US military closes major prison facility in southern IraqTHE US military has closed Camp Bucca, once its largest prison facility in Iraq located in the south near the Kuwait border.Wed Sept 23 2009 - 01:00
Lebanese fear peace and good government are out of reachBEIRUT LETTER : Building is booming in Lebanon, but nation-building is at a complete standstillMon Sept 21 2009 - 01:00
Optimism over Mitchell's Middle East peace talksPALESTINIAN CABINET ministers in the West Bank yesterday expressed public optimism about United States envoy George Mitchell’…Tue Sept 15 2009 - 01:00
Israel responds to Lebanese rockets with artillery fireAT LEAST eight Israeli artillery shells hit the outskirts of the southern Lebanese village of Qlaileh yesterday in retaliation…Sat Sept 12 2009 - 01:00
Bomb attack on Kurdish village kills 20A KURDISH village in northern Iraq was devastated yesterday by a massive truck bomb that killed 20 people and wounded 35.Fri Sept 11 2009 - 01:00
Attempt to resolve Lebanon impasseLEBANON’S PRESIDENT Michel Suleiman yesterday attempted to avert political deadlock by urging squabbling legislators to resolve…Wed Sept 09 2009 - 01:00
Iraq's Maliki calls on UN to try Baghdad bombing suspectsIRAQI PRIME minister Nouri al-Maliki yesterday called upon the UN to establish a tribunal to try suspects in the devastating …Mon Sept 07 2009 - 01:00
Three Christians, one Israeli elected to Fatah councilTHE PALESTINIAN Fatah movement has released the list of 81 members elected to the revolutionary council, the organisation’s second…Mon Aug 17 2009 - 01:00
New faces in Fatah 'coup' over old guard leadershipFRESH FACES have triumphed in the election to the Palestinian Fatah movement’s 23-member executive council at its congress in…Wed Aug 12 2009 - 01:00
Serial bomb attacks kill 51 Iraqis, injure 286A BARRAGE of bombings in northern and central Iraq yesterday targeted a minority village in the north and two districts in Baghdad…Tue Aug 11 2009 - 01:00
Abbas re-elected chairman by deeply divided FatahFATAH’S FIRST general congress in 20 years yesterday delayed until this evening the vote for representatives on two key decision…Mon Aug 10 2009 - 01:00
Arab leaders reject US call to reach out to IsraelKEY ARAB figures have dismissed calls from the Obama administration to offer normalisation measures to Israel in exchange for…Wed Aug 05 2009 - 01:00
Iraqi premier aims to appease KurdsIRAQI PRIME minister Nuri al-Maliki travelled yesterday to the northern autonomous Kurdish region with the aim of resolving explosive…Mon Aug 03 2009 - 01:00
Last British army unit pulls out of IraqBRITAIN’S MILITARY deployment in Iraq formally ended yesterday without ceremonial finery and fanfare since troops had withdrawn…Sat Aug 01 2009 - 01:00
Gates offers Kurds help to solve border, oil disputesUS DEFENCE secretary Robert Gates yesterday urged Iraqi Kurdish leaders to resolve their differences with Baghdad before US forces…Thu Jul 30 2009 - 01:00
New party may break feudal leaders' grip on Iraqi KurdsANALYSIS: Relations with Baghdad can be improved if new Kurdish deputies take a more flexible stanceMon Jul 27 2009 - 01:00
Former US official met senior Hamas figures in GenevaA FORMER high-ranking US official met two senior members of the Palestinian Hamas movement in Geneva last month, according to…Fri Jul 17 2009 - 01:00
Sand storms a further blow to Iraqi hopesIRAQ IS experiencing the worst sand and dust storms in memory, blotting the landscape and the country’s prospects for economic…Wed Jul 15 2009 - 01:00
Palestinians rule out any further West Bank settlementsTHE PALESTINIAN Authority rejects any compromise between the US and Israel which would permit any Israeli settlement construction…Mon Jul 13 2009 - 01:00
Egypt's President Mubarak planning to retire and transfer power to sonARAB MEDIA are reporting that Egypt’s president for the past 28 years, Hosni Mubarak, is planning to step down following an early…Sat Jul 11 2009 - 01:00
42 die in Iraqi bombings as ethnic violence flaresAT LEAST 42 people were killed and 80 wounded yesterday in the worst bomb attacks in Iraq since US forces completed their pull…Fri Jul 10 2009 - 01:00
Amnesty says Israel's Gaza action breached laws of warAMNESTY INTERNATIONAL holds that Israel’s offensive on Gaza, launched without warning on December 27th last year, breached the…Thu Jul 02 2009 - 01:00
US forces leave Iraqi towns and citiesON A day hailed as a milestone on Iraq’s road to full sovereignty, US forces yesterday completed their formal withdrawal from…Wed Jul 01 2009 - 01:00
Lebanon worries on the wane as Berri is re-electedCELEBRATORY GUNFIRE rippled across Beirut yesterday, proclaiming the re-election of Nabih Berri to a fifth consecutive term as…Fri Jun 26 2009 - 01:00
US to reappoint Syrian envoy after four-year hiatusSYRIA’S AMBASSADOR to Washington, Imad Mustafa, yesterday welcomed reports that President Barack Obama is set to appoint a new…Thu Jun 25 2009 - 01:00
