-
President George W. Bush, vying to avert a Turkish incursion into Iraq, pledged Monday to step up US military and intelligence cooperation to aid Turkey's fight against Kurdish rebels.
-
Campaigning for tougher sanctions on Iran, Israel went on the offensive Tuesday against the UN nuclear watchdog, accusing its chief Mohammed ElBaradei of playing into Tehran's hands over its atomic drive.
-
Pakistan's government acted Tuesday to curb dissent against President Pervez Musharraf's emergency rule, silencing a speech by the nation's sacked top judge and teargassing lawyers for a second day.
-
The United States said Monday it had suspended defense talks with anti-terror ally Pakistan, and Defense Secretary Robert Gates demanded the country return swiftly to democracy after emergency rule.
-
With a son in the Turkish army and a brother in the Kurdish rebel PKK, Gule Uysal will do anything to avoid an escalation of violence in this restive southeastern region of Turkey and avert a wider conflict with Iraq.
-
Optimism prevailed Monday that Palestinians and Israelis are creating a better atmosphere for negotiating a joint document ahead of a US-sponsored Middle East peace conference, intended ultimately to lead to a settlement before the George W. Bush a
-
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas expressed hope Monday that a Middle East peace deal can be reached before President George W. Bush leaves office.
-
Iran Monday said it had drawn up a plan to restore stability to Iraq, including suggestions for the expulsion of private security firms and the integration of militias into the security forces.
-
The Egyptian authorities have issued a religious edict or fatwa banning farmers from burning rice stubble, an annual event that is partly responsible for causing a black cloud of pollution over Cairo.
-
A fringe group of ultranationalist rabbis petitioned US President George W. Bush this week to cancel a Middle East peace meeting, saying that if he does not his country will face mass calamity.
-
The EU is only likely to allow new members in the medium to long term, as Turkey and Balkan countries still have to meet key targets, according to a European Commission report to be published Tuesday.
-
Hundreds of unarmed Hezbollah guerrillas staged military-style exercises in Southern Lebanon at the weekend, which the media said Monday were to prepare for any new war with Israel.
-
An Iranian appeals court has upheld a 28-month jail sentence handed down to a young female activist for taking part in a women's rights protest last year, her lawyer said Monday.
-
President Pervez Musharraf is unlikely to hold promised parliamentary elections in Pakistan until he has further tightened his grip on power and clamped down on the opposition, analysts say.
-
Iraqis are fleeing their homes in droves and the number of displaced within the war-torn country has reached almost 2.3 million, most of them women and children, the Iraqi Red Crescent said.
-
An Egyptian court Monday jailed two policemen for three years for sodomizing a detainee with a stick in torture shown in widely-distributed video footage that sparked nationwide outrage.
-
Pakistani police used tear gas and batons to crush protests by lawyers against President Pervez Musharraf Monday, despite spiraling international anger at the imposition of a state of emergency.
-
Headlines from the Arab press, November 5.
-
Iraqi Kurdish regional Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani proposed Monday four-party talks to resolve the issue of separatist incursions into Turkey - with his government as one of the participants.
-
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert launched a vitriolic attack on extreme right-wingers Monday, amid a campaign to release a political assassin and incitement against talks with the Palestinians.
-
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met Palestinian leaders Monday to prepare for a Middle East conference, after vowing to defend Israel's security, but urging bold efforts to make peace.
-
Residents of Ceuta shrugged off Sunday a diplomatic spat between Spain and Morocco over a Spanish royal visit to this disputed North African enclave.
-
Ethiopian rebels said Sunday they had killed more than 270 government troops in a week of attacks in the volatile Ogaden region, where the army is attempting a crackdown.
-
President George W. Bush Monday faces crisis talks with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, as he vies to dissuade his war on terror ally from an incursion into Iraq to hunt down Kurdish rebels.
-
Pakistani police fired tear gas and baton-charged lawyers rallying against President Pervez Musharraf's emergency rule Monday, as the United States suspended key talks with its regional ally.
