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'Abbas to meet with Assad in Damascus'
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is planning to visit Damascus in a week and a half, Army Radio reported Friday.
According to a senior official in the PA, Abbas is expected to meet with Syrian President Bashar Assad. The two are slated to discuss recent indirect talks between Syria and Israel, as well as a possible rapprochement with Hamas.
Israel warns Hizbullah war would invite destruction
IDF Northern Command chief says in any future war Israel would use ' disproportionate' force on Lebanese villages from which Hizbullah will fire rockets at its cities. 'From our standpoint, these are not civilian villages, they are military bases,' Maj.-Gen. Eisenkot tells Yedioth Ahronoth.
French FM in bid to revive Mideast peace talks
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner was meeting Palestinian officials in the West Bank on Saturday, the first day of a two-day trip aimed at reviving the Middle East peace process ahead of a year-end deadline for a deal.
On Sunday, he will get together with outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and with Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, who is seeking to form a new coalition government following her election last month to head the ruling Kadima party.
Bahrain defends call for regional forum that includes Israel
Bahrain's foreign ministry has rejected allegations that its call for the formation of a regional forum that includes Israel implied abandoning Arabs' legitimate rights or giving up the Palestinian cause.
Tehran rejects Bahrain FM's call to bring Israel in from cold
"With all due respect that I have for my dear brother Sheikh Khaled (bin Ahmad al-Khalifa) the foreign minister of Bahrain, I believe that this suggestion cannot be executed," Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told an IRNA reporter in New York.
"Our Bahraini friends know where the real problem lies and why this (idea) cannot be implemented," he added before leaving New York, where he attended the UN general assembly.
'US radar could jeopardize IDF secrets'
The magazine reported that IDF officials feared that although the radar would enhance Israel's protection against Iran, it might also reveal Israel's military secrets to the US.
Change of heart from Israeli hardliner
Born to the right of Israeli politics, Olmert, 63, was once a prince of the Likud - the nationalist party built by the former prime minister Menachem Begin - who espoused a hard-line position of no compromise with Palestinians on the West Bank and a boycott of the Palestine Liberation Organisation.
As a young member of the Knesset, Olmert even voted against Begin's historic 1979 peace treaty with Egypt.
The time had come, Olmert told the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, for Israel to leave the occupied territories, including the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights as well. In a devastating critique of Israel's system of government, Olmert pinned its fundamental problems on the reality of the military occupation. There was no proper government in Israel, Olmert argued, because there were no proper borders and he dismissed out of hand the security approach that governs Israeli thinking.
"The time has come to say these things," Olmert said. "The time has come to put them on the table.
"In the end we have an opportunity that is limited in time - a time so short as to cause terrible distress - in which we may be able to take a historical step in our relations with the Palestinians and a historical step in our relations with the Syrians. In both cases, the decision we have to make is a decision that we have been refusing for 40 years to look at open-eyed.
Complaints flood papers over Muslim ad AP
U.S. drops plan to set up diplomatic outpost in Iran AP
A case for soft population assimilation
Loyalty and commitment must be a reciprocal process between the GCC states and the prospective population to be assimilated.
Out of a total of 14 million square miles, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) occupies 14.3 per cent of the Arab world. In 2007, the GCC’s population, including expatriates, comprised 13 per cent of the Arab world’s approximate population of 320 millions.
This seeming balance in area and population turns into an imbalance in terms of distribution of economic resources at least when measured in GDP. In 2007, the GCC’s GDP was about 43 per cent of a total $2,500 billion.
Qaeda planner of Baghdad bombings slain
United States forces have killed an Al-Qaeda militant who planned some of the biggest bombings in Baghdad and who killed a group of Russian diplomats in 2006, the military said on Saturday.
Mahir Ahmad Mahmud al-Zubaydi, also known as Abu Assad or Abu Rami, was killed along with an unnamed woman in Baghdad's Sunni district of Adhamiyah on Friday, a statement said. The military said Abu Rami's group was responsible for suicide bomb attacks in Baghdad on Thursday.
