Gallup survey finds support in Egypt for Muslim Brotherhood dropping as presidential vote nears

Support for Egypt’s Islamist political parties has plummeted ahead of this country’s presidential election next week, a Gallup survey released Friday has found, while early returns showed the candidate of the Muslim Brotherhood, thought to be Egypt’s dominant political group, running third among Egyptians voting overseas. | 05/18/12 18:29:37 By - By Nancy A. Youssef

Aboul Fotouh could be Egypt’s next president because he’s many people’s second choice

Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh, once a leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood, is considered a leading contender in next week’s first round of Egypt’s first-ever contested presidential election, matched against the former secretary general of the Arab League, Amr Moussa, and 11 other candidates, including one fielded by the Muslim Brotherhood, considered universally to be Egypt’s most powerful political bloc. | 05/14/12 16:37:34 By - By Nancy A. Youssef

Israeli activists worry that Netanyahu’s new majority will mean new measures against dissent

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cemented his power this week with a strategic coalition shift that makes him the most powerful head of government Israel has seen in nearly three decades. | 05/11/12 17:37:16 By - By Sheera Frenkel

For first time ever, Egyptians sees competing candidates debate

Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh, 60, a former member of the once outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, and Amr Moussa, 75, the former secretary-general of the Arab League, dealt with many of the major issues that will face Egypt’s new leader: the role of religion and state; funding for the ruling military; and how to improve Egypt’s faltering economy. Throughout, each candidate asserted that he was the only proper custodian of the revolution that toppled Hosni Mubarak. | 05/10/12 19:11:43 By - By Nancy A. Youssef

Palestinians press case of hunger strikers in Israeli prisons

There is no official word on how many Palestinian prisoners are now observing hunger strikes _ estimates vary from 1,500 to over 2,500 _ but there is little doubt that they account for a substantial minority, if not a majority, of the 4,700 Palestinians currently held by Israel. Two, Bilal Diab and Thaer Halahlah, are listed in critical condition after going without food for 72 days. | 05/10/12 17:10:46 By - By Sheera Frenkel

Egyptian candidates’ tough words on peace turn Israel wary

With less than two weeks to go before the first round of Egyptian presidential elections, many in both Israel and Egypt are wondering if peace will hold. Every Egyptian presidential candidate has publically questioned the peace deal, leaving many in both countries to wonder if an arrangement that ousted President Hosni Mubarak defended for three decades isn’t about to fade away. | 05/10/12 15:33:31 By - By Sheera Frenkel and Mohannad Sabry

Syrian troops say cease-fire hasn’t stopped rebel attacks

With a United Nations-sponsored peace plan nearly one month old, Syrian soldiers in the country’s north say rebel forces trying to oust Syrian President Bashar Assad are continuing to launch attacks on their positions daily in apparent violation of a cease-fire and are strong enough that government troops cannot enter several towns and villages near this city. | 05/09/12 16:52:35 By - By David Enders

Syrian views vary over value of parliamentary elections

Nearly 15 million Syrians were eligible to vote in Monday’s parliamentary vote, according to the government, though it seemed likely that only a fraction of those would actually cast ballots. | 05/07/12 17:00:25 By - By David Enders

Parliamentary vote in Syria can’t cover up country’s violent divisions

Nationwide parliamentary elections are scheduled for Monday in Syria, but in this city not far from the border with Lebanon, the only posters on the walls bear the faces of the dead. | 05/06/12 18:16:11 By - By David Enders

Rioting Egyptians at Defense Ministry say street protests are more effective than elections

The Egyptian military, which has ruled this country by decree for 15 months, “only responds to protests,” Emad Behnessy, 38, a nutritionist, said Friday as protesters and security forces clashed outside the Ministry of Defense. Nearly 300 people were injured and a soldier killed in the melee. | 05/04/12 17:14:19 By - By Nancy A. Youssef

Egyptians wonder if a Muslim Brotherhood president would serve party or country

The Muslim Brotherhood, the most influential political bloc in Egypt, is confronting a new worry among some voters as the country’s presidential election nears: Would a president with Brotherhood roots be subservient to the group’s mourshid, or supreme leader, rather than to the interests of Egypt’s population of more than 80 million? | 05/04/12 15:27:28 By - By Mohannad Sabry and Hannah Allam

Head of U.N. force in Syria says monitors’ presence has cut government violence

The United Nations general leading the mission to monitor a U.N.-brokered cease-fire in Syria said Thursday that he believed the mission was beginning to have an effect. | 05/03/12 19:10:13 By - By David Enders

‘Thugs’ attack Islamists outside Egypt’s Defense Ministry, killing 11

In the deadliest outbreak of violence in weeks, at least 11 protesters were killed and at least 150 wounded early Wednesday outside the Defense Ministry in Cairo in clashes with civilian attackers, putting Egypt’s presidential election and already-fragile democratic transition in further turmoil. | 05/02/12 17:38:07 By - By Nancy A. Youssef and Amina Ismail

Final Egyptian candidates named, but election clouds remain

After weeks of disputes over candidate eligibility, Egypt’s election commission on Thursday announced the final list of names that will appear on the ballot next month in the first presidential election since the ouster of Hosni Mubarak last year. | 04/26/12 16:54:56 By - By Hannah Allam and Mohannad Sabry

Israel’s new ties to Azerbaijan worry neighboring Iran

The burgeoning relationship between Israel and Azerbaijan is raising eyebrows throughout the Middle East, not least of all because Azerbaijan is Iran’s neighbor to the north and shares close cultural and demographic ties with Iran. | 04/25/12 20:03:17 By - By Sheera Frenkel

Obama announces new sanctions on Syria and Iran

President Barack Obama took aim Monday at Syria and Iran, imposing new sanctions on the two regimes as well as the “digital guns for hire” that develop technology enabling the two governments to monitor, track and harass their own people. | 04/23/12 18:25:57 By - By Lesley Clark

Carter Center among 8 U.S. NGOs Egypt says it won’t license to work there

Egypt’s caretaker government on Monday denied licenses to eight U.S.-based civil society groups, effectively suspending their work here, on grounds that their activism posed a threat to national sovereignty. | 04/23/12 18:04:58 By - By Hannah Allam

Rare inside view of Syria’s rebels finds a force vowing to fight on

The story of the Katiba Farouq, or the Farouq Brigade, has been eclipsed over the past year by news coverage that’s remained focused on the Syrian government’s shelling of urban neighborhoods. But in the months since they took up arms last August, Farouq fighters have discovered the Syrian military’s weaknesses, and despite some reversals, still appear capable of inflicting heavy casualties whenever the Syrian army attempts to enter rebel-held areas. | 04/23/12 18:30:06 By - By David Enders