-
Improvements to post-Taliban Afghanistan's health sector mean the lives of 89,000 children under the age of five are saved a year compared to five years ago, President Hamid Karzai said Sunday.
-
The security conference on Iraq in Istanbul this week failed to focus on issues plaguing the war-ravaged country as it was clouded by Turkey's incursion threat and regional issues, MPs said Sunday.
-
Israeli strikes killed four Palestinians in the northern Gaza Strip, while militants fired rockets at communities inside the Jewish state Sunday in defiance of the latest Middle East peace push.
-
A Chadian judge Sunday ordered the release of seven Europeans jailed over a charity's attempt to bring more than 100 children to France as French President Nicolas Sarkozy arrived in N'Djamena.
-
By declaring a nation-wide state of emergency this weekend, Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf may be taking the country one step closer to civil war, ostensibly, a step he hoped his very action - the suspension of the Islamic republic's democra
-
The true face of ancient Egypt's boy king Tutankhamun was revealed Sunday to the public for the first time since he died in mysterious circumstances more than 3,000 years ago.
-
A group of 24 Asian sailors held hostage by pirates in Somalia for more than five months was freed Sunday and has left for Yemen, the South Korean foreign ministry said.
-
The killer of former prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, Israel's most notorious political assassin, attended his baby son's circumcision in shackles at a high-security prison Sunday.
-
Eight Turkish soldiers captured by Kurdish rebels and held in Iraq were freed and returned to Turkey Sunday, after Ankara threated to launch a cross-border attack on the militants' sanctuaries.
-
The United Arab Emirates said Sunday it would "urgently" review wages of workers in the construction sector, which has been hit by a series of strikes.
-
A bomb planted by Taliban rebels killed four policemen in Afghanistan Sunday, while various security operations against extremist insurgents left around 60 rebels dead, officials said.
-
President Pervez Musharraf tightened a state of emergency in Pakistan Sunday, as police rounded up hundreds of opponents and the government warned it could delay key elections for a year.
-
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas approved the resignation of central bank chief George Abed Sunday, after a turbulent term in which the Palestinian economy came under unprecedented pressure.
-
Egypt's ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) Sunday sought to reassure members at its annual conference that the benefits of economic liberalization would eventually trickle down to the poor.
-
Tens of thousands of people flocked to a Tel Aviv square late Saturday to honor Israeli premier, Yitzhak Rabin, who was gunned down 12 years ago for his efforts to make peace with the Palestinians.
-
Morocco's ambassador to Spain returned home Saturday as tensions between the two nations rose over the Spanish king's planned first visit to two disputed territories in North Africa.
-
A dissident former colonel from Algeria arrested in Spain last month told an Algerian Web site Saturday how he was denied access to a lawyer and interpreter during his detention.
-
Afghanistan's conservative parliament was in an uproar Saturday over a translation of the Koran by a government official they accused of trying to create division among Muslims.
-
Spanish officials expressed surprise Saturday at the level of controversy sparked by the announcement of King Juan Carlos' visit to two Spanish enclaves disputed by Morocco.
-
Abu Dhabi Saturday began work on building the world's first Ferrari theme park, another step in the wealthy Gulf emirate's ambition to become a global center for leisure, sport, and culture.
-
Turkey said Saturday that military options "remain on the table" to strike Kurdish rebels based in northern Iraq, despite new measures by Baghdad to clamp down on the separatists.
-
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf declared a state of emergency Saturday, sacking the nation's top judge and blaming judicial interference in government and a wave of Islamic militant attacks.
-
Fresh fighting erupted in the Somali capital Saturday, where Islamist-led insurgents reportedly killed a civilian and Ethiopia deployed more troops amid mounting humanitarian concerns.
-
Visiting German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier Thursday raised the possibility of EU sanctions against Iran, after Israel called for Berlin's backing over its enemy's nuclear drive.
-
The United States hopes it can translate mounting concerns about Iran's strength into progress in peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, officials and observers say.