Russian troops die in Ossetia car bomb
Seven Russian soldiers were killed in an apparent car bomb attack in the Georgian separatist region of South Ossetia condemned by Moscow as an attempt to undermine the EU-Russia peace accord.
Switzerland to represent Russian interests in Georgia
The Swiss government has approved an official request made by Russia and details would be discussed with Georgia and Russia in the coming days, the website quoted a government statement as saying.
India to revive airbase on India-China frontier
"The airfield should be ready in a month's time and thereafter the Indian Air Force (IAF) will conduct trials to see if a fixed wing aircraft could land at the base at times of natural calamity," Western Air Command Chief Air Marshal P.K. Barbora told IANS.
Defence sources said the base will enable India to boost its communication network and improve supplies to the troops positioned in this region.
UN envoy says Congo fighting could escalate AP
U.S. to arm Taiwan with massive weapons sales
The sales involve a range of U.S.-made weapons systems, including Patriot III anti-missile missiles, Apache attack helicopters, Harpoon missiles, and Javelin anti-tank missiles.
Syria - IAEA can't visit military sites
Syria pledged Friday to cooperate with a UN probe of allegations it had a hidden nuclear program that could be harnessed to make weapons but said its military sites would remain off limits - a condition that could hamstring the investigations.
US envoy in China for talks on NKorea nuclear deal
US envoy Christopher Hill held talks Saturday with his Chinese counterpart amid stepped up efforts to salvage a crumbling North Korean nuclear disarmament deal, a US embassy spokesman said.
British teachers want a ban on religious garb
Quoting a new research, The Telegraph says forty-six percent of primary and secondary school teachers have suggested that allowing pupils to wear religious symbols goes against British values.
Austria opens first Muslim cemetery after delays
Austria's first Islamic cemetery opened Friday in Vienna, ending years of delay due partly to financing gaps and an arson attack while the complex was under construction. Funding by Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) was crucial to completing the site, which has space for 4,000 graves and was originally slated to open in 2003, Austrian media reported.
Arctic sea ice at second lowest level, data shows
Arctic sea ice melted to its second-lowest level since measurements began in 1979, the Colorado- based National Snow and Ice Data Center said Thursday. The ice coverage of 4.67 million square kilometres had only recovered slightly from the 2007 record low of 4.28 million square kilometres, the centre said.
Oil markets oversupplied, price too low, says Iran
Oil producers are pumping too much oil to the market and a price under $100 is too low, Iran's oil minister said on Saturday.
Members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) should respect their output targets to prevent oversupply from worsening, Oil Minister Gholamhossein Nozari said.
Jewellery consumption soars in Middle East
Dubai: The Middle East and China are emerging as the titans of jewellery consumption with a 10 per cent year-on-year surge in the two regions, the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre said.
"There is something very interesting going on. People producing diamonds are asking what do we do with it... there is a definite shift toward the east, the fastest growing regions for jewellery consumption are China and the Middle East," Meeus said.
Russian shares drop, trading halted AP
President Bush signs bailout bill into law
The House of Representatives Friday approved a Senate-passed version of the financial rescue legislation in a 263-171 vote. Democrats and Republicans joined to pass what they called an imperfect but necessary short-term effort to address the financial crisis.
PM To Discuss EU's Money Worries
Gordon Brown is in Paris today to attend an emergency summit to discuss Europe's response to the financial crisis.
Court Clears Presbyterian Minister Who Wed Lesbian Couple
Three years after conducting a wedding ceremony for a lesbian couple, the Rev. Janet Edwards was acquitted Thursday on charges of violating Scripture and the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)'s constitution.
The Permanent Judicial Commission (PJC) of the Pittsburgh Presbytery ruled unanimously 9-0 to clear the minister on the grounds that she could not have performed the ceremony since the church and state define marriage as between a man and a woman.
Dr. Robert A. J. Gagnon, associate professor of New Testament at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and who has been critical of the PC(USA)'s liberal direction, said the decision represents "one of the most absurd decisions ever rendered by an ecclesiastical court."