Sudan's Bashir, in Heglig, vows no peace talks as jets hit Bentiu in South Sudan

Sudanese war jets launched four missiles into this key South Sudanese state capital Monday, killing at least one and wounding 10 others as tensions continued to rise along the disputed South Sudan-Sudan border. | 04/23/12 16:38:56 By - By Alan Boswell

Egypt reportedly cuts natural gas supply to Israel

Egypt has terminated its contract to supply natural gas to Israel, ending a joint venture that served as a cornerstone of the peace process between the neighbouring states. | 04/22/12 18:28:56 By - By Sheera Frenkel

As divided as ever, Egypt’s revolutionaries return to Tahrir Square

From a distance, the massive demonstration Friday in Tahrir Square recalled what Egyptians consider the good old days of their uprising: thousands of protesters, Islamists and liberals alike, converging to demand the ouster of outdated authoritarians. | 04/20/12 17:58:08 By - By Hannah Allam

UN's Ban Ki-moon calls South Sudan's capture of Heglig an 'illegal act'

The secretary-general of the United Nations on Thursday blasted U.S. ally South Sudan for seizing an oil town on its border with Sudan, calling the military move “an illegal act” and demanding that the country, which split from Sudan last year under a U.S.-brokered peace accord, withdraw its troops. | 04/19/12 19:42:45 By - Matthew Schofield

Syria’s Farouq rebels battle to hold onto Qusayr, last outpost near Lebanese border

As representatives of the more than 70 countries dubbed Friends of Syria met in Paris Thursday to discuss aid to the country’s opposition, some of the rebel fighters in Qusayr wondered if it might already be too late. The fighters had fled Homs in late February. Now they worry they won’t be able to withstand Syrian army forays into Qusayr, a city that once held 35,000 people but is now largely abandoned. | 04/19/12 18:08:55 By - By David Enders

Egypt’s Salafists on edge of political exile as their candidates are disqualified

For the past year, Egypt’s ultra-conservative Salafist movement has been riding a rising wave of political influence. Then this week, the country’s election commission disqualified the candidates Salafists found most attractive. Now analysts are wondering how the Salafists will react. | 04/19/12 17:48:23 By - By Hannah Allam

In Israel, remembering the forgotten survivors of the Holocaust

According to the Israeli government, roughly 30 percent of Holocaust survivors in Israel live below the poverty line. There are still 198,000 Holocaust survivors living in Israel, but every hour another one of them dies, say government officials. It’s an outrage to many Israelis that many survivors can’t live out their last days in dignity. | 04/19/12 15:48:48 By -

New Afghanistan war photos part of a long, controversial tradition

The photos released Wednesday of U.S. service members posing with fallen enemies in Afghanistan are ‘morally repugnant,’ officials say, but hardly the first to show soldiers behaving badly in wartime. | 04/19/12 14:21:51 By - By Matthew Schofield

U.S. envoy: South Sudan’s capture of Heglig went “beyond self-defense”

The seizure by South Sudan troops of an oil town inside Sudan has put Washington in a difficult position. U.S. policy has long favored South Sudan over Sudan, partly in response to a pro-South Sudan lobby in the U.S. that sees South Sudanese as victims of Sudan’s northern, Arab elites. But special envoy Princeton Lyman said South Sudan’s capture of Heglig went “beyond self-defense.” | 04/18/12 17:20:50 By - By Alan Boswell

Syrian army, rebels trade blows at Qusayr in cease-fire breach

Rebels at the city of Qusayr fought the military in a breach of a U.N.-sponsored cease-fire that was rare primarily because an independent journalist witnessed it. | 04/18/12 17:01:19 By - By David Enders

Syrian rebels, but not residents, have returned to contested area

When the Syrian government stepped up its offensive against rebels before a cease-fire took effect a week ago, the towns between Homs and the Lebanese border were hit especially hard. Thousands fled as the army pushed to cut rebels’ supply lines. Now, as the cease-fire sputters, the rebels have returned, but not many civilians or any semblance of normal life. | 04/18/12 16:19:43 By - By David Enders

Palestinians boycott meeting with Israel’s Netanyahu that would have been first in 20 months

Palestinian leaders failed Tuesday to show up for what was to have been the first high-profile meeting between Israeli and Palestinian officials in more than 20 months, signaling how distant the two sides have become. | 04/17/12 18:46:22 By - Sheera Frenkel

Egyptian panel confirms Suleiman, Shater and Abu Ismail can’t run for presidency

Egypt’s election commission on Tuesday upheld a ban on the country’s three leading presidential candidates - a former spy chief, a Muslim Brotherhood stalwart and a right-wing cleric - in a decision that immediately triggered demonstrations by some furious supporters. | 04/17/12 17:49:45 By - By Hannah Allam and Mohannad Sabry

Ban on Egypt’s top 3 presidential candidates gives hope to Hamdeen Sabahi’s campaign

Hamdeen Sabahi’s presidential campaign was considered unlikely to succeed, until Saturday, when the three leading candidates for Egypt’s top job were banned from the race. Now Sabahi may have a chance, as might several other candidates who were considered second tier. | 04/16/12 17:09:42 By - By Mohannad Sabry

Already, U.S. and Israel’s Netanyahu are at odds over progress at Iran nuke talks

Just two days after representatives of key world powers met in Istanbul with Iran to discuss its nuclear program, Israel has thrown cold water on the effort, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu charging Monday that Iran was being given a “freebie.” | 04/16/12 15:12:32 By - By Sheera Frenkel

Reforms come slowly in post-Saleh Yemen

Seven weeks after the end of President Ali Abdullah Saleh's rule, what is the fate of the movement that spurred the end to his three decades in power? | 04/15/12 15:35:25 By - Adam Baron

Egypt election officials bar 3 top candidates from presidential race

In a move that could rechart the course of Egypt's landmark presidential polls, the election commission late Saturday barred the top three candidates from the race for failing to meet eligibility criteria. | 04/14/12 18:15:22 By - Hannah Allam and Mohannad Sabry

Egyptian lawmakers move to block former spy chief's presidential bid

Egyptian lawmakers voted Thursday to disqualify presidential candidates who served in senior positions in Hosni Mubarak's government, reflecting the anxiety in political circles over the campaign of Omar Suleiman, the country's longtime spy chief and a CIA ally. | 04/12/12 18:05:45 By - Hannah Allam and Mohannad Sabry

Now the debate begins: Is UN's Syria cease-fire working or not?

