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BEIRUT: Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah on Monday unveiled footage allegedly intercepted from Israeli surveillance planes of the site of the murder of Lebanese ex-premier Rafiq Hariri prior to his 2005 assassination. "Such footage generally comes as the first leg of the execution of an operation," Nasrallah said in a highly anticipated news conference broadcast via …
MOSCOW: Russia is to provide South African nuclear power stations with uranium until at least 2017 in a key deal extending Moscow’s trade ties in the continent. The contract, signed in the Kremlin on Thursday by President Dmitry Medvedev and visiting South African President Jacob Zuma, comes into effect next year. Sergey Kiriyenko, chief of …
BEIRUT/ JERUSALEM: Israel and Lebanon were Wednesday preparing to bury their dead from a major flareup along the border as officials sought to calm tensions after the most serious confrontation in four years. Three Lebanese nationals, two soldiers and a journalist, and an Israeli soldier were killed in Tuesday’s shootout which saw both sides threatening …
TEHRAN: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad escaped an assassination attempt after a handmade grenade exploded near his convoy on Wednesday, an Iranian website said. Tehran state TV denied the report. Other media reported an explosion in the area but gave conflicting accounts about the cause. Some said it was a firecracker. The website, khabaronline.ir, said the …
JERUSALEM /GAZA CITY: Israeli troops fired tank shells at Palestinian insurgents near the border fence, killing one and wounding three others on Wednesday, medics and witnesses said. The Israeli military says soldiers saw a group of men approach Israel’s border fence with Gaza and launched an air strike against them before dawn on Wednesday. The …
ADAYSSEH: Lebanese and Israeli troops exchanged fire on the border Tuesday in the most serious clashes since a fierce war four years ago. Lebanon said at least two of its soldiers and a journalist were killed in shelling. There were conflicting accounts of what sparked the gunfire. Israel’s military said its soldiers came under fire …
BAGHDAD: Qaeda fighters killed five policemen at a Baghdad checkpoint on Tuesday and planted the black flag of the terror network’s front group in Iraq, an interior ministry official said. The flag-planting was the second such move in less than a week and comes as concerns mount that Iraq’s security may be deteriorating after the …
GAZA CITY AND JERUSALEM: Thirty-three Palestinians were injured early Monday by a mystery explosion in Deir al Balah refugee camp south of Gaza City, Palestinian medics reported. The blast occurred in a house where an activist of the armed wing of Hamas lives, seriously injuring a woman. The other residents were only slightly injured. Security …
AMMAN AND JERUSALEM AND EL-ARISH: A Grad-type rocket smashed into a street in the Jordanian port of Aqaba on Monday, injuring four people, one seriously, the interior minister said, while rockets have been fired toward the southern Israeli city of Eilat, says Israeli police. Two cars were wrecked in the blast in Al-Aqaba, which occurred …
LONDON: Arsene Wenger wants Arsenal to use this weekend’s Emirates Cup clashes against AC Milan and Celtic to send a warning to their Premier League rivals. Wenger’s side have gone five years without a trophy and finished well behind champions Chelsea last season, but the Gunners boss is convinced the north Londoners are ready to …
Sofia Coppola’s comic drama "Somewhere," and Darren Aronofsky’s "Black Swan" will make their world premieres at the Venice Film Festival, among 22 titles that organizers announced will vie for the prestigious Golden Lion. Festival director Marco Mueller emphasized the young age of the directors competing at the festival’s 67th edition — averaging 47, the youngest …
KAMPALA: Egypt sounded a conciliatory note on Monday in a dispute over how Nile waters should be shared by the countries it passes through at an African summit in the Ugandan capital Kampala, Reuters reported. After more than a decade of talks driven by anger over the perceived injustice of a previous Nile water treaty …
CAIRO: Pressure intensified on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to direct talks as Egypt held separate back-to-back meetings with the two sides Sunday in search of a compromise. Abbas says he won’t negotiate directly with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu unless Israel agrees to recognize its 1967 frontier …
AL-ARISH: A Libyan ship that failed to break Israel’s Gaza blockade was being unloaded in the Egyptian port of Al-Arish on Friday, a day after docking there, an AFP correspondent at the scene said. The director of the port of Al-Arish, Gamal Abdel Maqsoud, said the diverted ship will unload its cargo and transfer it …
CAIRO: Five people drowned late Thursday and one person was missing after their boat capsized on the Nile in the suburbs of Cairo, a security official said. The boat, which was carrying 22 people in all, according to survivors, probably capsized because there were too many people on board, the official said. However, the cause …
