupied West Bank, an Israeli official has said.Guy Inbar, the spokesman for Israel's military-run Civil Administration in the West Bank, said on Thursday, Aug. 8, that initial plans to build 800 new settler homes were...
Municipal primary election results
August 9th, 20130 Tuesday’s Aug. 6 Primary Election results from races in the cities of Detroit, Hamtramck and Dearborn are listed below. Arab Americans claimed victories in major races. Yemeni American Hamtramck Mayoral Candidate Dr. Abdul Algazali managed to beat the City’s current mayor, Karen Majewski, and first time Dearborn City Council......
Duggan surprise victory intensifies Detroit Mayoral race
DETROIT — After a long and challenging start to his campaign, Mike Duggan was finally able to celebrate a victory, after the Primary results came in for the Detroit mayoral race this week.As a write-in candidate, Duggan received the most votes in the Primary, more than any candidate on the ballot, including Wayne County Sheriff Benny...UN: July deadliest month in Iraq since 2008
The UN has released the latest casualty figures and expressed concern about the high number of dead and wounded who were killed in the month of July. According to United Nations Mission in Iraq (UNAMI), 1,057 Iraqis were killed and another 2,326 were wounded in July 2013.The number of civilians, including civilian police, killed was......
Assad visits troops in Daraya, assures them of victory
Damascus — State television said Assad visited the town of Daraya, southwest of Damascus, on Thursday, Aug. 1, to meet members of the security forces.A picture posted on the presidency's Facebook page showed Assad, in a suit, shaking the hand of a uniformed soldier. Behind them was a scene of war; wires hanging from electricity pylons...Ex-envoy to Israel to oversee Mideast “peace talks”
WASHINGTON - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday named a former ambassador to Israel as the top envoy to negotiate the new round of talks between Israel and officials from the western-backed Palestinian Authority.Just hours before Israeli and Palestinian negotiators were to resume talks frozen for three years, Kerry said...Saudi Arabia sentences secular activist to 600 lashes, seven years prison
RIYADH - A Saudi court sentenced, on Monday, a rights activist to seven years in jail and 600 lashes for setting up a "liberal" network and alleged insults to Islam, activists said."Raef Badawi has been sentenced to seven years in jail and 600 lashes," lawyer Waleed Abualkhair wrote on his Twitter account, adding that the judge ordered...Egypt’s rulers tell pro-Morsi protesters to clear the squares
Egypt's army-backed government warned supporters of deposed president Mohamed Morsi, on Thursday Aug. 1, to abandon their Cairo protest camps, promising them a safe exit, if they gave up without a fight.The appeal, made by Interior Ministry spokesman Hany Abdel Latif on state television, followed the government's declaration, on July 31,......
Egypt braces for rival rallies, army signals crackdown
July 26th, 20130 A deeply polarised Egypt braced for bloodshed on Friday, July 26, in rival mass rallies summoned by the army that ousted the state's first freely elected president and by the Islamists who back him.Both sides warned of a decisive struggle for the future of the Arab world's most populous country, convulsed by political and economic...Politician assassination sparks new wave of protests in Tunisia
Tunis - Tunisian opposition politician Mohamed Brahmi was shot dead outside his home in Tunis on Thursday, July 25, in the second such assassination this year, setting off violent protests against the Islamist-led government in the capital and elsewhere."This criminal gang has killed the free voice of Brahmi," his widow, Mbarka Brahmi,......
WHO’s Iraq birth defect study omits causation
UNITED NATIONS - A long-awaited study on congenital birth defects by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Ministry of Health (MOH) in Iraq is expected to be very extensive in nature.According to WHO, 10,800 households were selected as a sample size for the study, which was scheduled to be released early this year, but has not yet...Hizbullah says EU decision invites Israeli attack on Lebanon
BEIRUT - Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said on Wednesday, July 24, the European Union had given Israel justification to attack Lebanon by blacklisting the armed wing of his group, and would bear responsibility for any Israeli military action.The bloc agreed earlier this week to list what it described as the military wing of......