Latest Middle East News
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France says Syrias Assad must give up power to end war
Bashar al-Assad must turn over power to a transitional government in order for a U.S. and Russian-backed peace conference to have any chance of success, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on Wednesday. "It is perfectly clear that the main aim of this possible conference is to bring in a transitional government for Syria which will have the full executive power," Fabius said ...
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U.N. warns of mounting reports of Syria chemical arms use
Bashar al-Assad and rebels who have been fighting to oust him accuse each other of using chemical weapons in Aleppo in March and Homs in December. "The Secretary-General ...
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US Oman talk $2.1 billion defence deal
The vote followed the committee's decision to embrace a Republican move to ease restrictions on high-tech US companies that want to hire more skilled workers from countries like India and ...
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Irans Mahmoud Ahmadinejad denounces election decision
In this photo taken on Friday, May 10, 2013, pro-reform former Iranian Vice-President Mohammad Reza Aref, waves to media during his press conference, after registering his candidacy for the upcoming presidential election, at the election headquarters of the interior ministry in Tehran, Iran. He was selected Tuesday, May 21, 2013 as one of eight candidates allowed to push ahead with his ...
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Angry opposition suspends participation in Bahrain national dialogue
DUBAI - Bahrain's opposition said Wednesday it will boycott the national dialogue for two weeks after a crackdown by authorities that has seen "hundreds of citizens" arrested and home of a prominent Shiite cleric ...
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Egypt kidnapped security personnel freed in Sinai
"The seven security personnel have been released by their kidnappers in Sinai," military spokesman Ahmed Aly said in a statement carried by the official MENA ...
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Iraqs demand for Hello Kitty keeps one Aleppo factory open as others close doors
Aleppo was once the economic heart of Syria, with factories ringing the city. But war destruction and a lack of electricity and materials has caused most of them to shut ...
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Asia Crude-MRPL bought Oman oil to replace Iran oil
NEW DELHI | Wed May 22, 2013 12:01pm EDT NEW DELHI May 22 (Reuters) - India's MRPL has bought 600,000 barrels of Omani crude oil from trader Vitol for lifting in the first half of July, two sources with knowledge of the deal said, as the refiner avoids Iranian oil due to western sanctions. Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) has also bought about 600,000 barrels of ...
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BP Chevron Total and other major oil firms seek new terms in Iraq
Iraq are negotiating to revise their contracts with the government, as new production targets undermine the profitability of their operations. Iraq's government earlier this year revised down its national oil output targets to 9.5 million barrels per day (bpd) by 2020, up from about 3 million bpd today, as part of a new blueprint for the development of its energy sector. The new strategy ...
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With 66 growth Patrol sets pace for Nissan sales in Middle East
Sales of Nissan cars increased across the Middle East by more than a quarter in the past financial year, slightly outpacing the overall market. The 26.2 per cent rise helped the company capture a market share of 14.4 per cent in the Arabian Gulf during the period. It is estimated that the market grew by about 25 per cent in 2012. "It would be difficult not to be pleased with 26 per cent ...
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Qatar Petroleum Takes 15 Stake in Total EP Congo
Qatar Petroleum International (QPI) and Total announced the signing of a framework of Agreement whereby QPI will participate in Total E&P Congo through its subscription to a 15 percent share capital increase of this company. This participation reinforces Qatar's commitment to invest in Africa and illustrates Congo's willingness to welcome Qatar as a new partner. Furthermore, thanks ...
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Egypt-Gaza Crossing Reopens after Liberation of Hostages
Cairo, May 22 (Prensa Latina) The border crossing at Rafah city, linking Egypt and Gaza, reopened today after five days of being shut down by soldiers due to the kidnapping of seven guards. The crisis involving seven members of the Egyptian security corps, kidnapped six days ago in the Sinai Peninsula, ended today in an anti-climax, their liberation achieved through the mediation of Bedouins. ...
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Iran’s Bushehr NPP may be launched soon - Kiriyenko
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Thats some guestlist Over 25000 attend Ultra-Orthodox Jewish wedding
John Hall - 22 May 2013 A huge wedding between two of the most important Ultra-Orthodox Jewish families in the world has taken place in Jerusalem, attracting a staggering 25,000 ...
