Middle East
Saudi Arabia registers first female lawyer - (45 days ago)
Saudi Arabia has registered its first female trainee advocate, paving the way for women to practise as lawyers in the kingdom where strict Islamic Sharia law applies, an activist said on Tuesday."The road is open now to women to receive permits to practise as lawyers, after the registration of Arwa Al-Hujaili as the first trainee lawyer," rights activist Walid Abulkhair told AFP.Abulkhair posted
Egypt's Military official declares cooperation with Libya - (45 days ago)
Chief of Staff of the Egyptian Armed Forces Sidqy Sobhy said that the Libyan and Egyptian armed forces would cooperate in all fields at a press conference with his Libyan counterpart on Wednesday. Sobhy added that his visit to Libya “would not be the last and that it comes within organizing the work between the two armies.” “Libya’s great army will be the best in
Saudi Shias fear new unrest after spy arrests - (46 days ago)
QATIF, Saudi Arabia — Al-Awamiyah is a small village of shabby houses, narrow streets and dilapidated palm groves that has earned a big reputation as the center of unrest among Saudi Arabia's Shia Muslim minority. In two years of persistent protests in Awamiyah and other parts of Qatif district on the Gulf coast, 17 people have died in unrest as Shia youths took to the streets
Israel's gas bonanza ushers golden era for refiners - (46 days ago)
Natural gas flow from Israels new giant offshore field is giving the countrys two refineries a new lease of life, slashing their costs and ensuring supply security. Gas from the Tamar field off its Mediterranean coast reached Israel for the first time on March 30 and the refineries several days later. Once energy poor, the new field is set to meet Israels gas needs for decades, and
Libya arms fueling conflicts in Syria, Mali and beyond: U.N. experts - (46 days ago)
Weapons are spreading from Libya at an "alarming rate," fueling conflicts in Mali, Syria and elsewhere and boosting the arsenals of extremists and criminals in the region, according to a U.N. report published on Tuesday. The report by the U.N. Security Councils Group of Experts - who monitor an arms embargo imposed on Libya at the start of an uprising in 2011 which ousted leader Muammar
NSA: Libyan militias abducting Egyptians for ransom - (46 days ago)
The National Security Agency said Tuesday that militias in Libya are responsible for a kidnapping ring targeting Egyptians. According to Major General Adel Gaafar, a NSA representative, these militias force i9ts victims to work on plantations if the government does not pay their ransom. Gaafar made the announcement during a meeting with the Arab Affairs Committee under the auspices of the Shura
Shell lands in Egyptian Embassy garden in Damascus - (46 days ago)
A mortar shell landed in the garden of the Egyptian Embassy in Damascus Tuesday evening. No injuries were immediately reported. The embassy is in the Kafr Susa district near Syria’s Interior Ministry, which was targeted by a bombing last December. Work was suspended at the embassy some time ago after Egyptian officials moved their headquarters to a hotel farther away from potential
Libyan national charged with killing two police officers - (46 days ago)
The Public Prosecution announced they will detain Libyan national Ahmed Qadhafi al-Dam for another four days pending an investigation into charges he tried to kill two police officers during his arrest in Zamalek last month. The cousin of former Libyan leader Muammar Qadhafi is also charged with possession of unlicensed firearms, ammunition and a walkie talkie as well as resisting
Egypt promises to ease travel at Rafah border - (47 days ago)
Cairo has promised to make crossing at the Rafah border easier during a meeting with Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, according to a Hamas official Tuesday. Maher Abu Subha, head of the border authority in Gaza, said border traffic at the crossing is normal and denied reports Egyptian authorities had imposed restrictions on Palestinians traveling. He said the Palestinian side of the
Al-Qaeda wing says Syria's al-Nusra is part of network - (47 days ago)
Al-Qaeda's front group in Iraq, the Islamic State of Iraq, acknowledged on Tuesday that Al-Nusra Front, a jihadi group fighting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime, was part of its network. The statement in an audio message posted on jihadi forums was the first confirmation of widespread suspicions among analysts and officials of links between the two groups, both of which are labeled
Libyan PM: Libya will insist on Qadhaf al-Dam's extradition - (47 days ago)
Libya will appeal the court's ruling not to extradite Ahmed Qadhaf al-Dam, the former coordinator of Egypt-Libya relations, said Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zidan on Monday. The Cairo Administrative Court halted Qadhaf al-Dam’s extradition to Libya last week, saying it was unneccessary as he was serving his detention in Egypt. During a news conference at the cabinet building in Tripoli,
