BEIRUT: Two Hezbollah members have confessed to working for the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency and a third had links to an as-yet-undetermined foreign intelligence service, the group’s leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah said Friday, admitting for the first time the penetration of one of the most secretive organizations in the region. […]
By Rami G. Khouri The Daily Star, Lebanon My pleasure at speaking this week in Ottawa at a gathering at the International Development Research Center of Canada was compounded by the very thoughtful questions and comments that members of the audience offered. The audience raised new questions in my mind […]
EVERYONE wants to avoid back trouble, but surprisingly few of us manage to escape it. Up to 80 percent of Americans experience back pain at some point in their lives, and each year 15 percent of all adults are treated for such problems as herniated discs, spinal stenosis or lumbar pain. But […]
I recently spent a bit of time in the Maluku Islands, one of Indonesia’s northeastern provinces and also an archipelago in its own right. Given it is less accessible to tourists and definitely well off the beaten track, I thought Asian Correspondent readers might like to be treated to a […]
ISLAMABAD: For the first time in the country’s democratic history, the Public Accounts Committee of the National Assembly has directed the defence ministry and the GHQ to submit a report on corruption charges against three retired generals. The generals were allegedly involved in misadventures in the stock exchange which caused […]
VESTAL — The green and gold-robed seniors at Vestal High School were challenged to leave a mark on the community with the same tenacity they showed in the classroom. “This is certainly an overachieving group,” said high school Principal Catherine Hepler at the school’s graduation ceremony Saturday in the Events […]
As if what happened in the Arabia in the seventh century and spread to most of the known world in the next three centuries was a phantom, Wall Street Journal reports some strange developments in Germany: MÜNSTER, Germany — Muhammad Sven Kalisch, a Muslim convert and Germany’s first professor of Islamic theology, […]
By MARIA GOLOVNINA | REUTERS BENGHAZI, Libya: Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi has released dozens of opposition supporters and allowed them to sail back to Benghazi on Friday in a move that could mark the beginning of broader talks between the adversaries. In a transfer facilitated by the Red Cross, a […]
By MUHAMMAD HUMAIDAN | ARAB NEWS JEDDAH: Makkah Gov. Prince Khaled Al-Faisal has approved a religious awareness mini-festival to be organized during the Jeddah Summer Festival this year. The meet, which will feature cultural events, amusement programs and sport items apart from religious lectures and awareness programs, will be held […]
BEIRUT (AP) – Hundreds of Syrians, some with gunshot wounds, crossed into neighbouring Lebanon in search of a refuge from the growing government crackdown in their homeland, a Lebanese security official said Saturday. Other Syrians marched in a funeral for victims of the crackdown outside Damascus, demanding President Bashar Assad’s […]
Amnesty has found no solid evidence of the abuse claims levelled at Gaddafi supporters Human rights organisations have cast doubt on claims of mass rape and other abuses perpetrated by forces loyal to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, which have been widely used to justify Nato’s war in Libya. Nato leaders, opposition […]
Hu Jia – one of China’s most prominent dissidents – has been released from prison, his wife says. Mr Hu, 37, served a three-and-a-half-year prison sentence for “inciting subversion”. His term had been set to end on Sunday. Read More
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has arrived in the UK for the UK-China Strategic Summit. Read More
UNITED NATIONS – The international community should implement a comprehensive and balanced drugs control strategy, Li Baodong, the Chinese permanent representative to the United Nations said here on Friday. Li made the statement as he addressed a Security Council open meeting on threats to international peace and security. Read More
BEIJING/BRUSSELS – Kicking off his European tour at a crucial time in the eurozone debt crisis, Premier Wen Jiabao might find the coincidence a good opportunity to draw Beijing closer to its largest trading partner. Observers from both sides said China, which has been buying European debt during the crisis, […]
This essay dates from November, 2005, but is still very valid. Stirrings in the Desert Heavy Hand of the Secret Police Impeding Reform in Arab World By NEIL MacFARQUHAR AMMAN, Jordan, Nov. 13 – At a cultural festival last year, Sameer al-Qudah recited a poem of his depicting Arab rulers […]
It was probably in the year 1995 when I attended a reception by the Ambassador of Pakistan to Thailand on the occasion of the Pakistani Independence Day. Tables and chairs were placed around the garden. On the next table some Quranic verses were quoted in a conversation. When I overheard […]
When US Defense Secretary Robert Gates devoted his final policy speech this month to berating NATO and America’s European allies, he was engaging in a time-honored tradition: Americans have worried about Europeans shirking their share of global burdens since the start of the 60-year-old alliance. Gates sounded a pessimistic note, […]
The world is witnessing a chaotic transition to uncertainty. While there is a profound transformation in the balance of global economic power, the lack of leadership has created a serious vacuum. Not much more than a decade ago, the emerging economies — China, India, Indonesia, Turkey, Brazil, Mexico, South Africa, […]