8745 Articles
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia on Sunday deported a young Saudi journalist wanted in his home country over a Twitter post about the Prophet Mohammed, defying pleas from human rights group who said he faced execution. Hamza Kashgari, who was detained in Malaysia on Thursday after fleeing Saudi Arabia, has now left the country, national police spokesman …
TRIPOLI: Saif Al-Islam Qaddafi, son and one-time heir apparent of toppled Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi, will be moved to a Tripoli prison within two months and then face trial, the chairman of Libya’s National Transitional Council (NTC) said on Sunday. Three months after his capture in Libya’s Sahara desert dressed as a Bedouin tribesman, Saif …
MAMAMA: Bahrain’s King Hamad dismissed the country’s opposition movement as disunited and said the threat of Iran had compelled him to call in foreign troops to crush last year’s uprising. "In a sense there is no ‘opposition’ in Bahrain, as the phrase implies one unified block with the same views," the king said extracts from …
RAMALLAH: A rare public rift broke open Sunday in the usually tightly disciplined Islamic movement Hamas over a reconciliation deal that would require it to relinquish key areas of control in the Gaza Strip. The deal, brokered by Qatar, was signed last week in Doha by Hamas’ top leader in exile, Khaled Mashaal, and the …
Angelina Jolie says it was only natural that her directorial debut should tackle some of the toughest issues facing humanity and after wartime Bosnia, Afghanistan is likely to be her next subject. At the Berlin film festival to present her unflinching drama about rape as a weapon of war, "In the Land of Blood and …
The oppressive world of Communist East Germany was brought back to life in a haunting new film called "Barbara" at the Berlin Film Festival, the first of three German productions in the main competition. A fictional tale of a young doctor banished to the East German provinces because she requested to move to West Germany, …
Unlike the case in every other art discipline in the country, it has so far been a great year for the visual arts. With every new exhibition opening, established artists are making incredible comebacks, practicing artists are presenting excellent work, and young talents are having strong debuts. It’s usually the case that art fares well …
CAIRO: Shares in Orascom Telecom Media and Technology (OTMT) and Mobinil have been suspended pending issuance of a joint statement by Mobinil’s shareholders, OTMT and France Telecom over Mobinil’s fate, the bourse said on Sunday. "The management of the Egyptian stock exchange has decided to continue suspending (OTMT’s) shares as of Feb. 12 and until …
CAIRO: The number of mobile phone subscriptions in Egypt grew by 22 percent to 81.7 million users in the year to November, government figures showed on Sunday. The number of mobile phone subscriptions in October was 80.9 million. In November 2010, Egypt’s three mobile operators, Etisalat Egypt, Mobinil and the Egyptian unit of Vodafone, had …
CAIRO: Egyptian authorities have detained an Australian journalist and an American student on suspicion they had distributed cash to workers and incited them to take part in a strike demanding an end to army rule, the state news agency said. The pair were detained on Saturday along with their Egyptian translator and a local labor …
WASHINGTON: Top US Senator John McCain said Saturday that a diplomatic row with Egypt over the planned trial in Cairo of several workers from American pro-democracy groups can be resolved within days. "I am hopeful that before we get there, we can have the issue resolved. If not, obviously it will be our highest priority," …
CAIRO: The United States’ top general discussed an Egyptian crackdown on Western-funded pro-democracy groups with the head of the country’s ruling military council, as another two foreigners were arrested on charges of fomenting discontent on the first anniversary of Hosni Mubarak’s ouster. The meeting Saturday between Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin …
AL-ARISH: Three South Korean women were freed on Saturday a day after they were kidnapped by armed tribesmen in Egypt’s Sinai peninsula when clan elders negotiated their release, a security official said. The head of security in South Sinai Maj. Gen. Mohamed Naguib said that the three women and their Egyptian tour guide were kidnapped …
CAIRO: Thousands of protesters joined marches around Cairo heading to the Ministry of Defense on Friday, taking several detours around roadblocks set up by military police. Dubbed “Departure Friday,” thousands of protesters marched from different points around the capital, eventually converging around 100 meters away from the ministry, as close as they could get with …
AL-ARISH: Egypt’s security chief for the Sinai peninsula says armed tribesmen have kidnapped three Korean tourists and their Egyptian guide. Maj. Gen. Mohamed Nagib says the tribesmen stopped a tourist bus and took the four, leaving a number of other tourists behind. The kidnapping Friday was the latest in a string this month. Tribesmen often …