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is planning to visit Damascus in a week and a half, Army Radio reported Friday.
According to a senior official in the PA, Abbas is expected to meet with Syrian President Bashar Assad. The two are slated to discuss recent indirect talks between Syria and Israel, as well as a possible rapprochement with Hamas.
Israel warns Hizbullah war would invite destruction
IDF Northern Command chief says in any future war Israel would use ' disproportionate' force on Lebanese villages from which Hizbullah will fire rockets at its cities. 'From our standpoint, these are not civilian villages, they are military bases,' Maj.-Gen. Eisenkot tells Yedioth Ahronoth.
French FM in bid to revive Mideast peace talks
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner was meeting Palestinian officials in the West Bank on Saturday, the first day of a two-day trip aimed at reviving the Middle East peace process ahead of a year-end deadline for a deal.
On Sunday, he will get together with outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and with Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, who is seeking to form a new coalition government following her election last month to head the ruling Kadima party.
Bahrain defends call for regional forum that includes Israel
Bahrain's foreign ministry has rejected allegations that its call for the formation of a regional forum that includes Israel implied abandoning Arabs' legitimate rights or giving up the Palestinian cause.
Tehran rejects Bahrain FM's call to bring Israel in from cold
"With all due respect that I have for my dear brother Sheikh Khaled (bin Ahmad al-Khalifa) the foreign minister of Bahrain, I believe that this suggestion cannot be executed," Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told an IRNA reporter in New York.
"Our Bahraini friends know where the real problem lies and why this (idea) cannot be implemented," he added before leaving New York, where he attended the UN general assembly.
'US radar could jeopardize IDF secrets'
The magazine reported that IDF officials feared that although the radar would enhance Israel's protection against Iran, it might also reveal Israel's military secrets to the US.
Change of heart from Israeli hardliner
Born to the right of Israeli politics, Olmert, 63, was once a prince of the Likud - the nationalist party built by the former prime minister Menachem Begin - who espoused a hard-line position of no compromise with Palestinians on the West Bank and a boycott of the Palestine Liberation Organisation.
As a young member of the Knesset, Olmert even voted against Begin's historic 1979 peace treaty with Egypt.
The time had come, Olmert told the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, for Israel to leave the occupied territories, including the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights as well. In a devastating critique of Israel's system of government, Olmert pinned its fundamental problems on the reality of the military occupation. There was no proper government in Israel, Olmert argued, because there were no proper borders and he dismissed out of hand the security approach that governs Israeli thinking.
"The time has come to say these things," Olmert said. "The time has come to put them on the table.
"In the end we have an opportunity that is limited in time - a time so short as to cause terrible distress - in which we may be able to take a historical step in our relations with the Palestinians and a historical step in our relations with the Syrians. In both cases, the decision we have to make is a decision that we have been refusing for 40 years to look at open-eyed.
Complaints flood papers over Muslim ad AP
U.S. drops plan to set up diplomatic outpost in Iran AP
A case for soft population assimilation
Loyalty and commitment must be a reciprocal process between the GCC states and the prospective population to be assimilated.
Out of a total of 14 million square miles, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) occupies 14.3 per cent of the Arab world. In 2007, the GCC’s population, including expatriates, comprised 13 per cent of the Arab world’s approximate population of 320 millions.
This seeming balance in area and population turns into an imbalance in terms of distribution of economic resources at least when measured in GDP. In 2007, the GCC’s GDP was about 43 per cent of a total $2,500 billion.
Qaeda planner of Baghdad bombings slain
United States forces have killed an Al-Qaeda militant who planned some of the biggest bombings in Baghdad and who killed a group of Russian diplomats in 2006, the military said on Saturday.
Mahir Ahmad Mahmud al-Zubaydi, also known as Abu Assad or Abu Rami, was killed along with an unnamed woman in Baghdad's Sunni district of Adhamiyah on Friday, a statement said. The military said Abu Rami's group was responsible for suicide bomb attacks in Baghdad on Thursday.