AL-ARISH: A Libyan ship, initially bent on breaking Israel’s Gaza blockade, docked in Egypt on Wednesday after agreeing to deliver its cargo of aid through Egyptian territory. The news ended fears of a new confrontation between activists and the Israeli navy, which had threatened to use force if the ship did not either turn back …
JERUSALEM: A Libyan aid ship resumed its voyage on Wednesday after stalling overnight, with the organizers insisting it was on course for Gaza and defying calls by the Israeli navy to dock in Egypt. But it was not clear if the freighter was actually heading for the Gaza Strip in defiance of an Israeli naval …
CAIRO: Seven construction workers were killed on Wednesday when a dilapidated building in Cairo’s historic Islamic district they were spending the night in collapsed, a security official said. The builders had been spending the night in the deserted house in the Darb Al-Ahmar neighborhood, the official said. A police official said the victims were laborers …
TEL AVIV: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is to testify on Aug. 9 before an Israeli panel probing the legality of a deadly May 31 raid, it said on Tuesday. Defence Minister Ehud Barak and top general Gabi Ashkenazi will also appear before the so-called Tirkel Commission, on Aug. 10 and 11 respectively, it said, adding …
ATHENS/JERUSALEM: Israel on Sunday vowed to prevent a Libyan aid ship from running the Gaza blockade after it appeared to be heading for the besieged enclave, despite a flurry of diplomatic efforts to divert it to Egypt. "Israel will not let the boat reach Gaza," minister without portfolio Yossi Peled told Israel’s public radio, a …
CAIRO: A construction firm bus driver shot dead six workers and wounded 16 others as he sprayed them with gunfire on their vehicle before surrendering, police and company officials said. A security official said that the driver was taking the employees to their workplace when he suddenly stopped the bus and fired at his passengers. …
PARIS: Presidents Hosni Mubarak and Nicolas Sarkozy of France discussed Monday how they can work together to promote peace between the Israelis and Palestinians. "We looked at initiatives it will be possible to take," Mubarak told reporters after a 45-minute meeting with the French leader that also touched on ties between their countries. The Israelis …
ALGIERS: Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak made a short "courtesy" visit on Sunday to Algeria’s leader, who is mourning the death of his brother, in a sign of improving ties between the North African nations. Mubarak, accompanied by Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit, met President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to express his sympathy over Mustapha Bouteflika, who died …
CAIRO: Egypt is taking its first serious stab at clamping down on smoking with a campaign launched Thursday to enforce a ban in the scenic seaside city of Alexandria, no small feat in a nation where four out of 10 men use tobacco. Authorities are determined to enforce a 2007 law that banned smoking in …
SHARM EL-SHEIKH: An Egyptian security official declared the blockade of Gaza a failure Monday and said his country will keep its border with the Palestinian territory open indefinitely. “We will have to. We will not abandon 1.5 million people,” the official told a small group of reporters on condition of anonymity. “We opened …
ATHENS, Greece: Activists returning to Europe after Israeli forces raided their aid flotilla said Tuesday that the commandos had beaten passengers and used electric shocks during the assault. Six Greeks and several others, including a Turkish woman and her 1-year-old baby, were released Tuesday, but Israel has barred access to hundreds of others seized during …
UNITED NATIONS: Israel found itself isolated on the global stage Tuesday as world leaders demanded a swift and honest investigation into its deadly commando raid on a Gaza-bound humanitarian aid flotilla. A day after the pre-dawn assault in international waters which left nine pro-Palestinian activists dead, nations across the world condemned the Jewish state for …
OTTAWA: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave his "full backing" Monday to Israel’s military forces after a raid on a flotilla carrying aid to the Gaza Strip, which left up to 19 people dead. "The prime minister… reiterated his full backing for the IDF (Israeli Defence Forces) and inquired about the well being of the …
CAIRO: Thousands of people from across the political spectrum in Nazareth, Turkey, Beirut and Jordan flooded onto the streets to protest against the bloody Israeli naval operation which claimed the lives of up to 19 activists bringing aid supplies to Gaza by boat. Protesters in Beirut, including school children from the Shatila refugee camp, burned …
CAIRO: Shock and outrage swept the globe Monday after Israeli commandos stormed a flotilla of aid ships bound for Gaza, as the Jewish state’s foes and allies closed ranks in condemning the deadly raid. Up to 19 people aboard a flotilla of ships carrying aid destined for the Gaza Strip were killed Monday, when Israeli …