Syrian government forces appeared Thursday largely to have ended their attacks on anti-government strongholds, adhering to a United Nations-brokered cease-fire. | 04/12/12 17:15:17 By - David Enders

Accusations of massacres and continued fighting as Syria deadline looms

Syrian security forces on Wednesday undertook fewer military operations involving armor and heavy artillery ahead of Thursday's cease-fire deadline but conducted raids and arrests in the country's northern and central regions that left at least five people dead. | 04/11/12 17:04:14 By - David Enders

Violence drops in Syria, but cease-fire success far from certain

A U.N.-sponsored plan to end the violence in Syria got off to a rocky start Tuesday, with Syria's foreign minister claiming that soldiers had begun to pull out of urban areas while anti-government activists charged that military operations were continuing throughout the country. | 04/10/12 18:06:08 By - David Enders

Muslim Brotherhood candidate Khairat el Shater focused on Egypt's economy

The Muslim Brotherhood's presidential candidate — a self-made multimillionaire tycoon — on Monday emphasized free-market capitalism and reducing corruption as pillars of his long-term platform toward Egypt's "renaissance." | 04/09/12 18:00:31 By - Hannah Allam

Fighting reported in half of Syria's provinces as ceasefire deadline nears

Syrian soldiers battled anti-government rebels in half of the country's 14 provinces on Monday, three days before a United Nations-backed ceasefire is to take effect, anti-government activists said. More than 100 people were killed across the country Monday, according to the activists. | 04/09/12 17:52:06 By - David Enders

A Syrian rebel commander bemoans lack of international aid

After spending six and a half months in northern Syria commanding a ragtag local resistance force, whose small arms and homemade bombs are no match for the army's tanks, artillery and militia, Abdullah Awdeh crossed the border into Turkey late last month in search of aid. | 04/08/12 10:53:29 By - Roy Gutman

Survivors tell of bloody aftermath to fight in Taftanaz, Syria

Wounded Syrians being treated in hospitals here are providing detailed accounts of a bloody battle for the town of Taftanaz in northern Syria earlier this week that left the town devastated and scores of residents and an unknown number of soldiers dead. | 04/06/12 18:50:20 By - Anand Gopal

Egypt's presidential race shaken over mother's citizenship

Egypt's tumultuous presidential campaign, already roiled by the decision of the conservative Muslim Brotherhood to run a candidate after months of promises that it wouldn't, was in turmoil Friday over the possible exclusion of a popular Islamist candidate because his mother holds an American passport. | 04/06/12 18:41:48 By - Mohannad Sabry

With peace deadline nearing, Syria sends helicopters against rebels

The Syrian military stepped up its campaign against anti-government rebels Thursday as a deadline for the government to implement a U.N.-sponsored peace plan approached, while the country's fractured opposition took a step toward unity with representatives of Syria's Kurdish minority. | 04/05/12 16:38:33 By - David Enders

Wealth of Muslim Brotherhood's presidential hopeful worries some Egyptians

The Muslim Brotherhood's decision to nominate a prominent business tycoon, Khairat el Shater, for Egypt's presidency has raised concerns that another economically powerful dictatorship is about to take over the politically volatile nation. | 04/04/12 19:08:47 By - Mohannad Sabry

Israeli police evict Jewish settlers from house in Hebron

Israeli police evicted Jewish settlers Wednesday from a house in this volatile West Bank city, heading off what they feared was an attempt to expand settlement enclaves here. | 04/04/12 18:08:50 By - Joel Greenberg

Defectors: Torture of children, rape by Syrian army 'routine'

In addition to shooting unarmed civilians, Syrian military personnel routinely have raped women and girls, tortured children and encouraged troops to loot the houses they storm, former foot soldiers say. | 04/02/12 16:41:47 By - Roy Gutman

In rare interviews, Syrian ex-soldiers talk of killing civilians

Former Syrian soldiers who've escaped to northern Iraq are telling grisly stories of how their units executed unarmed civilians for demonstrating against the Assad regime and staged mass reprisals when residents shot back, on one occasion lining up and shooting 30defenseless civilians. | 04/02/12 16:36:28 By - Roy Gutman

Assad tightens grip on Syrian borders, cutting rebel supply routes

Syria has tightened control of its borders with Lebanon and Turkey in recent days, laying fresh fields of land mines and sweeping through areas critical to rebel smuggling operations in a development that raises questions about how aid, lethal or non-lethal, would reach the armed opponents of President Bashar Assad. | 04/01/12 19:27:17 By - David Enders

No accord on arming Syrian rebels at Friends of Syria meeting

The United States and more than 70 other countries Sunday announced modest new steps to counter Syria's brutal crackdown on pro-democracy protesters, but they seemed unlikely to advance the U.S. goal of removing President Bashar al Assad from power anytime soon. | 04/01/12 19:25:20 By - Roy Gutman

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood names ex political prisoner as its presidential candidate

Egypt's powerful Muslim Brotherhood announced late Saturday that it had decided to nominate Khairat el Shater, a member of its ruling Guidance Council and a powerful business tycoon, to become Egypt's next president. | 03/31/12 19:00:32 By - Mohannad Sabry

One face of the Syrian revolt: a jihadi comes home

Abu Khalid, 28, was born and reared in Daraa, the Syrian city where the revolt against President Bashar Assad began last year. For months from Jordan, he's been providing weapons and other supplies to his comrades across the border. This is his story. | 03/31/12 15:20:36 By - David Enders

Islamist will chair panel that's writing Egypt's constitution

Hundreds of protesters marched through Tahrir Square on Wednesday after the speaker of the Parliament's lower house, an Islamist, was named to chair the commission that's charged with drafting Egypt's new constitution. | 03/28/12 19:44:20 By - Mohannad Sabry

Arab leaders expected to back U.N. peace plan for Syria

With its own initiatives having failed, the Arab League is expected Thursday to back a U.N.-led peace plan during a meeting in Iraq, where the crisis in Syria is expected to be the dominant topic. | 03/28/12 17:34:33 By - Hannah Allam

Syrian opposition seeks unity in Turkey as Assad tours ravaged Homs

Syria's fractured opposition, prodded by Turkey and Qatar, on Tuesday announced a set of principles that would be enshrined in a new constitution after the fall of the government of President Bashar Assad, a move intended to show a united front ahead of a critical international meeting on Syria to be held here next week. | 03/27/12 19:20:31 By - Ipek Yezdani

Sudan sends warplanes over South Sudan as border conflict rages

Sudan sent military aircraft over a key South Sudanese city Tuesday as part of a two-day bombing campaign that has targeted South Sudanese military positions along the two nations' disputed border. | 03/27/12 17:21:52 By - Alan Boswell

Muslim Brotherhood clashing with Egypt's military rulers

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood has launched an all-out verbal assault on the country's military rulers in what many here fear could become a confrontation that would threaten the course of the country's political reforms, including the dissolution of its newly minted Parliament. | 03/26/12 19:41:34 By - Mohannad Sabry

