Saudi Arabia to Join NATO Naval Mission; Pirates Boost Defenses ...
Saudi
Arabia:
Saudi Arabia said it will
join a fleet of NATO warships on an anti-piracy mission, as
hijackers bolstered defenses around an oil-laden Saudi tanker
captured off the East African coast. The kingdom will contribute
``naval assets to help in pursuing piracy in the region, and
this is the only way this can be dealt with,'' Saudi Foreign
Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal told reporters ...
cont ...
|
Iraqis hold protest against US pact ...
Iraq:
Thousands
of followers of Muqtada al-Sadr, a prominent Shia leader, have
protested in central Baghdad against a security pact with the
United States. The deal, which was signed by US and Iraqi
officials earlier this week and is currently being debated by
parliament, would allow US forces to stay in Iraq for another
three years ...
cont ...
|
Iraq Minister: Pirates will infest Gulf if US quits Iraq too
soon ...
Iraq:
Iraq's defence minister
warned on Saturday that the Gulf would be infested by pirates
and Iraq left at risk of attack by its neighbours if US forces
leave the country too soon. "Coalition forces are currently
protecting the Gulf, and our navy will not receive its first
ships until April 2009," Abdel Qader Jassem Mohammed al-Obeidi
told a press conference in Baghdad ...
cont ...
|
U.S. eyes 'surge' of over 20,000 for Afghanistan ...
Afghanistan:
The Pentagon is considering
a plan to send more than 20,000 troops to Afghanistan over the
next 12 to 18 months to help safeguard elections and quell
rising Taliban violence, officials said Friday. U.S. Defense
Secretary Robert Gates said he and top commanders had discussed
sending five brigades to Afghanistan, including four brigades of
combat ground forces as well as an aviation brigade ...
cont ...
|
Prospect of Israel war on Iran stronger ...
Israel -
Iran:
Israeli intelligence sources
say the prospect of military action against Iran has increased
significantly in the past few weeks. Israeli sources told the
Times on Friday that in the past few weeks Tel Aviv has
witnessed an increase in the chances of launching an airborne
attack on Iran's nuclear infrastructure ...
cont ...
|
Iran executes accused Mossad spy ...
Israel -
Iran:
An Iranian electronics
salesman accused of passing information about the country's
atomic energy program to the Israelis has been hanged, a
spokesman for the judiciary has said. Ali Ashtari, whose
execution was announced on Saturday ...
cont ...
|
Fireworks and stars as Dubai hotel throws 20 mln dollar bash ...
Dubai:
Shrugging off the global
financial crisis, Dubai overnight toasted a new luxury hotel
with a 20 million dollar bash attended by film stars and
sporting greats and marked by a spectacular fireworks display.
More than 2,000 world celebrities were invited to the event,
which began Thursday night and continued into Friday. Among
those who showed up for what the local press described as the
"party of the decade" were Hollywood stars Robert de Niro,
Charlize Theron, Mischa Barton and Wesley Snipes ...
cont ...
|
Saudi Arabia denies Mullah Omar asylum report ...
Saudi
Arabia:
King Abdullah of Saudi
Arabia has offered political asylum to Taliban leader Mullah
Mohammad Omar, German weekly Der Spiegel reported on Saturday, a
move which Saudi Arabia later denied. The offer had been pushed
by U.S. President George W. Bush and Afghanistan's President
Hamid Karzai, the magazine said ...
cont ...
|
US: Financial woes no excuse in funding Afghan war ...
Afghanistan:
Even in a global financial
crisis, the world cannot afford to skimp on its obligations to
Afghanistan, which wants to double the size of its army but will
never be able to pay for it, Defense Secretary Robert Gates
says. Gates said some characterizations of backsliding in the
7-year-old Afghan war are too dire, but he said violence is up.
Nations with fighting forces in Afghanistan and those without
must respond ...
cont ...
|
Dubai is most vulnerable to lower oil prices, says Citigroup ...
Dubai:
Dubai, the second largest of
the seven Emirates in the UAE, is the most vulnerable place in
the Gulf to lower oil prices as real estate prices and debt
refinancing pose "real risks,'' Citigroup said ...
cont ...
|
Credit squeeze grips Dubai real estate ...
Dubai:
A tightening of the terms
and interest rates for home loans is depressing an already
fragile Dubai real estate market this autumn. Abu Dhabi
Commercial Bank has reported that its mortgage volumes have
halved ...
cont ...
|
Top judge: US and UK acted as 'vigilantes' in Iraq invasion ...
