Middle Orient

CAIRO — Nearly 10 years ago, Abul-Ela Madi was jailed when he first proposed creating an Islamist party in Egypt. Now, he seems closer than ever to achieving his dream — and if he does, it will further alter his country’s already changing political landscape. If Madi’s Al Wasat Party …

BEIRUT (AP) — A powerful explosion late Monday rocked a shopping centre and hotel in the Zalka neighbourhood in north Beirut, injuring at least three people and causing extensive damage, security officials said. Heavily armed Lebanese soldiers cordoned off the area, punching and hitting journalists to keep them back. Two …

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — The last Jewish settlers were evacuated yesterday from the Gaza Strip as attention shifted to four small settlements in the northern West Bank. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, meanwhile, talked of creating a “culture of peace,” while Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon vowed to continue building in the …

BAGHDAD (AP) — A day before the deadline for the new constitution, Sunni Arabs appealed Sunday to the United States to prevent Shiites and Kurds from pushing a draft through parliament with their consent, warning it would only worsen the crisis in Iraq. Leaders of the Sunni Arabs, Shiite and …

PEAT SADE, Gaza Strip — “The world turns. A while ago we were destroying Palestinian homes, and now we’re destroying Jewish homes,” remarked an Israeli soldier on Sunday as he watched bulldozers smash into the homes of settlers evicted from the Gaza Strip. The modest homes in the tiny settlement …

NAIROBI — Somalia’s president vowed on Sunday to use persuasion rather than force to disarm its many militias, saying warlords and businessmen should realise it was in their interests to demobilise the gunmen they control. In a Reuters interview, Abdullahi Yusuf, whose government is beset by wrangling about where it …

WASHINGTON — The US army is planning for the possibility of keeping the current number of soldiers in Iraq — well over 100,000 — for four more years, the army’s top general said. In an Associated Press interview Saturday, Gen. Peter Schoomaker said the army is prepared for the “worst …

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt’s largest Islamic group vowed Sunday to back none of the 10 candidates for this country’s first presidential election on Sept. 7, including President Hosni Mubarak, but still urged Egyptians to vote in the landmark polls. Speculation has been rife over whether the vastly popular Muslim Brotherhood, …

TEHRAN (AFP) — Iran’s hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad put his proposed Cabinet to parliament Sunday, lashing out at the West and liberalism and promising a government that will “promote virtue and prohibit vice.” Signalling his shock election win had delivered a clean break from the previous reformist administration of Mohammad …