Assad forces still battling Syrian rebels for control of Homs

The Syrian government, unable to quell an armed rebellion despite overwhelming firepower, issued new travel restrictions Monday for military-aged males as fighting continued across the country, especially in Homs, Syria's third largest city. | 03/26/12 17:40:01 By - David Enders

Israel sees new advantage in Iron Dome anti-missile system

Israel's newest weapon sits squarely along the border of this southern Israeli town. The Iron Dome, a rocket interception system built by Israel, guards many of the cities that lie within the range of rockets fired by Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip. | 03/26/12 15:08:51 By - Sheera Frenkel

A new generation of Syrians adapt to life in exile

Rima Flihan is just one of the tens of thousands who have fled Syria to Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and Iraq since demonstrations against Syrian President Bashar Assad began a little more than a year ago. The peaceful demonstrations now have been supplanted by an armed insurgency; | 03/23/12 16:04:40 By - David Enders

Egypt's famous canal city symbolizes country's struggle for calm

After a bullet narrowly missed his head during last year's anti-government uprising, criminal defense attorney Khaled el Dakroury used his underworld connections to buy a Turkish-made 9mm handgun, just for peace of mind. | 03/22/12 16:09:07 By - Hannah Allam

Amid war fever, some Israelis and Iranians talk of peace

Hoping to counter the incessant saber rattling from their respective governments, some Israelis and Iranians have started an online campaign to exchange simples message of friendship and love. | 03/21/12 15:41:49 By - Sheera Frenkel

Worry about Iranian arms flights reveals U.S-Iraq differences over Syria

A diplomatic dispute over whether Iran is using Iraqi airspace to ship arms to the besieged regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad has highlighted differences between the Iraqi and American governments over what should happen in Syria. | 03/19/12 19:44:28 By - Sahar Issa

Experts: Sanctions squeeze Syrians, but are unlikely to change Assad's behavior

Syrians are losing their jobs as the country's economy increasingly feels the effects of civil strife and sanctions, but experts and Syrian citizens alike say the sanctions are unlikely to be felt in any real way by Syrian President Bashar Assad and his regime any time soon. | 03/19/12 15:33:28 By - David Enders

Mourning Pope Shenouda III, Egypt's Coptic Christians fear for their future

Thousands of Egyptian Christians converged on a landmark cathedral here Sunday to bid farewell to Coptic Pope Shenouda III, a protector and father figure to an ancient minority that's now struggling for a place in the new, Islamist-dominated Egypt. | 03/18/12 17:07:45 By - Hannah Allam

Twin blasts kill 27 in Syria's capital, Damascus

After weeks of punishing defeats in rebellious Syrian cities, anti-government insurgents struck at the heart of President Bashar Assad's regime Saturday with twin bombings in the capital that killed 27 and wounded more than 100. | 03/17/12 16:56:07 By - David Enders and Hannah Allam

Move blocks Iranian banks from world payments system

A move Thursday by a Belgian-based financial-transfers company to block Iran from global transactions is expected to isolate the country further and send it tumbling back toward a barter economy. | 03/15/12 18:43:39 By - Matthew Schofield

Tweets of misleading photos feed Israeli-Palestinian feud

Photographs posted on opposite sides of the Twitter divide are reigniting online tensions between pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian activists, even as the recent spate of violence has calmed. | 03/14/12 16:49:54 By - Sheera Frenkel

Anger over NGO trial threatens Egypt's interim government

Just days after American civil society workers were whisked from Egypt to avoid a politically charged trial, outrage over the case has built into a push this week by the newly seated Parliament to bring down the caretaker government. | 03/12/12 19:05:44 By - Hannah Allam

Violence renews debate over Israel's targeted killings in Gaza

For the last four days, the area around Sarah Ziski's home has been the target of frequent rocket attacks by militants in the Palestinian territory of Gaza. Along with about 1 million residents of southern Israel, she's fallen into the range of an extended arsenal of rockets and missiles. Life as they know it, she said, has effectively stopped. | 03/12/12 18:45:14 By - Sheera Frenkel

Syria plants anti-personnel mines on Turkish border

The Syrian military in the past month planted a band of anti-personnel mines along stretches of the border with Turkey, where last year more than 10,000 Syrian refugees fled the Assad regime's crackdown on the pro-democracy "Arab Spring" uprising, Syrian witnesses said. | 03/11/12 22:01:06 By - Roy Gutman

U.S. officials: Assad could survive Syria revolt

Months after the United States sided with rebels against Syrian President Bashar Assad, senior U.S. intelligence officials acknowledged Friday that not only could Assad survive the uprising, but also that they couldn't say with confidence that the opposition represents a majority of the Syrian people. | 03/09/12 19:41:50 By - Matthew Schofield

Ex-Chalabi aide launches Arabic news channel, taking aim at Gulf perspective

In a media environment where television channels are frequently accused of taking sides, a new station based here and aiming to capture an audience across the Arabic-speaking world is promising a counterweight to the current giants of the industry, which are owned by conservative Persian Gulf governments. | 03/09/12 17:33:55 By - David Enders

Israelis express relief at lack of news from Washington meetings

Speeches given by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Barack Obama that focused almost exclusively on Iran and its nuclear program broke little new ground in Washington this week. For some Israelis, that was a relief. | 03/07/12 18:53:39 By - Sheera Frenkel

Pentagon leaders reject military intervention in Syria

Any U.S. military effort to protect civilians in Syria zone would take weeks to implement, the top Pentagon civilian and military officials said Wednesday, underscoring the limited U.S. options for ending President Bashar Assad's violent campaign against Syrian rebels. | 03/07/12 18:09:57 By - Nancy A. Youssef

After years, uncertainty still colors talk of Iran's nuclear capability

On the morning of May 9, 2006, Amos Yadlin, Israel's head of military intelligence, walked away from his parliamentary committee meeting with a sense of triumph. He knew he had successfully shifted Israel's national agenda. That morning Yadlin had told the Knesset's Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defense that Iran could have a nuclear weapon by 2010 if no "sanctions or roadblocks" were put in its path. | 03/07/12 17:58:34 By - Sheera Frenkel

Still no certainty on how, or if, Israel would strike Iran

On a drawing pad in his office, Alon, a senior Israeli military intelligence officer, sketches out the possible scenarios facing Israel and Iran. | 03/07/12 17:54:57 By - Sheera Frenkel