Iraq:
One of Britain's most
authoritative judicial figures last night delivered a blistering
attack on the invasion of Iraq, describing it as a serious
violation of international law, and accusing Britain and the US
of acting like a "world vigilante" ...
cont ...
|
Israeli tanks enter Gaza Strip ...
Gaza:
Israeli tanks backed by a
bulldozer and military jeep have reportedly rolled into the Gaza
Strip, shattering a tenuous truce in the region. According to
local residents and Gaza security officials, Israeli tanks moved
about 400 meters (a quarter-mile) into the southern coastal
Strip ...
cont ...
|
Israel closes Gaza crossings ...
Gaza:
Israel
has closed its crossings into the Gaza Strip, a day after it
allowed trucks carrying aid into the besieged coastal territory.
An Israeli defence ministry spokesman said that rocket fire from
Gaza towards Israel had prompted the decision to reseal the
crossings on Tuesday ...
cont ...
|
Seized oil-tanker anchors off Somalia ...
Somalia:
A Saudi supertanker hijacked
by pirates with a $100 million oil cargo has anchored off
Somalia, the US navy has said. The Sirius Star is the biggest
vessel ever hijacked. It was seized in the Indian Ocean off east
Africa on Sunday in the boldest attack by pirates operating from
lawless Somalia ...
cont ...
|
Court Orders Kuwait Stock Exchange to Temporarily Close ...
Kuwait:
An administrative court in
Kuwait City ordered the Kuwait Stock Exchange to temporarily
close down in response to a suit filed on behalf of aggrieved
stock investors, who have seen share prices plummet in recent
weeks. In response, traders and brokers at the exchange have
staged a series of protests and walk-outs ...
cont ...
|
Saudi Arabia bans lawyer from receiving award ...
Saudi
Arabia:
The
Saudi government has banned a crusading defense attorney from
traveling abroad to receive an award for his work, an
international rights group said Wednesday. New York-based Human
Rights Watch said in a statement that Abdul-Rahman al-Lahem was
scheduled to be honored Tuesday with the 2008 Human Rights
Defenders Award for his fight for the rights of Saudi citizens
against arbitrary and unjust rulings ...
cont ...
|
Baghdad shaken by series of bombs ...
Iraq:
At least 21 people have been
killed and more than 85 injured in a series of bombs throughout
Baghdad, police said ...
cont ...
|
Iran urges Opec action on oil price ...
Iran:
Iran has said the
Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries should take action
to stabilise oil prices. Expectations of weaker energy demand
has pushed prices to fall below $60 a barrel for the first time
since March 2007 ...
cont ...
|
Iraq begins paying Awakening groups ...
Iran:
Fighters with Sunni
Awakening groups in Iraq, who were paid by the US to turn
against al-Qaeda, have begun to receive their first pay cheques
from the Shia-dominated Iraqi government ...
cont ...
|
Hamas-Fatah talks postponed ...
Egypt:
Reconciliation talks between rival
Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah have been postponed at the
11th hour. All the major factions had been due to attend the
talks in the Egyptian capital on Monday, but on Saturday
delegates were turned back as reports emerged that Hamas would
not be attending ...
cont ...
|
Israel stops Gaza aid delivery ...
Gaza:
The United Nations is to
suspend its food distribution effort to the Gaza Strip after
Israel said it would not allow emergency supplies into the
Palestinian territory, a UN spokesman has said ...
cont ...
|
US civilian cargo plane crashes in Iraq ...
Iraq:
A US civilian cargo aircraft
with between four and six people on board has crashed soon after
take-off in western Iraq, the US military announced. A US
civilian cargo aircraft with between four and six people on
board has crashed soon after take-off in western Iraq ...
cont ...
|
A different type of tunnel warfare ...
Gaza:
Because of Israel’s
blockade, almost 50 people have been killed trying to bring food
and medicines to Gaza ...
cont ...
|
Real Estate Developers find it harder to get financing for
projects in Dubai ...
Dubai:
Dubai has been hit by two
financial crises in the last six months, which have combined to
bring the emirate's real estate market to a crawl ...
cont ...
|
Gulf shares tumble again, taking yearly losses to up to 61% ...
Dubai:
Persian Gulf shares
declined, sending Dubai's benchmark down for a fourth day, on
concern a global recession and falling oil prices will slow the
region's property market.... Emaar Properties, the Middle East's
biggest publicly traded developer, dropped to the lowest in four
years, as HSBC Holdings and Lloyds TSB Group reduced lending in
the United Arab Emirates amid the credit crunch ...
cont ...
|
Obama demands Iraq war changes ...
