May, 2007

• 25 May

  Analysts say US sanctions affecting Iran’s economy

  DUBAI (AP) — US sanctions against Iran have caused damage to the country’s economy, Iranian business leaders and analysts say, even as the UN Security Council prepares to consider additional measures to force Iran to curb its nuclear programme.

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• 25 May

  Fateh Islam leader is Palestinian nationalist, not terrorist, family says

  AMMAN — Shaker Youssef Absi, the Palestinian who heads a shadowy militant group blamed for this week’s violence in Lebanon, is not a terrorist but a nationalist who seeks an end to Israel’s occupation of Palestinian lands, his family says.

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• 25 May

  Assad gearing up for second term

  DAMASCUS (AFP) — Syria’s President Bashar Assad is a would-be reformer who is now gearing up for a second seven-year term having refused to bow to international calls for reform. Assad, running in a no-contest referendum on Sunday, came to power in July 2000 with the reputation of a modernist, …

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• 25 May

  Siniora vows to wipe out militants

  TRIPOLI  (AP) — Heavy exchanges of gunfire erupted late Thursday between Lebanese troops besieging a Palestinian refugee camp and Islamic militants holed up inside, breaking a two-day-old truce.

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• 25 May

  Israel detains over 30 Hamas officials

  NABLUS (Reuters) —  Israeli forces seized a Palestinian Cabinet minister and more than 30 other officials on Thursday in a new phase of a crackdown on Hamas that a United Nations envoy described as “troubling”.

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• 24 May

  Basescu returns to Romanian presidency

  BUCHAREST, Romania — Traian Basescu returned to the presidency on Wednesday (May 23rd) after the Constitutional Court formally validated the results of the May 19th impeachment referendum. Voters overwhelmingly rejected Parliament’s decision to dismiss Basescu last month for alleged constitutional violations. In his first statement since returning to the job, …

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• 24 May

  NATO: KFOR remains in Kosovo if new UN resolution does not pass

  BRUSSELS, Belgium — KFOR personnel will remain in Kosovo if the UN Security Council does not pass a new resolution on future status, NATO spokesman James Appathurai said in Brussels on Wednesday (May 23rd). The decision followed a meeting between NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer and US President …

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• 24 May

  New amendments mean high fines for disrupting law and order in Macedonia

  In a controversial move last week, the Macedonian Parliament approved a group of amendments to the legislation on public law and order that slap violators with stiffer penalties. In some cases, the fines are twice the average salary.

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• 24 May

  Six killed, over 100 wounded in Ankara bomb blast

  Senior Turkish cabinet ministers and police officials held an emergency meeting on Wednesday (May 23rd) to discuss new measures against terrorism, less than 24 hours after a powerful bomb blast in Ankara left six people dead and more than 100 wounded.

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• 24 May

  US launches show of force off Iran’s coast

  DUBAI (AP) — Ships packed with 17,000 sailors and US marines moved into the Persian Gulf Wednesday as the US navy staged another show of military force off Iran’s coast — just days before the US start of direct talks with Iran in Baghdad.

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