Israel push on Iran included a steady dose of media leaks

Nestled deep in the halls of Israel's defense headquarters, a man known as Agent 83 fingered with care his model of what a potential Iranian nuclear bomb might look like. The agent, who had become an expert on the Iranian nuclear program, was showing off the model to a group of foreign reporters, the third such time he had been asked to showcase his expertise in the second half of 2009. Such access to Israeli experts for international journalists has been critical to spreading Israel's view that Iran is pursuing a nuclear weapons program. | 03/07/12 17:54:38 By - Sheera Frenkel

Egypt's religious hardliners make a rocky debut in Parliament

Only five weeks into their historic foray into Parliament, Egypt's ultraconservative Salafists have earned a reputation as loose cannons for a series of actions that critics might dismiss as comical if it weren't for the group's deep grassroots support. | 03/07/12 17:54:07 By - Hannah Allam

Few military options for U.S. in Syria, general says

Facing questions over U.S. options to stem the bloodshed in Syria, top U.S. military leaders said Tuesday that creating "safe havens" for rebels or imposing a no-fly zone would be extremely difficult because of the Syrian regime's Russian-provided air defense weaponry. | 03/06/12 18:43:12 By - Matthew Schofield

Wounded from Syria finding refuge in Lebanon

Fighters battling the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad have smuggled more than 1,000 wounded Syrians to Lebanon for treatment as medical services become nearly impossible to find in areas sympathetic to the rebels. | 03/06/12 16:49:16 By - David Enders

U.S., EU, Russia and China agree to resume nuclear talks with Iran

The United States, the European Union, China and Russia have agreed to resume long-stalled negotiations with Iran on its nuclear program, the European Union said on Tuesday. | 03/06/12 10:24:37 By - Jonathan S. Landay

Netanyahu appears willing to give Obama more time on Iran

Despite different assessments of the threat posed by Iran’s nuclear program, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday appeared to give President Barack Obama more time to pursue a diplomatic resolution while reaffirming Israel’s right to take unilateral military action. | 03/05/12 14:04:12 By - Lesley Clark and Jonathan S. Landay

Obama says military force is option to keep Iran from getting nuclear weapons

President Barack Obama insisted Sunday he'd call for military action to prevent Iran from securing a nuclear weapon, even as he urged Israel and its supporters to refrain from "loose talk of war" and allow diplomacy and "crippling sanctions" to work. | 03/04/12 16:02:44 By - Lesley Clark

Rebels in Syrian city are surrounded, braced for assault

This city of 35,000 is largely empty. Seven miles from the Lebanese border, Qusayr is the last rebel stronghold in this part of Syria. | 03/03/12 22:08:27 By - David Enders

Syria splits along sectarian lines, shaking Mideast

Resting in a safe house south of the shell-battered city of Homs, Syrian rebel Abu Abdo at first framed the conflict convulsing his country as a war between the Sunni Muslim majority and the authoritarian regime of President Bashar Assad. | 03/02/12 18:28:37 By - David Enders and Jonathan S. Landay

Obama tries to reassure Israel about U.S. stand on Iran

Iran's nuclear ambitions will take center stage Monday when President Barack Obama meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu amid rising global fears that Tehran is pursuing nuclear weapons. | 03/02/12 17:52:49 By - Lesley Clark

Rebel ammo runs low as Syrian government presses attack

Commanders of the militia that's fighting against the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad say they're running low on ammunition here and won't conduct any offensive operations until they find a way to resupply. | 02/29/12 19:04:24 By - David Enders

Ending travel ban, Egypt signals NGO case may be dropped

Egypt on Wednesday lifted a travel ban on seven Americans who were on trial with 36 other civil society workers on charges of illegally receiving foreign funds, the first sign that a case that's chilled Egyptian-American relations may be nearing a resolution. | 02/29/12 18:34:51 By - Hannah Allam and Omnia Al Desoukie

Syria says new constitution received overwhelming support

Amid reports of fresh atrocities in the besieged city of Homs, the Syrian government said Monday that an overwhelming majority of voters — 89 percent — had approved a new constitution that's billed as President Bashar Assad's most serious concession yet in the nearly year-old uprising against his rule. | 02/27/12 17:49:59 By - Hannah Allam

U.S. military receives remains of last soldier missing in Iraq

The U.S. military has recovered the remains of the last U.S. service member missing in Iraq, ending a nearly six-year ordeal involving shadowy militants and a tragic love story, his family said Sunday. | 02/26/12 09:51:05 By - Hannah Allam

Egypt trial threatens future of U.S. pro-democracy NGOs

A trial set for Sunday in Egypt of at least 16 Americans could have far-reaching implications for the pro-democracy movement that has been sweeping the Middle East. | 02/24/12 19:28:12 By - David Goldstein

Syrian troops apparently halt Homs shelling as some wounded are evacuated

Syrian Arab Red Crescent workers rescued a small number of wounded civilians Friday from the hard-hit Baba Amr neighborhood of the city of Homs as representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Syrian government negotiated over a ceasefire that would allow still larger evacuations. | 02/24/12 18:41:21 By - David Enders

'Top levels' of Syria regime responsible for war crimes, U.N. says

As the city of Homs shuddered Thursday from another day of Syrian army bombardments, U.N. investigators held regime officials and military commanders "at the highest levels" responsible for "crimes against humanity and other gross human rights violations" against civilians and opposition groups. | 02/23/12 18:52:03 By - Jonathan S. Landay

Assad commits nearly all his forces in race to crush uprising, experts say

Syrian President Bashar Assad is now using most of his regular ground forces in an intensified drive to crush the uprising against his family's four-decade-long rule in what could be a critical test of his minority-run military's cohesion, according to U.S. officials and experts. | 02/22/12 19:34:02 By - Jonathan S. Landay

Egypt's high court delays Mubarak verdict until June

Egypt's highest court said Wednesday that a verdict in deposed President Hosni Mubarak's murder trial won't be issued until June, presumably to prevent any disruption to presidential elections now scheduled for May. | 02/22/12 18:29:54 By - Omnia Al Desoukie

Yemenis fear there'll be no change with new president

When voting ends here Tuesday in early presidential elections, there's no doubt that something historic will have taken place: Ali Abdullah Saleh, who's ruled here for 33 years, no longer will be president, becoming the fourth veteran leader toppled over the course of the Arab Spring. | 02/20/12 18:42:58 By - Adam Baron

Divisions in Arab League hobble efforts to resolve Syria crisis

The Arab League's sharp internal divisions over how hard to push for regime change in Syria are hampering its ability to lead negotiations toward resolving the crisis, analysts said Monday. | 02/20/12 17:27:08 By - Hannah Allam

Southern Yemen's election boycott hints at trouble ahead

Yemenis will head to the polls Tuesday in a one-candidate election that's expected to make Vice President Abdo Rabbu Mansour Hadi the first president from southern Yemen since the country's two halves were unified in 1990. | 02/18/12 16:33:45 By - Adam Baron