Iraq:
President-elect Barack
Obama, in one of the first policy statements of his transition,
demanded that the Bush administration either submit the proposed
U.S.-Iraq “status-of-forces agreement” to Congress or leave an
opening for him to change it next year.... Obama’s transition
office posted a statement on its Web site, declaring that any
agreement on the future of U.S. troops in Iraq “should be
negotiated in the context of a broader commitment by the U.S. to
begin withdrawing its troops” ...
cont ...
|
Iraq: US pact changes not enough ...
Iraq:
Iraq's government spokesman
has said the United States' offers of changes to a draft
security agreement are "not enough" and asked Washington to
offer new amendments if it wants the pact to win parliamentary
approval ...
cont ...
|
Fresh bombs hit Baghdad rush hour ...
Baghdad:
At least three people have
been killed in a double bomb attack in Baghdad, Iraqi police
say.... the two bombs exploded in quick succession in mainly
Shia eastern Baghdad during the morning rush hour.... the target
appeared to be newspaper distribution ...
cont ...
|
Suicide blast hits Pakistan stadium ...
Pakistan:
A
suicide bomber has blown himself up
outside a packed sports stadium in the northwest of Pakistan,
killing at least three people and wounding nine others, police
said ...
cont ...
|
UN warns over Gaza food blockade ...
Gaza:
The
UN in the Gaza Strip says it will run out of food aid in two
days unless Israel's blockade - which it describes as "shameful
and unacceptable ...
cont ...
|
Bin Laden son, rejected by Egypt, arrives in Qatar ...
Dubai:
Osama bin Laden's son Omar
and his British wife arrived in the Qatari capital Doha on
Sunday after being refused entry to Egypt, Al Jazeera television
reported. The Qatar-based television said Omar bin Laden arrived
in the Gulf Arab state on an Egyptian passenger aircraft. It
gave no further details. Omar bin Laden and his wife arrived on
Saturday in Egypt from Madrid after the Spanish authorities
refused his request for asylum ...
cont ...
|
Egypt to distribute free shares ...
Egypt:
Egypt's ruling National
Democratic Party (NDP) says it is to privatize state-owned
companies and distribute free shares to all citizens. The party
has not yet announced which of companies would be privatised or
when the plan would go ahead. But President Hosni Mubarak's
government say it will ...
cont ...
|
Triple Baghdad blasts kill dozens ...
Baghdad:
At least 28 people have been
killed by three bombs that exploded just moments apart in the
Iraqi capital, Baghdad. The first two blasts were car bombs and
then a suicide bomber detonated his charges in the crowd that
had gathered to help, police say. Another 68 people were injured
in the blasts ...
cont ...
|
Documents linking Iran to nuclear weapons push may have been
fabricated ...
Vienna:
The International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA) has obtained evidence suggesting that
documents which have been described as technical studies for a
secret Iranian nuclear weapons-related research program may have
been fabricated. The documents in question were acquired by U.S.
intelligence in 2004 from a still unknown source ...
cont ...
|
Fuel shortages close Gaza plant ...
Gaza:
The
main power plant in the Gaza Strip has been forced to shut down
because of a shortage of fuel, plant officials have said. One
turbine at the plant was shut down on Sunday, causing blackouts.
The shut-down late on Monday of the remaining two turbines left
much of Gaza City in darkness ...
cont ...
|
Will Obama fulfill Gitmo closure promise? ...
United
States:
Barack Obama's aides are
working on a plan to close the Guantanamo detention center in a
bid to fulfill the President-elect's campaign promise. Laurence
Tribe, a Harvard law professor and Obama's legal adviser, said
discussions about plans for Guantanamo had been 'theoretical'
before the election ...
cont ...
|
Obama holds Bush transition talks ...
Washington:
Barack Obama, the US
president-elect, has held his first post-election meeting with
George Bush, the outgoing US president, at the White House in
Washington DC. Mr Bush and his wife, Laura, greeted Obama and
his wife, Michelle, with smiles and handshakes and the couples
posed briefly for photographs outside the White House ...
cont ...
|
Secret US Order Governs Raids Anywhere on Earth ...
New York:
The New York Times is
reporting tonight that a secret military order signed by former
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld in spring of 2004 gave the
military formal authority to conduct attacks against al-Qaeda
anywhere in the world, including nations not current at war with
the United States. The order explicitly mentions 15 to 20
countries across the Muslim world with specific levels ...
cont ...
|
Iraqi local elections set for January 31 ...