Russian troops die in Ossetia car bomb
Seven Russian soldiers were killed in an apparent car bomb attack in the Georgian separatist region of South Ossetia condemned by Moscow as an attempt to undermine the EU-Russia peace accord.
Switzerland to represent Russian interests in Georgia
The Swiss government has approved an official request made by Russia and details would be discussed with Georgia and Russia in the coming days, the website quoted a government statement as saying.
India to revive airbase on India-China frontier
"The airfield should be ready in a month's time and thereafter the Indian Air Force (IAF) will conduct trials to see if a fixed wing aircraft could land at the base at times of natural calamity," Western Air Command Chief Air Marshal P.K. Barbora told IANS.
Defence sources said the base will enable India to boost its communication network and improve supplies to the troops positioned in this region.
UN envoy says Congo fighting could escalate AP
U.S. to arm Taiwan with massive weapons sales
The sales involve a range of U.S.-made weapons systems, including Patriot III anti-missile missiles, Apache attack helicopters, Harpoon missiles, and Javelin anti-tank missiles.
Syria - IAEA can't visit military sites
Syria pledged Friday to cooperate with a UN probe of allegations it had a hidden nuclear program that could be harnessed to make weapons but said its military sites would remain off limits - a condition that could hamstring the investigations.
US envoy in China for talks on NKorea nuclear deal
US envoy Christopher Hill held talks Saturday with his Chinese counterpart amid stepped up efforts to salvage a crumbling North Korean nuclear disarmament deal, a US embassy spokesman said.
British teachers want a ban on religious garb
Quoting a new research, The Telegraph says forty-six percent of primary and secondary school teachers have suggested that allowing pupils to wear religious symbols goes against British values.
Austria opens first Muslim cemetery after delays
Austria's first Islamic cemetery opened Friday in Vienna, ending years of delay due partly to financing gaps and an arson attack while the complex was under construction. Funding by Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) was crucial to completing the site, which has space for 4,000 graves and was originally slated to open in 2003, Austrian media reported.
Arctic sea ice at second lowest level, data shows
Arctic sea ice melted to its second-lowest level since measurements began in 1979, the Colorado- based National Snow and Ice Data Center said Thursday. The ice coverage of 4.67 million square kilometres had only recovered slightly from the 2007 record low of 4.28 million square kilometres, the centre said.
Oil markets oversupplied, price too low, says Iran
Oil producers are pumping too much oil to the market and a price under $100 is too low, Iran's oil minister said on Saturday.
Members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) should respect their output targets to prevent oversupply from worsening, Oil Minister Gholamhossein Nozari said.
Jewellery consumption soars in Middle East
Dubai: The Middle East and China are emerging as the titans of jewellery consumption with a 10 per cent year-on-year surge in the two regions, the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre said.
"There is something very interesting going on. People producing diamonds are asking what do we do with it... there is a definite shift toward the east, the fastest growing regions for jewellery consumption are China and the Middle East," Meeus said.
Russian shares drop, trading halted AP
President Bush signs bailout bill into law
The House of Representatives Friday approved a Senate-passed version of the financial rescue legislation in a 263-171 vote. Democrats and Republicans joined to pass what they called an imperfect but necessary short-term effort to address the financial crisis.
PM To Discuss EU's Money Worries
Gordon Brown is in Paris today to attend an emergency summit to discuss Europe's response to the financial crisis.
Court Clears Presbyterian Minister Who Wed Lesbian Couple
Three years after conducting a wedding ceremony for a lesbian couple, the Rev. Janet Edwards was acquitted Thursday on charges of violating Scripture and the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)'s constitution.
The Permanent Judicial Commission (PJC) of the Pittsburgh Presbytery ruled unanimously 9-0 to clear the minister on the grounds that she could not have performed the ceremony since the church and state define marriage as between a man and a woman.
Dr. Robert A. J. Gagnon, associate professor of New Testament at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and who has been critical of the PC(USA)'s liberal direction, said the decision represents "one of the most absurd decisions ever rendered by an ecclesiastical court."