With Egypt in turmoil, Israel builds fence to keep out trouble

Sparks flew across the desert sand as Mohammad Omar welded barbed wire to the top of a 16-foot fence that winds its way across the Israeli-Egyptian border. Against the brown and tan landscape, the gleaming white metal of the fence stands out, an ominous warning to those attempting to cross into Israel. | 02/17/12 15:14:03 By - Sheera Frenkel

Top U.S. intelligence officials confirm al Qaida role in Syria

Al Qaida's Iraqi affiliate appears to have infiltrated Syrian opposition groups and was likely responsible for recent suicide bombings in Damascus and the industrial capital of Aleppo, senior U.S. intelligence officials told Congress Thursday. | 02/16/12 19:12:18 By - Jonathan S. Landay

One year into revolution, Libya is beset by uncontrolled militias, rights abuses

Thousands of euphoric Libyans filled Tripoli's main square in September to hear Mustafa Abdul-Jalil's first speech since rebel forces chased Moammar Gadhafi from the Libyan capital. | 02/16/12 15:43:24 By - Hannah Allam

Egypt sets presidential elections for May amid rising tensions

Egypt will hold its first presidential elections since Hosni Mubarak's ouster in May, a month earlier than previously scheduled, as part of an accelerated transition to civilian rule demanded by revolutionary political factions, state news media and officials said Wednesday. | 02/15/12 18:06:51 By - Omnia Al Desoukie and Hannah Allam

Syria sets referendum for Feb. 26 as refugees flock to Lebanon

Syrian state media announced Tuesday that the country would hold a referendum Feb. 26 on a new constitution even as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees predicted that ongoing fighting in that country would drive growing numbers of Syrians to seek refuge inside Lebanon. | 02/15/12 15:09:39 By - David Enders

Egypt accuses U.S. of using NGOs to thwart revolution

Only days after a visit by the Pentagon's top general to smooth testy relations with Egypt's military rulers, the state news service on Monday released a months-old report that accuses the Obama administration of funneling cash to pro-democracy groups in Cairo after it was caught off guard by the uprising last year against longtime U.S. ally Hosni Mubarak. | 02/13/12 16:31:44 By - Omnia Al Desoukie and Hannah Allam

Arab League seeks joint U.N peacekeeping force for Syria

The Arab League voted Sunday to seek a joint U.N. peacekeeping force for Syria as regional diplomats met in Cairo to discuss their dwindling options for stopping the bloodshed in a nearly year-old uprising against President Bashar Assad. | 02/12/12 23:21:57 By - Omnia Al Desoukie

U.S. officials: Al Qaida behind Syria bombings

The Iraqi branch of al Qaida, seeking to exploit the bloody turmoil in Syria to reassert its potency, carried out two recent bombings in the Syrian capital, Damascus, and likely was behind suicide bombings Friday that killed at least 28 people in the largest city, Aleppo, U.S. officials told McClatchy. | 02/10/12 21:46:51 By - Jonathan S. Landay

Egypt vows to press NGO case despite U.S. threats

Egypt's government won't back off its criminal investigation of American and other civil society workers even if the U.S. withdraws its financial aid, Egypt's military-appointed prime minister said Wednesday, in a case that could spell the end of one of the United States' closest Arab alliances. | 02/08/12 17:02:02 By - Omnia Al Desoukie

U.S. Gen. Dempsey heads to Egypt with relations on line

With $1.3 billion in annual U.S. military aid and a three-decade relationship hanging in the balance, U.S. officials said Tuesday that Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, would travel to Egypt to press for the criminal charges against at least 16 American nonprofit workers to be dropped. | 02/07/12 19:05:57 By - Nancy A. Youssef, Jonathan S. Landay and Hannah Allam

Fury over soccer deaths leads to new clashes, threats to Egypt's government

Thousands of angry sports fans besieged the Egyptian Interior Ministry on Thursday to avenge 74 deaths in riots over a soccer match the previous night, as political forces seized on the tragedy to renew demands for the ouster of the military-appointed interim government. | 02/02/12 07:05:33 By - Hannah Allam and Omnia Al Desoukie

Arab monitors were unprepared for Syria, report shows

The Arab League's mission to monitor the bloodshed in Syria was doomed from the start, with some observers seemingly oblivious to the gravity of their assignment and others lacking the expertise to do the job, according to a leaked internal report. | 02/01/12 17:05:43 By - Hannah Allam

U.S., allies mount pressure on Syria at U.N.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton led a high-wattage diplomatic push Tuesday to persuade the U.N. Security Council to endorse an Arab plan for Syrian President Bashar Assad to step down, but she couldn't break the steadfast objections of Russia and China. | 01/31/12 19:41:35 By - Nancy A. Youssef

Egypt's crackdown on U.S. groups finds support at home

The scenario is familiar to Egyptian political activists: Authorities harass pro-democracy groups, raid their offices, ban employees from travel and threaten criminal charges to smear them as foreign agents. | 01/31/12 17:55:52 By - Hannah Allam and Nancy A. Youssef

Egypt boosts aid to wounded protesters, but many still suffer

Egypt is stepping up efforts to treat thousands of wounded revolutionaries, but many of the injured say they've yet to receive compensation and feel their sacrifices for democracy are going unnoticed by the transitional government. | 01/30/12 16:33:00 By - Mohannad Sabry

With violence rising, Arab League suspends Syria mission

The Arab League suspended its Syria observation mission Saturday, saying it was too dangerous to continue, as battles between security and opposition forces raged just outside the capital, Damascus. | 01/28/12 18:31:39 By - Hannah Allam

Egyptians argue over fate of charred Mubarak party building

A year ago this week, flames swallowed the headquarters of now-deposed President Hosni Mubarak, a scene shown on live television that made the revolution real for millions of Egyptians. | 01/26/12 18:27:30 By - Hannah Allam

Egypt bars U.S. workers from travel, escalating crackdown

Egypt has barred at least 10 American and European civil society workers — including the son of a senior Obama administration official — from leaving the country in a sign that the ruling generals are extending their crackdown on foreign pro-democracy groups. | 01/26/12 17:33:18 By - Hannah Allam

Where Egypt toppled Mubarak, a modest candidate makes his own run

Chanting "Down with military rule," hundreds of thousands of Egyptians converged on Tahrir Square on Wednesday for the anniversary of the revolt that ended Hosni Mubarak's authoritarian rule and left the country in the hands of a few entrenched generals. | 01/25/12 19:06:07 By - Hannah Allam

