(CNN) — Britain was withdrawing its troops Sunday from Iraq, ending a role that began with the 2003 U.S.-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein, British defense officials said. The announcement that Britain was withdrawing its 170 troops came days earlier by Liam Fox, the defense secretary, who said the troops […]
North Sudan’s army appears to have gained control of the main town in Sudan’s disputed Abyei region after fierce fighting with the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), UN and rebel sources said. read more
US president says US commitment to Israeli security is “ironclad” during speech to pro-Israeli lobby in Washington. Barack Obama, the US president, has rejected Palestinian plans to seek statehood at the United Nations, and said Washington’s commitment to Israel’s security is “ironclad”. Obama was speaking at the annual policy meeting […]
(CNN) — The American, British and European Union ambassadors to Yemen are trapped in an embassy surrounded by gunmen angry about efforts by Arab mediators to ease President Ali Abdullah Saleh out of power, the American envoy told CNN. U.S. Ambassador Gerald Feierstein said the ambassadors of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, […]
TOKYO – China, Japan and South Korea agreed to boost cooperation in disaster preparedness and nuclear power safety among other topics at a trilateral summit held here Sunday. In a joint declaration issued after the summit between Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, […]
The Kahn rape case is indicative of divisions developing within the global financial elites, dr. Paul Craig Roberts says in an interview with Alex Jones. Kahn was obviously set up to be taken off the scene, one of the reasons could be his developing criticism of the ruthless role of […]
European and American experts say changing Malta’s divorce ban would show weakness to radical Muslims, who could capitalize on the island’s drift toward secularism to push for Islamic laws. “Forced secularism is a gift to the radical Muslims,” said Stephen Schwartz, a U.S. author and researcher on the Islamic world. […]
This article was adapted from “Reckless Endangerment: How Outsized Ambition, Greed and Corruption Led to Economic Armageddon,” by Gretchen Morgenson, a business reporter and columnist for The New York Times, and Joshua Rosner, a managing director at the independent research consultant Graham Fisher. The book is to be published on […]
On the rare occasion that New Yorkers talk about farming, it’s usually something along the lines of what sort of organic kale to plant in the vanity garden at the second house in the Adirondacks. But on a recent afternoon, The Observer had a conversation of a different sort about […]
Fractured human remains found on a German river bank could provide the first compelling evidence of a major Bronze Age battle. Archaeological excavations of the Tollense Valley in northern Germany unearthed fractured skulls, wooden clubs and horse remains dating from around 1200 BC. The injuries to the skulls suggest face-to-face […]
KARACHI: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan said on Saturday that Pakistan was fighting America’s war on terror which had not only claimed the lives of thousands of Pakistanis but also badly affected the country’s economy. “The war on terror is the war of the United States but our rulers have […]
The 31-year-old king of Bhutan, an Oxford-educated bachelor crowned in the remote Himalayan country in 2008, set up another royal wedding on Friday by announcing his engagement. Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, who helped usher in democracy in the Buddhist nation, revealed his intention to marry student Jetsun Pema in an […]
The Indonesian government must end the use of caning as a form of punishment and repeal the laws that allow it in Aceh province, Amnesty International said Sunday after at least 21 people were publicly caned since 12 May. In Langsa city, 14 men were caned outside the Darul Falah […]
BERLIN – GERMANY is helping mediate secret, direct talks between the United States and the Afghan Taleban, with meetings taking place on German soil, Spiegel magazine reported on Sunday. Germany’s special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Michael Steiner is moderating the talks, the latest round of which took place on […]
This is not a predominantly racist country, but we are guilty of failing to recognize victimhood in others. By Anshel Pfeffer Almost 30 years ago, my father employed a computer programmer who was an early and prominent support of Rabbi Meir Kahane’s Kach party. Innocently, I once asked him how […]
Netanyahu’s decision to have Israel clash with Obama is not only a dead end, it could remove the only protective wall Israel has left and sacrifice the country’s future on the altar of hollow ideology and unbridled nationalism. Haaretz Editorial Lots of high-sounding words were uttered over the weekend. There was […]
Hugh Pope, Transtlantic Academy | 13 May 2011 The Middle East’s season of popular revolts for greater freedoms has thrown a critical spotlight on Turkey’s ambition for a leading role in the region, whether as an actor pursuing a ‘zero problem’ foreign policy or through the gravitational pull of its […]
by Michael Tomasky Bibi Netanyahu could have reacted any number of ways to Barack Obama’s mention of the “1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps.” Let’s say, actually, four ways—embrace, circumspection, suspicion, tantrum. That he chose the last—saying immediately after the Obama speech that he “expects” to hear Obama in essence […]
Being young and Jewish and realizing what Israel’s occupation is really like, contrary to what we may have been taught in our religious schools or high school trips to the holy land, can be a lonely journey. It can be compared to a “coming out” experience, where sharing your perceptions […]