-
Japan's main opposition party Friday rejected an offer from Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda to form a coalition government to break the legislative deadlock that halted a key overseas military mission.
-
A missile strike on a pro-Taliban militant camp in Pakistan's tribal belt killed six people Friday, as rebels in another area paraded 48 men said to be troops captured during fierce clashes.
-
More than 300 police reinforcements deployed to the flashpoint city of Nablus Friday, launching a Palestinian Authority security plan to restore law and order to the chaotic West Bank.
-
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met Hamas leaders in the West Bank Friday for the first time since the Islamists routed his forces in a bloody takeover of the Gaza Strip in June.
-
Afghanistan said Friday it had summoned Iran's representative here to complain about reports of Afghan minors being sentenced to death for drug smuggling and the forced expulsion of refugees.
-
Leaders of Hollywood's writers union vowed to press ahead with a strike here Thursday in a move that is set to plunge the US television and movie industry into turmoil, officials said.
-
An Israeli semigovernmental organization is planning to dig a new underground passage under the Old City in Jerusalem, the Ha'aretz newspaper reported Friday.
-
A Royal Navy aircraft carrier is to be sent to the Gulf in early 2008, the defence ministry in London said Friday, but added that its deployment was not linked to possible military action against Iran.
-
Contacts are under way to free five oil workers, including two foreigners, abducted 11 days ago by Darfur rebels in Sudan's Kordofan region, a rebel commander said Friday.
-
The US ambassador to Baghdad urged Arab states Friday to reopen their embassies in Iraq to counter Iran's "negative" influence in the war-torn nation.
-
A missile strike destroyed an insurgent hideout in Pakistan's tribal belt at a house once owned by the late military chief of the Taliban, killing nine people, witnesses and sources said.
-
Headlines from the Arab press, November 2.
-
US diplomats fear a "death sentence" if they are forced to serve in Iraq, and bureaucrats are said to be so thin on the ground that billions of dollars in war funding risk going astray.
-
Pakistan's attorney general said Friday that President Pervez Musharraf does not intend to impose a state of emergency or martial law, despite a spiraling political crisis and Islamist violence.
-
Scores of Taliban militants stormed a district of western Afghanistan in another bid to capture the strategic area, police said Friday.
-
The US ambassador to Baghdad said Friday that foreign service officers have a duty to serve in Iraq if asked, amid an outcry in Washington over forced duty in the war-torn nation.
-
Islamic militants loyal to a pro-Taliban cleric in northwest Pakistan Friday paraded 48 men said to be paramilitary troops who surrendered during a week of fierce clashes.
-
Bahrain's crown prince has claimed that Iran is developing atomic weapons or the capability to do so, British press reports said Friday, the first time an Arab state in the Gulf has openly accused Tehran of lying about its controversial nuclear dri
-
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in Turkey Friday, offering an "effective strategy" against Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq, in exchange for Ankara holding off on its threat of cross-border military action.
-
The UN Security Council Wednesday voted unanimously to urge Morocco and the Polisario independence movement to resume stalled talks "without preconditions" to settle their 32-year dispute over the Western Sahara.
-
A corrugated metal shack shielding them from the zealous eye of authority, five smugglers shovel their booty into a tunnel traversing the border between Egypt and the Gaza Strip.
-
A suicide bomber Thursday killed eight Pakistan air force personnel and 70 militants died in clashes, amid mounting fears that President Pervez Musharraf could declare emergency rule.
-
Turkey's government is to erect a memorial for its fallen soldiers from the Ottoman era near Islam's third holiest site in Jerusalem, the Al Aqsa mosque compound, a senior official said Thursday.
-
By imposing economic sanctions on northern Iraq in its latest measures against Kurdish rebels, Ankara has had to walk a fine line, so as neither to appear to recognize the Iraqi Kurdish autonomous region, nor adversely affect Turkish commercial int
-
The UN Security Council Wednesday unanimously voted to press for full implementation of the faltering peace deal between north and south Sudan and to extend the mandate of the UN mission in the country.