Iraq:
Iraq on Sunday timetabled
long-awaited provincial elections for January 31 as an opinion
poll showed religious parties apparently losing support. The
elections, seen by Washington as a key benchmark for achieving
national reconciliation, will take place "in one day in Baghdad
and the other provinces ...
cont ...
|
Canada firm on quitting Afghanistan by 2011 ...
Toronto:
The Americans may have shown
renewed interest in Afghanistan but Canada stays firm on its
decision to end its mission in the war-torn country by 2011,
says Canada’s new foreign minister Lawrence Cannon. The minister
told a television channel Sunday that the tough stand by US
president-elect Barack Obama on Afghanistan will have no impact
on the Canadian decision to pull out of Afghanistan by 2011 ...
cont ...
|
Dubai's port operator takes over two Algerian ports ...
Dubai:
Dubai's port operator DP
World said Monday it has signed an agreement with the Algerian
government to take over operations in the ports of Algiers and
Djen-Djen, and committed 108 million dollars to develop the two
facilities. The 50-50 shareholding joint venture with the
authorities of the two ports will give DP World a 30 year
concession at each facility, which will be run by the Dubai
operator ...
cont ...
|
Saudi Arabia beheads man convicted of murder ...
Riyadh:
The official Saudi Press
Agency says authorities have beheaded a Saudi man convicted of
fatally shooting another man during a dispute. The agency quotes
an Interior Ministry statement. It says Khaled Bin Abdul-Aziz
al-Baze'ei was executed Sunday in the eastern city of Qatif ...
cont ...
|
Iraqis call for referendum over SOFA ...
Najaf,
Iraq:
Iraqis have staged a large
rally in the holy city of Najaf, urging the government to hold a
referendum over the U.S.-proposed security pact. The protestors,
who poured into the streets of Najaf after the Friday prayers,
asked the government to respect their objection to the Status of
Forces Agreement (SOFA), which will determine the future of U.S.
forces in Iraq after the UN mandate expires on December 30 ...
cont ...
|
Lebanese banks escape global crisis ...
Beirut,
Lebanon:
Strict rules imposed by the
Central Bank over the years prevented local banks from investing
in derivatives and housing loans abroad — considered the main
reasons behind the current crisis — and have kept the global
meltdown effects minimal in Lebanon ...
cont ...
|
Lebanon detains "Israeli spies" ...
Lebanon:
A statement released on
Saturday by the army said: "The [Army] Directorate of
Intelligence, after a series of investigations in the Bekaa
region, detained two people belonging to a network of espionage
and terrorism linked to Israel ...
cont ...
|
Syrians march in protest at US raid ...
Damascus,
Syria:
Thousands of Syrians have
taken to the streets of the capital Damascus to protest against
a US raid which killed eight people near the border with Iraq.
Riot police were deployed outside the US embassy as the
demonstrators, mostly civil servants and students, gathered for
the government-backed protest a few kilometres away ...
cont ...
|
Twin US Drone Strikes Kill 32 in Waziristan ...
Pakistan:
The attack in North
Waziristan is said to have targeted a “mid-level al-Qaeda
leader” known as Abu Akash al-Iraqi. One Pakistani intelligence
official said that he was believed to have been killed in the
strike, though other officials cited local intelligence reports
saying he was likely not one of the dead. That attack killed
more than 20 people ...
cont ...
|
Dubai Property Boom Comes To A Quick End ...
Dubai:
The six year property boom
that Dubai witnessed has almost ended, with the sales collapsing
amidst fears of global economic downturn, reveal agents. "Last
month was the worst, a real disaster," said Mehdi Zoghbi, a
property agent at the Middle East Real Estate Consultants, who
spoke to Zawya.com. The sellers are desperate and are now
offering ...
cont ...
|
Baghdad water pipeline blown up ...
Baghdad,
Iraq:
Insurgents have blown up a
water pipeline in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, disrupting
supplies to hundreds of thousands of people, officials say. The
pipeline supplied Sunni and Shia areas of the city. It is not
clear who is behind the attack ...
cont ...
|
Iran opens Gulf naval base ...
Iran:
Iran
says it is opening a new naval base on the eastern part of the
strategic waterway at the mouth of the Gulf. The state news
agency, IRNA, quoted Admiral Habibollah Sayyari as saying that
the base on the Strait of Hormuz would allow Tehran to block the
entry of any "enemy" into the Gulf. About 40 per cent of the
world's oil passes through the strait ...
cont ...
|
Millions of Afghans Face Starvation ...