Egypt's revolutionaries see little progress a year after revolt

A year ago, Tahrir Square was a carnival of unity — Egyptian protesters stood Christian with Muslim, Islamist with leftist, women with men, rich with poor — for the common cause of bringing down Hosni Mubarak's authoritarian regime. | 01/24/12 14:04:18 By - Hannah Allam

Young activists go online to promote Middle East peace

Jewish and Arab activists on Monday held the first day of a two-day virtual peace conference to promote peace between Israelis and Palestinians. The event is hosted by YaLa-Young Leaders, an online group of around 40,000 that uses social media technology to promote peace and development in the region. | 01/23/12 19:05:24 By - Kelsi Loos

1st Parliament session shows Egypt's new political landscape

Egypt's first elected Parliament since the ouster of Hosni Mubarak took office Monday, with several lawmakers tweaking their oaths of office or wearing sashes to reflect the newfound power of Islamists and the disenchantment with military rule since the popular uprising a year ago. | 01/23/12 17:22:27 By - Hannah Allam

After a year of Arab upheaval, Islamists are biggest winners

In the year since the wave of revolts that brought down three Middle Eastern rulers and left two others tottering began, the ascension of the Islamists has emerged as the dominant narrative. The United States and other Western powers - along with Arab liberals and religious minorities - are watching with alarm as conservative Muslim politicians have filled the power vacuums left by the rebellions in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya. | 01/19/12 17:45:31 By - Hannah Allam

ElBaradei slams military as he quits Egypt presidential race

The prominent Egyptian presidential candidate and Nobel laureate Mohammed ElBaradei made a surprise withdrawal from the race Saturday, dealing a blow to young supporters who'd counted on him to guard their revolution from the country's new military and Islamist leaders. | 01/14/12 16:21:45 By - Mohannad Sabry

Another Iranian nuclear scientist killed; Israel blamed

An Iranian scientist working at a key nuclear facility in that country was killed Wednesday in Tehran, the latest act in what appears to be a widening covert effort to disrupt Iran's nuclear program. | 01/11/12 16:22:36 By - Sheera Frenkel

Syria's Assad slams protesters, Arab League in 2-hour speech

In his first public speech since June, Syrian President Bashar Assad showed no signs Tuesday that he was willing to compromise on his crackdown on anti-government protesters, promising an "iron hand" even as his country veers dangerously close to civil war after 10 months of protests and violence. | 01/10/12 17:54:18 By - Hannah Allam and Mohannad Sabry

Ex-rebel official hopeful about Libya's transition

As fighting among militias in Libya continues, the country's former finance and oil minister said Thursday that a strong presidential system was crucial to provide stability following the ouster of Moammar Gadhafi. | 01/05/12 18:11:31 By - Rachel Roubein

Egyptian activists worry Islamist-led parliament will go easy on military

Egyptians completed voting Wednesday in the final round of parliamentary elections, with little suspense over the results: When final tallies are announced Jan. 13, Islamists are assured a majority through the steamroller parties of the Muslim Brotherhood and the more fundamentalist Salafists. | 01/04/12 15:03:36 By - Hannah Allam and Mohannad Sabry

Israelis, Palestinians meet in Jordan for 1st time in a year

Israeli and Palestinian officials met Tuesday in Jordan's capital, Amman, in the first attempt at peace talks in more than a year. As expected, there were no breakthroughs. | 01/03/12 16:15:39 By - Sheera Frenkel

Divisions emerge between Islamists in Egypt

Islamist parties are the top two vote-getters after the first two phases of elections for Egypt's new parliament, but despite fears of a hard-line coalition, serious divisions have erupted between the two main Islamist groups before the parliament has even been seated. | 12/30/11 16:24:45 By - Mohannad Sabry

Egypt crackdown escalates, with raids on 17 rights groups

Egyptian authorities on Thursday raided the offices of 17 domestic and international human rights and pro-democracy organizations, including several that receive U.S. government funding, in a sharp intensification of the military's crackdown that recalled the tactics of the country's ousted authoritarian president, Hosni Mubarak. | 12/29/11 19:09:27 By - Mohannad Sabry and Jonathan S. Landay

Extremists' jeers at 8-year-old the last straw for Israelis

Thousands of Israelis poured into this Jerusalem suburb Tuesday night in a protest against religious extremists who've targeted women and enforced strict division of the sexes in public life. | 12/27/11 17:17:09 By - Sheera Frenkel

Egypt's women protest despite brutal military attacks

This week, thousands of Egyptian women protested in Tahrir Square against military generals who silently watched their soldiers lead assaults on female protesters. The female protest came despite an apology published on the official Facebook page of the ruling military council, a failed attempt to defuse public anger that backfired. | 12/23/11 16:14:35 By - Mohannad Sabry

Palestinian residents of Bethlehem fear Israeli expansion

Israel plans, within the coming months, to construct a circle of Jewish settlements around the city as well as to complete work on a section of the imposing Israeli-West Bank security barrier that essentially will surround Bethlehem. | 12/22/11 16:18:01 By - Sheera Frenkel

Egyptian military defends crackdown on demonstrators

The Egyptian military on Monday defended its harsh crackdown on protesters, saying soldiers are trying to protect government buildings, and it accused private news organizations of colluding with those it says are attacking government property. | 12/19/11 18:50:12 By - Mohannad Sabry

Battles rage as Egypt counts ballots

Egyptian soldiers hurled rocks, cement bricks and glass plates at protesters as the two sides battled in a second straight day of post-election violence that's left at least nine people dead and some 300 injured, according to official figures. | 12/17/11 17:26:38 By - Mohannad Sabry

For Palestinians, prison time is a badge of honor

As Israel prepares to release 550 Palestinians on Sunday in the second stage of a prisoner exchange deal with the Islamist Hamas movement, many Palestinians already are calling it an empty gesture, because historically prisoners whom the Israelis have freed are likely to be rearrested on similar charges. | 12/16/11 17:24:49 By - Sheera Frenkel

Jewish attacks prompt Israeli debate: Who's a terrorist?