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259 elephant tusks seized by Dubai customs
Africa , where well-armed criminal gangs have killed elephants and rhinos for tusks that are often shipped to Asia for use in ornaments and some medicines.The UAE ministry said the shipment, containing 259 pieces of ivory, was discovered by customs officials ...
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Iraq - Iraqi journalist threatened for reporting on corruption
Iraqi authorities must launch an investigation into a May 14 episode in which a group of armed men raided the home of a journalist and briefly abducted his brother. The journalist, Azhar Shallal, had recently written about alleged corruption.The assailants, discovering Shallal was not home, kidnapped his brother and interrogated him for a few hours, news ...
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Irans election a domesticated affair that could make waves far from home
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad , has been so all-consuming that it has paralysed Tehran and rendered it all but incapable of making the choices necessary to strike a bargain with the west and the Arab world.Not only have the venomous political disputes soaked up the time and energy of the leadership, they have also given the protagonists an incentive to stymie bold foreign policy initiatives lest they ...
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Young faces enliven Kuwaits faded art scene
View Photo Reuters/Reuters - Kuwaiti graphic designer Mohammad Sharaf talks about his work in his office in Hawalli, May 1, 2013. After two lackluster decades, Kuwait is experiencing a quiet revival of an arts scene ...
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Yummie by Heather Thomson Partners With Tiki Style ME To Launch Middle East Distribution
Effective May 2013, Tiki Style ME will distribute Yummie by Heather Thomson shapewear to leading retailers across the Middle East. Tiki Style ME is a Dubai-based lifestyle company with operations in the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Lebanon and ...
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Stephanie Sinclairs best photograph child brides in Yemen
Yemen because it is so prevalent there - in fact, it is considered normal. Some people in their communities, however, want it to stop, and this project was only able to happen because of them.This shot shows ...
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Prayers from Prison American pastor held in Iran releases letter
The American pastor jailed in Iran for his Christian faith has managed to get a letter out to his global supporters, thanking them for their prayers while confirming the brutality of his conditions. Saeed Abedini, the 33-year-old Idaho resident serving an eight-year prison term in Tehran's infamous Evin prison, passed the letter to family members who were permitted to visit him after ...
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Sharon Osbourne Rejoins ‘X Factor’ as Judge
made up recently . Whatever her personal troubles, it seems that Sharon Osbourne’s career is still going strong. U.K. TV network ITV today announced that she will be returning as a judge on the U.K. version of the hit karaoke competition ...
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Kerry says thousands of Hezbollah fighters in Syria
Bashar al-Assad was not prepared to discuss a political solution to end Syria's civil war, the United States and others would consider increasing support for his opponents. Kerry also told a news conference in the Jordanian capital Amman that there were several thousand fighters from the Lebanese group Hezbollah taking part in Syria's conflict, with Iranian support. Commenting on ...
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Iran installs more advanced centrifuges for uranium enrichment amid nuclear standoff diplomats say
VIENNA Iran is moving ahead to update a program the West fears could be used to make nuclear weapons, diplomats said Wednesday, despite high-level diplomacy aimed at stopping it from doing so. Three diplomats said Tehran now has installed close to 700 high-tech centrifuges in an upgrade of its uranium enrichment program since the start of the year. That represents an increase of about 100 since ...
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Israel army detained 2 Palestinian policemen in Nablus of West Bank
Israel army detained 2 Palestinian policemen in Nablus of West Bank NABLUS - Israel army detained 2 Palestinian policemen in Nablus of West Bank.According to security sources, Israeli soldiers detained two Palestinian policemen in Nablus and they were accused of killing a Jewish settler.A Jewish settler wanted to intrude the region of Prophet Joseph's tomb. Security officers opened fire on ...
Middle East Focus
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Israel and Palestine as one country?
Peace in the Middle East, it’s as illusive now as it was ten years ago and ten years before that. For many commentators, peace in the Middle East has become a myth, something local and international governments strive for or claim to support without any real hope of realization of the goal. With the current impasse between Israel and the Palestinian Authority ongoing, an old theme is being kicked around again, that of a single state that incorporates Israel and Palestine.
A single state solution is an idea that grew up in the 1920s and then died with the Six-Day War when divisions between the newly-founded Israeli state and the rest of the region were too entrenched for the idea to retain any traction. The political landscape after the war and even today is what many Jewish groups feared when Jewish Zionists were calling for a return to the biblical homeland to develop a Jewish state. Read more
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