Afghanistan:
With a combination of a
summer drought, poor irrigation and rising global food prices, a
famine is unveiling in Afghanistan with third of Afghans are
suffering chronic food insecurity, a British think-tank warned
on Friday, October 31. "While the eyes of the world have focused
on violence which is increasingly terrorist in character, an
estimated 8.4 million Afghans, perhaps a third of the nation,
are now suffering ...
cont ...
|
Masked Jewish settlers assault Palestinian photographers ...
West Bank:
Masked Jewish settlers threw
stones at Palestinian photographers Friday near the West Bank
city of Hebron, injuring one, Reuters television footage showed.
The confrontation came hours after Israeli troops tore down a
building settlers had constructed without authorization in a bid
to expand the Kiryat Arba enclave near Hebron ...
cont ...
|
Dubai aquarium 'acrylic panel’ sets Guinness record ...
Dubai:
Dubai Aquarium and Discovery
Centre in The Dubai Mall, which opens its doors on November 4,
has clinched the Guinness World Record for the ‘World’s Largest
Acrylic Panel’ ...
cont ...
|
Blasts rock Indian state ...
India:
Police say at least 18 bombs
have exploded across the northeastern Indian state of Assam,
killing 20 people and injuring scores more ...
cont ...
|
Pakistan Envoy: US Unilateral Strikes Fruitless and
Self-Defeating ...
Pakistan:
“Unilateral strikes, which
bear no fruit and bring no results except antagonising people
and creating anti-Americanism that then undermines America’s
security and the security of its allies is certainly not the way
to win the war against terror,” Ambassador Husain Haqqani told
Public Service Radio (PBS) in an interview ...
cont ...
|
Warning on "dire" Iraq conditions ...
Iraq:
In a statement issued from
their headquarters in Geneva, the Red Cross said it was
particularly concerned about poor water supplies. It estimates
that over 40% of Iraq's civilian population still has no access
to clean mains water. The organization says that the health of
millions Iraqis is at risk ...
cont ...
|
Lebanese rivals hold rare meeting ...
Lebanon:
The
head of the Lebanese Shia movement, Hezbollah, and a rival Sunni
political leader have held a rare meeting aimed at resolving
their differences. The meeting comes a few days ahead of a
conference on national reconciliation ...
cont ...
|
Huge Dubai mall's launch delayed ...
Dubai:
The developer of the widely
anticipated Dubai Mall said Wednesday, a day before its
scheduled launch, that the huge shopping center won't open until
next week. It is the second time in recent months that Emaar
Malls Group has pushed back the opening of its most high-profile
project, which will rank among the world's biggest shopping
centers ...
cont ...
|
Baghdad condemns "US Syria raid" ...
Iraq:
Iraq has denounced a raid
into Syria at the weekend, saying it does not want its territory
to be used as a launch-pad for US attacks on its neighbours ...
cont ...
|
War is hell, but what does it cost? ...
War is hell -- deadly,
dangerous, and expensive. But just how expensive is it?. In a
recent interview, Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz
asserted that the costs of the Iraq war -- budgetary, economic,
and societal -- could reach $5 trillion ...
cont ...
|
Auditors: Private Security in Iraq Cost Over $6 Billion ...
Iraq:
No one knows for sure, but
auditors think the U.S. has paid well over $6 billion to private
security companies who've been guarding diplomats, troops, Iraqi
officials and reconstruction workers in Iraq. The money amounts
to about 12 percent of the $50 billion Americans are paying for
reconstruction in the country, said Special Inspector General
for Iraq Reconstruction Stuart Bowen ...
cont ...
|
Aid boat docks in Gaza ...
Gaza:
A boat carrying
international activists has docked in the Gaza Strip despite an
Israeli naval blockade on the Palestinian territory. The boat
"Dignity" arrived from Cyprus on Wednesday in the second such
voyage by the "Free Gaza" movement to protest the Israeli siege
on territory ...
cont ...
|
US troops strike inside Syria ...
Syria:
US helicopter borne troops
have carried out a raid inside Syria along the Iraqi border,
killing eight people including four children, Syrian officials
say ...
cont ...
|
Neighboring countries vow to help Iraq ...
Iraq:
Interior ministers of Iraq
and 8 of its neighboring countries have vowed to support Baghdad
in boosting its security and stability ...
cont ...
|
Iraqi officials: SOFA close to collapse ...
