CAIRO (AFP) — Hundreds of journalists demonstrated Sunday outside the Egyptian parliament where a draft bill allowing jail sentences for journalists and preventing them from investigating fraud was being debated.
Read More »21 killed as Islamists rid capital of warlords
MOGADISHU (AFP) — Somali Islamic fighters on Sunday declared “absolute” victory over the remaining warlords in the lawless capital Mogadishu after deadly clashes that claimed at least 21 lives, marking the end of the notorious warlords’ rule in the Indian Ocean city.
Read More »20,000 Turks protest against Israel
ISTANBUL (AP) — About 20,000 pro-Islamic Turks chanted “Down with Israel†to protest Israel’s offensive in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, a day after the Turkish foreign minister called the offensive in response to the abduction of an Israeli soldier “horrifyingâ€.
Read More »Iraqi families search in vain for their missing
BAGHDAD (AFP) — Underneath the blazing sun at Baghdad’s Allawi bus station hundreds of families from across Iraq’s sectarian divide await the arrival of the latest batch of freed prisoners in the hope of finding a long-missing relative.
Read More »Massacre as Shiite gunmen savage Sunni district in Baghdad
BAGHDAD (AP) — Masked Shiite gunmen rampaged through a tense neighbourhood of west Baghdad on Sunday, dragging Sunnis from their cars, picking them out on the street and killing at least 41 in a dramatic escalation of sectarian violence.
Read More »US outflanked in Eurasia energy politics
The United States’ global energy-control strategy, it’s now clear to most, was the actual reason for the highly costly regime change in Iraq, euphemistically dubbed “democracy” by Washington. But while it is preoccupied with implanting democracy in the Middle East, the United States is quietly being outflanked in the rush …
Read More »Abducted Iraqi deputy minister freed
BAGHDAD (Reuters) — Gunmen pulled the deputy electricity minister from his car in a busy Baghdad street on Tuesday, briefly kidnapping him and 19 bodyguards in an attack that underlined the vulnerability of Iraq’s new government.
Read More »US abuse of Iraqis fuels insurgency
BAGHDAD — No sooner had US authorities filed rape and murder charges against ex-soldier Steven D. Green than an account of the incident appeared on an Islamist website in the name of an insurgent group, the Mujahedeen Army. It promised “harsh punishment†for the alleged crime.
Read More »Most Arabs helpless onlookers in Gaza standoff
BEIRUT — This time there are no angry protests in Arab streets or recalls of diplomats — only a low-key bid to mediate between Israelis and Palestinians.
Read More »Darfur, Somalia dominate Africa summit
BANJUL (Reuters) — A two-day Africa summit opened in Gambia on Saturday with a call for urgent action to damp down conflicts in Somalia and Sudan’s Darfur region, but diplomats said there was little chance of much progress on either issue
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