-
King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia had a "meeting of minds" in talks Wednesday with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on taking forward the Middle East peace process, a spokesman said.
-
Sudanese President Omar Al Bashir blamed Britain, France, and the United States for "the problems in Sudan in general," particularly in Darfur, in an interview published Thursday.
-
With his index finger pointing to the heavens and a perpendicular thumb, the man next to the imam at a Cairo mosque signals the message of Islam to the deaf faithful: "Allahu akbar" - "God is great."
-
Iran's new central bank governor has warned the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad over money supply growth, urging measures to prevent a further rise in inflation, the press reported Thursday.
-
More than 300 Jews from France docked in Israel Wednesday after retracing a historic journey made by thousands of Holocaust survivors who were refused entry to Palestine in 1947.
-
A charity in the booming Gulf emirate of Dubai said Thursday it has offered to help 103 children at the center of a row sparked by a French charity's attempt to airlift them from Chad to France.
-
Japan Thursday ordered home ships engaged on a refueling mission in the Indian Ocean, halting the close US ally's main role in the war on terror due to domestic opposition.
-
Insurgents killed at least 16 people across Iraq Thursday, most of them security personnel and volunteers waiting to join the armed forces, security officials said.
-
Turkey Thursday dismissed concerns that a row over the safe haven Kurdish rebels enjoy in northern Iraq would hijack the agenda of a multinational conference in Istanbul on Iraq's security.
-
Pakistan's top court is unlikely to rule on the legality of Pervez Musharraf's victory in last month's presidential vote until November 12 - three days before his current term ends, a judge said.
-
Turkey Thursday stepped up pressure on northern Iraq, imposing economic sanctions over the safe haven Kurdish rebels enjoy in the region, as Washington said it was supplying Ankara with intelligence on the separatists' positions.
-
Afghan forces said Thursday they had killed 50 more Taliban militants in the heaviest fighting in a western province since the fall of the Islamist regime in 2001.
-
Former Pakistani premier Benazir Bhutto arrived in Dubai on a surprise trip Thursday, after earlier canceling her planned departure from Pakistan because of rumors of an impending state of emergency.
-
Headlines from the Arab press, November 1.
-
Signs of discord have emerged between hardcore radicals and pragmatists in Hamas after the Palestinian Islamist movement's capture of the Gaza Strip, analysts said Thursday.
-
A suicide bomber rammed a motorbike into a Pakistani air force bus Thursday, killing eight personnel, while troops killed up to 70 Islamic militants in a northwestern region, officials said.
-
A top Kurdish rebel based in northern Iraq called on Ankara to present a peace plan that could end his group's two-decade armed rebellion against Turkey, in an interview Thursday.
-
Coalition countries involved in the US-led war on terror urged Japan Wednesday to continue its naval support mission, which is set to be halted this week due to opposition objections.
-
It is late in the evening and the aroma of hot tea fills the air, as a restaurant in Arbil's Iskan street serves dozens of customers, happily chatting late into the night despite Turkey's threat of an incursion into northern Iraq.
-
Iran's judiciary Wednesday rejected reports a Dutch-Iranian man had been sentenced to death, but said he still faced grave charges of acting against national security.
-
Consumer favorites are hard to come by and Coca Cola has all but run dry in the Gaza Strip, where prices have skyrocketed and sent morale into freefall since Hamas seized control four months ago.
-
A Spanish court Wednesday convicted 21 people of involvement in the 2004 Madrid train bombings, but acquitted an Egyptian accused of helping mastermind the Al Qaeda-inspired attack that claimed nearly 200 lives.
-
Headlines from the Arab press, October 31.
-
War drums are beating ever more loudly for northern Iraq, as Turkey escalates its martial tone, implicating top Iraqi Kurdish officials as cooperating with the Kurd rebels it is trying to crush.
-
UN chief Ban Ki-moon Wednesday urged Lebanese leaders to reach consensus on a new president who would enjoy "the broadest possible acceptance," as Lebanon tries to restore domestic stability and full political independence.