CAIRO: The first round of Egypt’s Shoura Council elections was marked by a meager voter turnout of 6.5 percent, Head of the Supreme Electoral Commission (SEC), Judge Abdel Moez Ibrahim said on Thursday. In a press conference, Ibrahim commended what he described as the first Shoura Council to be freely elected by the Egyptian people, …
CAIRO: American University in Cairo students rejected accusations that the university is being used by the US administration as a “tool” to destroy Egypt. A statement posted by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces’ (SCAF) Facebook page administrator implied that AUC is one of the tools of the US administration and its security apparatus …
CAIRO: It was meant to be the historic trial of a dictator brought to justice by his long-suffering people, but the case against Egypt’s ex-president Hosni Mubarak has verged on the farcical as prosecutors and lawyers struggle to rise to the occasion. From the start of the trial on August 3, lawyers representing Mubarak’s victims …
CAIRO: Egyptian Bedouin kidnapped briefly kidnapped 19 policemen on Thursday after a tribesman was killed in a shoot-out with police near the border with Israel, security officials said. The officials said the Bedouin took the policemen at gunpoint after attacking their station near the border with Israel in the increasingly restive peninsula. They released the …
CAIRO: Arab foreign ministers will discuss a proposal next week to send a joint UN-Arab mission to Syria, a senior Arab League official said on Thursday, after a solely Arab team failed to end President Bashar Al-Assad’s crackdown on protests. Ministers meet in Cairo on Sunday to consider whether to extend or scrap an observer …
LAGOS: Nigeria’s secret police arrested an escaped member of a radical Islamist sect suspected of masterminding a Christmas Day church bombing that killed at least 44 people, an official said Friday. Kabiru Sokoto’s escape just a day after his arrest led to national embarrassment and to the firing of the country’s top police official. Presidential …
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian authorities Friday said they had detained a young Saudi journalist who fled his country after Twitter comments he made about the Prophet Mohammed triggered calls for his execution. Hamza Kashgari was taken into custody after flying into Malaysia’s main international airport on Thursday, national police spokesman Ramli Yoosuf told AFP. "Kashgari was …
NAIROBI: The Somali militant group Al-Shabab has formally joined Al-Qaeda, according to a video translation released of a message from Al-Qaeda’s leader. Ayman Al-Zawahri gave "glad tidings" that Al-Shabab had joined Al-Qaeda, according to the translation of the 15-minute video, which was released Thursday, by the Site Intelligence group. "Today, I have glad tidings for …
JUBA: South Sudan must honor promises to investigate, arrest and prosecute those responsible for an explosion of bloody ethnic violence in war-wracked Jonglei state, Human Rights Watch said Friday. "To stem this horrific cycle of violence, the organizers have to be held to account," said Daniel Bekele, HRW’s Africa director, adding UN and African bodies …
DUBAI: Security forces opened fire on a demonstration in Saudi Arabia’s oil-rich east, fatally wounding one Shia protester and injuring several others, activists and witnesses said on Friday. "Munir Al-Medani, 21, was wounded by a live bullet in his chest" one activist said requesting anonymity, referring to the incident which took place late Thursday in …
AMMAN/BEIRUT: Twin bomb blasts hit Syrian military and security buildings in the northern city of Aleppo on Friday, killing 25 people in the worst violence to hit the country’s commercial hub in the 11-month uprising against President Bashar Al-Assad. Mangled, bloodied bodies as well as severed limbs lay on the pavement outside the targeted buildings, …
WASHINGTON: Accused of interference in Egypt’s affairs, US pro-democracy groups whose staff are to be tried in Cairo reject charges they are working secretly for the US government, which largely finances them. Barrie Freeman, director of the North Africa region for the National Democratic Institute (NDI), one of the US groups whose offices were raided …
WASHINGTON: World Bank chief Robert Zoellick said he expects "tensions" as Egypt requests aid from the international lender, which in turn would demand progress on governance and democracy. "They’re reaching out to us, to try to see about financial support," Zoellick said at a conference in the US city of Pittsburgh. "But if we do …
LONDON: Middle East and North African (MENA) petrochemical companies will see better margins within the next two quarters and operating rates are likely to inch higher even as a severe demand slowdown could test the exporting ability of the region, Credit Suisse said. Credit Suisse upgraded Yansab (Yanbu National Petrochemical Co), Sahara Petrochemical Co and …
TRIPOLI: Libya’s Stock Exchange hopes to resume trading by the end of the month after being shut down during last year’s conflict, and five public share offerings are planned for 2012, General Manager Ahmed Karoud said on Thursday. In an interview at the exchange’s new offices in western Tripoli, Karoud told Reuters the bourse hoped …