Iraq:
Senior Iraqi politicians
warn that the controversial Washington-Baghdad security deal,
SOFA, is doomed to failure after eight months of talks. An Iraqi
politician close to the talks said Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki
believed that signing the pact would be "political suicide".
"The Sofa [Status of Forces Agreement] is dead in the water,"
Times Online quoted the politician as saying ...
cont ...
|
US air raid kills Afghan guards ...
Kabul:
At least 24 security workers
at a construction site in Afghanistan's Ghazni province have
been killed in suspected US air raids. The deputy governor of
the province southwest of the capital Kabul called Sunday's
incident a "brutal attack" ...
cont ...
|
20 Killed in US Drone Attack in South Pakistan ...
Pakistan:
A US drone attack on a
suspected “militant compound” near South Waziristan Agency’s
main city of Wana has destroyed the compound, and killed as many
as 20 people according to MSNBC. This is the second reported US
drone strike in the past few days ...
cont ...
|
Kuwait investors threaten to bring protest to Palace gates ...
Kuwait:
Kuwaiti investors threatened
to march on the Emir’s palace today as they intensified their
protests after further falls in share prices. Since June, the
Kuwaiti stock market has fallen in value by 35 per cent; today
it declined 3.5 per cent. The threat of further action follows
demonstrations last Thursday, when 50 investors and traders
gathered outside the Kuwait Stock Exchange demanding
compensation ...
cont ...
|
Crisis hits Kuwait's Gulf Bank ...
Kuwait:
Kuwait’s Gulf Bank today
became the first financial firm in the region to need central
bank intervention, highlighting the vulnerability of the GCC to
the spread of the global financial crisis in spite of its vast
oil and cash reserves. The Central Bank of Kuwait halted trading
in Gulf Bank shares and said in a statement that it would
appoint an auditor to monitor operations ...
cont ...
|
Maliki urges UK troops to leave Iraq ...
Baghdad:
In an exclusive interview
with The Times newspaper in Baghdad, al-Maliki (The Iraqi Prime
Minister) said British troops should leave the country because
as a fighting force they were no longer needed to maintain
security and control ...
cont ...
|
Iran accuses US of "pillaging" Iraq ...
Iran:
Iran has said the proposed
US-Iraq security pact is aimed at keeping Iraq weak in order to
help the United States "pillage" the country ...
cont ...
|
Pakistani Senators Condemn US Drone Strike ...
Pakistan:
Numerous lawmakers from
Pakistan’s Upper House of Parliament from several political
parties condemned yesterday’s US drone strike in a village near
Miramshah, North Waziristan, which killed at least 10 people and
wounded an unknown number of others ...
cont ...
|
Iran "prefers" Obama US presidency ...
Tehran:
Tehran would prefer Barack
Obama to be elected as the next US president in the November 4
poll, Ali Larijani, the speaker of Iran's parliament, has said.
"We are leaning more in favour of Barack Obama because he is
more flexible and rational ...
cont ...
|
Sadrists bloc stages sit-in in front of parliament to reject
security deal ...
Iraq:
The Sadrist bloc on Thursday
staged a sit-in in front of Parliament to demonstrate its
rejection of the security deal between Iraq and the U.S., the
spokesman for the bloc said.
“Sadrists are currently staging a sit-in in front of the
Parliament to demonstrate their rejection of the security deal
...
cont ...
|
Bomb kills three coalition soldiers in Afghanistan ...
Afghanistan:
A roadside bomb has killed
three soldiers from the U.S.-led coalition force in Afghanistan,
the U.S. military said. Violence has surged to its worst level
this year, resulting so far in the killing of some 4,000 people,
a third of them civilians, the bloodiest period since U.S.-led
troops overthrew the Taliban government in 2001 ...
cont ...
|
Key Israel party spurns coalition ...
Israel:
The religious Shas party
says it will not join the coalition Tzipi Livni is trying to
form, in a major setback for the would-be Israeli Prime
Minister. Ms Livni, head of Kadima, the largest party, said on
Thursday Israel would face elections if she had not formed a
government by Sunday ...
cont ...
|
OPEC cuts fails to stop oil price slide ...
OPEC on Friday slashed
production but oil prices continued to fall as concerns about
the global economic crisis sent crude to its lowest level in 16
months. The cartel, which produces 40 per cent of the world’s
oil, agreed to cut output by 1.5m barrels a day, or about 4.5
per cent, from November ...
cont ...
|
