Middle Orient

US pushes for Sudan resolution by the end of February

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — US Ambassador John Bolton accused the United Nations and some Security Council members on Monday of moving too slowly towards setting up a UN peacekeeping force in Sudan’s troubled Darfur region.Bolton expressed frustration with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and UN officials over the pace of …

Read More »

Campaign to unseat pro-Syrian president threatens to plunge Lebanon in chaos

BEIRUT — Buoyed by recent street protests, the anti-Syrian parliamentary majority is starting a big push to try to oust President Emile Lahoud, Damascus’ top ally in Lebanon. But they have limited tools — and their drive is already splitting the country and threatening to plunge it into chaos. Although …

Read More »

Jaafari rejects US sectarian warning

Car bomb kills at least 21BAGHDAD (Reuters) — A car bomb killed at least 21 people in Baghdad on Tuesday hours after Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Al Jaafari angrily dismissed US warnings to shun sectarianism in the country’s new government. The blast in the southern Dora district, the bloodiest in …

Read More »

Roadside bombs kill US soldier, at least 11 Iraqis

BAGHDAD (AP) — A spate of roadside bombings in Baghdad and north of the capital killed a US soldier and at least 11 Iraqis Saturday, officials said. Two Macedonians were kidnapped in southern Iraq, while a search is on for a private German plane missing in the north. An Iraqi …

Read More »

Sudan refutes Rice’s claim of ongoing Darfur genocide

KHARTOUM (Reuters) — Sudan’s government on Saturday rejected US accusations that genocide was ongoing in its Darfur region and said it was discussing allowing a robust UN force to take over from African peace monitors there.US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Thursday said genocide was continuing in Darfur through …

Read More »

Interview of Khadam, the 2nd important character in Syria

One of the pieces of news that has influenced Middle East these days is the recent interview of Abdolhalim Khadam who was the second important person in Syria for three decades. This interview and its immediate effect which was announcing that Asad

Read More »

IRIB and Ahmadinejad

Last night TV had a report on the visit of Mr Ahmadinejad to Hormozgan province. Although such coordination and wide coverage of the news of the president’s trips by IRIB is unprecedented, it is a good act to keep people informed of the performance of their government. This is what …

Read More »

Report on the Sitting at Institute for Interreligious Dialogue in Tehran

Since January 19th to 21th, simultaneous with Eid-e-Ghadir, the second tripartite sitting of Institute for Interreligious Dialogue, Anglican Church of England and Lutheran Church of Germany was held in Tehran. We (my wife, my good friends at the institute and me) were the host and therefore we were busy from …

Read More »