Suicide car bomber kills 15 in central Damascus - (47 days ago)
A suicide car bomb killed at least 15 people and wounded 53 in the main business district of Damascus on Monday in what the Syrian prime minister said was a response to army gains against rebels around the capital. The bomb near a school in the Sabaa Bahrat district, which also houses the Central Bank and Finance Ministry, set cars ablaze and damaged buildings, state television footage
Egypt suspends commercial flights from Iran after protests - (48 days ago)
Egypt has halted commercial flights from Shiite power Iran until mid-June, days after the first such flight in 34 years between the countries provoked protests from hardline Sunni Islamists in Cairo. That first commercial flight, from Cairo to Tehran, took off on March 30 in the latest step towards normalising ties broken after the 1979 Iranian revolution, when Egypt gave sanctuary to the
Diplomatic source: Egyptian Embassy in Syria still operating - (48 days ago)
The Egyptian Embassy in Syria is still operating from Damascus, and the idea of it relocating to Beirut has not been discussed, a diplomatic source at the embassy said, denying recent news reports. News outlets had reported that Egyptian diplomats had left Damascus and possibly would work from Beirut instead, due to poor security conditions in Syria amid strife that has continued in the country
Kerry in Turkey for talks focused on Syria, Mideast - (49 days ago)
US Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Turkey Sunday to discuss Syria's civil war and the Middle East peace process as well as to bolster the Turkish-Israeli rapprochement brokered two weeks ago by Washington.The top US diplomat was due to meet later Sunday with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, before travelling to Israel and the West Bank.He
Iran must be set deadline of weeks to halt enrichment: Israel - (49 days ago)
Reuters A senior Israeli minister called on world powers on Sunday to set a deadline for military action of weeks to persuade Iran to halt its nuclear enrichment programme after talks ended without progress at the weekend.World powers and Iran failed again to end a deadlock in the decade-old dispute over Tehran's nuclear programme during the meeting in Kazakhstan, prolonging a standoff that could
Iran wanted too much for too little in return: US official - (49 days ago)
AFPIran was asking for too much for too little in return during its nuclear negotiations with world powers that wound down Saturday in Kazakhstan, a senior US official said."It is fair to say that Iran is willing to take very limited steps on its nuclear programme while expecting very significant results in return," the senior US official told reporters on condition of anonymity."They put forward
Air raid kills 15 in Kurd area of Syria's Aleppo: NGO - (49 days ago)
AFPNine children were among at least 15 people killed in an air strike on a mainly Kurdish district of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on Saturday, a watchdog said."The number of people killed in an air strike on the western edges of Sheikh Maksoud has risen to 15 ... Among them were nine children aged under 18 years and three women," said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.It was not
Tunisian activist fears for life after topless protest - (49 days ago)
A Tunisian activist said on French television Saturday that she feared for her life after courting controversy by posting topless pictures of herself online in support of Arab women's rights last month.The young woman, who goes by the name of Amina Tyler, provoked the ire of Islamist groups when she posted the pictures of herself online with the words "My body belongs to me" and "Fuck your
Attack on Iraq election campaign tent kills 22: police, medics - (49 days ago)
At least 22 people were killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up in a busy election campaign tent in the Iraqi city of Baquba on Saturday, police and medics said. Another 60 people were wounded in the attack, which began with a hand grenade being thrown into the tent in Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) northeast of the capital Baghdad. Local elections are due to be held across Iraq later in April,
Protesters in Libya demand regime officials' extraditions - (49 days ago)
Hundreds of Egyptians living in Libya protested alongside various Libyan political parties in front of the Egyptian Embassy in Tripoli to demand the extradition of Ahmed Qadhaf al-Dam, the former coordinator of Egypt-Libya relations under Muammar Qadhafi. Protesters raised banners demanding that Dam, along with other officials from the former regime being held in Egypt, be extradited to stand
Update: Iranian ambassador blames Syrians for anti-Shia protests - (50 days ago)