Truck bomb kills at least 80 in northern Iraqi townAT LEAST 80 people were killed on Saturday when a massive truck bomb exploded in a town near the disputed Iraqi oil city of Kirkuk…Mon Jun 22 2009 - 01:00
Aid agencies call on Israel to end blockade of GazaFORTY UN and international humanitarian agencies have called on Israel to end its blockade of Gaza, where 80 per cent of residents…Fri Jun 19 2009 - 01:00
Palestinians say Israeli speech 'closes door to permanent status negotiations'PALESTINIAN SPOKESMEN from all factions have condemned Sunday’s policy address by Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu in…Tue Jun 16 2009 - 01:00
Syria crucial to peace - MitchellUS ENVOY George Mitchell said on a visit to Syria that it has an integral role to play in peacemaking in the Middle East.Mon Jun 15 2009 - 01:00
Culture of corruption prompts Iraq's PM to pledge crackdownTHE RESIGNATION of a minister and the levelling of charges of embezzlement, mismanagement and criminality by parliament at several…Sat May 30 2009 - 01:00
Israel to allow expansion in settlementsISRAEL HAS rebuffed US president Barack Obama by declaring its intention to continue building in settlements in occupied territory…Fri May 29 2009 - 01:00
Biden makes a strategic visit to Lebanon ahead of crucial electionsUS vice-president Joe Biden held discussions in Lebanon yesterday with the country’s president, Michel Suleiman, ahead of the…Sat May 23 2009 - 01:00
France hails new Palestinian cabinet and pledges support for 'viable' stateFRANCE YESTERDAY welcomed the formation of a new Palestinian cabinet and pledged Paris’s backing.Fri May 22 2009 - 01:00
History made in Kuwait as women elected to parliament for first timeFOUR US-educated professional women made history on Saturday by winning election for the first time in half a century to the …Mon May 18 2009 - 01:00
Abbas cabinet rejected ahead of talks with HamasPALESTINIAN PRESIDENT Mahmoud Abbas’s plans to form a new caretaker government yesterday ahead of reconciliation talks with Hamas…Thu May 14 2009 - 01:00
New Fatah cabinet listing risks reconciliation talks with HamasWEST BANK-BASED Fatah yesterday published a list of ministers in a new Palestinian Authority cabinet from which Hamas, the ruler…Wed May 13 2009 - 01:00
Arab hopes rise ahead of Obama addressARAB EXPECTATIONS of US president Barack Obama are high ahead of his address to the Muslim world next month.Mon May 11 2009 - 01:00
Changes to peace plan for Palestine rejected by SyriaSYRIAN FOREIGN minister Walid Muallem insisted yesterday that there was no need to amend proposals in a 2002 joint Arab peace…Fri May 08 2009 - 01:00
Leader says Hamas ready to end Palestinian-Israeli conflictHAMAS POLITBURO chief Khaled Meshaal said yesterday the movement was ready to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict on the…Wed May 06 2009 - 01:00
Clinton renews US support for Iraq and LebanonUS SECRETARY of state Hillary Clinton pledged not to abandon the people of Iraq or Lebanon during unannounced visits to Baghdad…Mon Apr 27 2009 - 01:00
UN urges dialogue between Arabs, Kurds over TamimAMID RISING tensions in northern Iraq, a UN commission has urged Arabs and Kurds to resolve their dispute over oil-rich Tamim…Fri Apr 24 2009 - 01:00
Egyptian security moves betray growing fear of IranEGYPT KEPT up verbal pressure on the Lebanese Shia Hizbullah movement yesterday while its police continued to scour Sinai for…Thu Apr 16 2009 - 01:00
Palestinians deport conductor over Holocaust concertPALESTINIAN SECURITY men detained and deported to Israel a conductor who took a youth orchestra from the West Bank Jenin refugee…Thu Apr 02 2009 - 01:00
Iraq moves to counter Kurdish power in provincesBAGHDAD IS reasserting Iraqi sovereignty in three northern non-Kurdish provinces where Kurdish officials, peshmerga militiamen…Sat Mar 28 2009 - 00:00
Fall in oil price hampers Iraqi reconciliation effortTHE COLLAPSE in the price of oil caused by the worldwide eco- nomic slump is undermining Iraq’s reconciliation efforts at the…Thu Mar 26 2009 - 00:00
Iran prepared to engage with US, says KhameneiIRAN’S SUPREME leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei indicated on Saturday that Tehran is prepared to respond positively to US president…Mon Mar 23 2009 - 00:00
Aziz gets 15 years for role in execution of profiteering Iraqi merchantsIRAQ’S FORMER deputy prime minister Tareq Aziz was imprisoned for 15 years yesterday for his role in the summary execution of…Thu Mar 12 2009 - 00:00
Assad says Syria ready to negotiate with NetanyahuSYRIAN PRESIDENT Bashar al-Assad made it clear yesterday that he is prepared to negotiate peace with an Israeli government formed…Tue Mar 10 2009 - 00:00
Fayyad confident unity government will be formedPALESTINIAN PRIME minister Salam Fayyad said yesterday that he is confident a government of national consensus will be formed…Mon Mar 09 2009 - 00:00
How big-power agendas and 'green lines' have kept Cyprus dividedBOOK OF THE DAY : Getting it Wrong: Fragments from a Cyprus Diary 1964 By Martin Packard, AuthorHouse UK 416pp, $19.98Mon Mar 02 2009 - 00:00