Mujtaba Amany, the acting Iranian ambassador to Egypt, blamed Syrian refugees in Cairo for inciting protests in front of his home on Friday, due to their discontent with Iran’s support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime. "How could the Egyptian security allow these Syrians to mess up with security?" Amany said in a phone interview with Al-Masry Al-Youm Friday evening. He
Israel denies link with arms ship seized by Egypt - (50 days ago)
Israel's government on Friday strenuously denied it had any link to an arms-laden ship that Egypt said its navy seized as it sailed from the Israeli port of Eilat to Togo in West Africa. "Nobody in Israel knows anything about this ship. It's clear that it did not come from Eilat or any other Israeli port," foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor told AFP. "We cannot understand why anyone should
Palestinians simmer with anger ahead of Kerry visit - (51 days ago)
Islamist group Hamas on Friday urged a United Nations agency to resume its operations in the Gaza Strip, accusing the world body of over-reacting by shutting down after its headquarters was stormed by demonstrators. The main U.N. humanitarian agency for Palestinians closed all its offices in Gaza on Thursday after protesters stormed its headquarters to demand it reverse a decision to cut
'We are broke,' UN says as Syria refugee funds dry up - (51 days ago)
The United Nations gave its starkest warning yet on Friday that it would soon run out of cash to cope with the vast influx of Syrian refugees into Jordan and other neighboring countries. "The needs are rising exponentially, and we are broke," Marixie Mercado, spokeswoman for the UN Children's Fund UNICEF, told a UN news conference in Geneva. The number of people fleeing in the world's worst
Salafis protest against rapprochement with Iran - (51 days ago)
As conservative Islamic forces prepare to protest on Friday against Egypt’s diplomatic rapprochement with Iran, President Mohamed Morsy declared that he would not allow Shiaism to spread in Egypt. The nation’s relations with Iran are the same as with any other foreign country, the president assured. Conservative forces are planning to march from the Al-Tawheed Mosque
Iran's Jalili vows stronger defense of nuclear policy - (51 days ago)
Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili sounded a defiant note ahead of a new round of talks with world powers in Kazakhstan, saying on Thursday they had to recognize Iran's right to enrich uranium to see any breakthrough. The six powers — United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany — will meet Iranian negotiators on Friday and Saturday in the Kazakh city of
Palestinian funerals draw thousands in tense West Bank - (52 days ago)
Thousands of mourners turned out on Thursday for the funerals of three Palestinians, including two teenagers killed by Israeli army gunfire in some of the worst violence in the occupied West Bank in years. The upsurge in unrest was triggered on Tuesday by the death of Maysara Abu Hamdeya, a 64-year-old prisoner serving a life term in an Israeli jail and suffering from
Palestinian youth shot to death as West Bank seethes - (52 days ago)
Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian youth in the West Bank, a Palestinian medic said, as confrontations went into a third day after the death of a prisoner held by Israel provoked street clashes and rocket fire. Medical staff said troops brought the body of 17-year-old Amer Nassar from the village of Anabta to a hospital near Tulkarm, in the northern part of the occupied West
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BBC SportWhen it's put to him that he might be the most talented athlete in the world to hold a racquet, a bashful Ramy Ashour admits "that's pretty great".The 25-year-old Egyptian is more than just the current squash world number one - his elastic, unorthodox brilliance and charisma could be the key to squash breaking out beyond its four walls and regaining a place on the wider sporting
Ministers in Prime Minister Hisham Qandil's cabinet following the recent reshuffle (new appointees are in italics): 1. Minister of Agriculture Ahmed Mahmoud Ali El-Gizawi2. Minister of Antiquities Ahmed Eissa3. Minister of Aviation Wael Maadawi4. Minister of Communication Atef Helmy5. Minister of Culture
AP— April 15, 2013: Two bombs explode in the packed streets near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, killing three people and injuring more than 140.— January 17, 2011: A backpack bomb is placed along a Martin Luther King Day parade route in Spokane, Washington, meant to kill and injure participants in a civil rights march, but is found and disabled before it can explode. White
The convenient marriage between Iran and the Arab left would have been unthinkable only a few years ago, given the traditional ideological paradoxes between patriarchal Persian Shiism, on the one hand, and leftist orthodoxy on the other.Indeed, a casual viewer of Hizbullah's Al-Manar television, or the Iranian-funded Al-Mayadin TV, these days would probably think that the two Shia propaganda