A young man calling himself Yehudi Tzadik — "righteous Jew" — picked up a rock and rolled it around in his hand, as if considering pitching it at a police car parked nearby. | 12/15/11 16:41:44 By - Sheera Frenkel

In Egyptian canal city, voters lean toward Islamists

Sheikh Hafez Salama, 86, won't say which party he voted for Wednesday in the second round of Egypt's parliamentary elections, but it's a safe bet that he picked fellow Islamists. | 12/14/11 15:20:33 By - Hannah Allam

Egypt's military rulers to decide fate of Guantanamo returnee

Adel el Gazzar emerged from his eight-year detention at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, with one leg, no U.S. charges against him and zero chance of returning to his native Egypt, where he was sure to have been locked up again by then-President Hosni Mubarak's regime. | 12/11/11 14:57:14 By - Hannah Allam

Israeli travel ban cuts studies short for Palestinians

For more than a decade, Emal Abu Aisha has run a women's center in the Gaza Strip that provides women with training and classes to improve their education. But Abu Aisha, 42, said she'd been denied that opportunity herself. | 12/08/11 14:53:08 By - Sheera Frenkel

Video: Egypt's uprising loses steam

The numbers of protesters in Tahrir Square have dwindled. The first round of parliamentary elections took some of the steam out of Egypt's second uprising. (Video by Jihan Hafiz, Real News Network) | 12/07/11 19:15:26 By -

Yemen forms unity government, but Saleh's fate still unclear

Yemeni Vice President Abed Rabbu Mansour Hadi formed a new, 35-member unity government, state media reported Wednesday, a key step in a Western-backed agreement to secure President Ali Abdullah Saleh's exit from power while putting an end to months of demonstrations and unrest. | 12/07/11 17:21:52 By - Adam Baron

Saudi dissidents turn to YouTube to air their frustrations

The Arab Spring has yet to touch down on the sands of Saudi Arabia, and advocates face an uphill battle mobilizing an apathetic general public that seems to accept the country's all-powerful monarchy. Now, however, young Saudi videographers are using YouTube to air a series of video reports that reveal the underside of life in the world's biggest oil producer. | 12/04/11 15:54:14 By - Roy Gutman

As expected, Islamists take lead in Egypt's first voting round

Islamists appeared poised to play a leading role in Egypt's first Parliament since the ouster of Hosni Mubarak, according to partial election results released Friday from the first round of polling earlier this week. | 12/02/11 18:55:18 By - Hannah Allam and Mohannad Sabry

Egypt's parliament isn't Muslim Brotherhood's first win this year

With results of the first round of parliamentary polling due Friday, Egyptians are preparing for what partial tallies show will be a sweeping win for the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist political force that was the archenemy of deposed President Hosni Mubarak. | 12/01/11 19:11:39 By - Hannah Allam

Tahrir protesters bitter over Egypt's successful first vote

The irony of Egypt's successful parliamentary vote is this: With every vote cast, chances dimmed for Tahrir Square protesters' demand for immediate civilian rule. | 11/29/11 17:31:52 By - Mohannad Sabry

Election shows Islamists truly are Egypt's best-organized force

It rained here on election day, but the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party was prepared: Its election workers, sometimes a half-dozen men or more at each polling station, sported matching neon yellow raincoats and baseball caps bearing the party logo. | 11/28/11 17:55:41 By - David Enders

Video: Egypt uses U.S.-made tear gas against protestors

In Cairo, Egyptian government forces unleash a powerful form of U.S.-made tear gas against protestors. (Video by Jihan Hafiz, Real News Network) | 11/28/11 16:12:10 By -

After days of chaos, Egypt's first post-Mubarak vote goes smoothly

Defying predictions of violence and chaos, Egyptians flooded polling stations Monday to cast ballots in the first elections since the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak. | 11/28/11 10:41:11 By - Hannah Allam and Mohannad Sabry

No joy in Egypt as voters head to first post-Mubarak elections

Millions of Egyptians will vote Monday in the first election since the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak, but the mood is somber rather than celebratory in a country that's more divided and politically unstable than at any time in recent memory. | 11/27/11 18:38:27 By - Hannah Allam and Mohannad Sabry

Yemen's first post-Saleh vote won't be much of a contest

Yemen's new prime minister said Sunday that both the ruling party and the country's largest opposition coalition would nominate the country's current vice president to be their candidate in the upcoming election to pick a successor to President Ali Abdullah Saleh. | 11/27/11 18:18:15 By - Adam Baron

Yemen presidential vote set for Feb. 21; Saleh returns home

Vice President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi on Saturday set Feb. 21 as the date that Yemenis will go to the polls to select at new president to replace Ali Abdullah Saleh, who agreed last week to step down after 10 months of protests against his rule. | 11/26/11 16:46:54 By - Adam Baron

Bombings in Baghdad claim at least 15 lives as U.S. drawdown continues

At least 15 Iraqis were killed and 41 others wounded in two separate incidents in the Iraqi capital Saturday, police said | 11/26/11 10:21:22 By - Laith Hammoudi

Thousands of Egyptians press demand for military council to step down

Egypt on Friday appeared on the cusp of a protracted battle for control of the country’s once-promising revolution, with military rulers and protesters staging rival demonstrations and showing preferences for different prime ministers. | 11/25/11 20:33:00 By - Hannah Allam

Turkey doesn't budge on demanding apology from Israel

Turkey sees no possibility of resuming full diplomatic relations with Israel unless Israel apologizes and pays damages for the deaths its commandos caused last year aboard a Turkish ship that was trying to run Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip, Turkey's foreign minister said Friday. | 11/25/11 16:11:53 By - Ipek Yezdani

Egypt’s ruling generals: Elections will go on despite violence

Egypt’s beleaguered military council said Thursday that it would press ahead with a parliamentary election Monday, though it acknowledged “many violations” by security forces whose efforts to clear out protesters backfired and triggered a wider uprising just days before the landmark vote. | 11/24/11 11:17:06 By - Hannah Allam and Mohannad Sabry

A defiant Saleh agrees to step down as Yemen's president

Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh on Wednesday transferred power to his deputy and agreed to leave office within 90 days, bringing to a climax 10 months of often bloody political wrangling that has left his impoverished nation economically crippled and on the verge of anarchy. | 11/23/11 18:09:34 By - Adam Baron

South Sudan and Sudan at loggerheads over oil talks

The South Sudanese government has seized what had been Sudan's share of the south's oil production and has decided to build a new pipeline that would not cross through Sudanese territory, the latest sign that the two former war foes are unlikely to resolve by negotiation the issues created when South Sudan became an independent country this summer. | 11/22/11 18:31:34 By - Alan Boswell

Tens of thousands in Cairo's Tahrir Square call for Tantawi to go

Tens of thousands of anti-military protesters streamed into downtown Cairo’s iconic Tahrir Square on Tuesday as the nation waited anxiously for the head of the embattled ruling military council to break his silence on unrest that threatens to derail next week’s elections. | 11/22/11 09:55:47 By - Hannah Allam and Mohannad Sabry

Crisis intensifies as Egypt's government resigns

Egypt's civilian Cabinet resigned Monday to protest the military's harsh crackdown on demonstrators as an uprising against the ruling military council swelled into a third day of running battles in downtown Cairo. | 11/21/11 20:39:22 By - Hannah Allam and Mohannad Sabry

Syrian rebel group claims attack on ruling party office in Damascus

Rocket-propelled grenades reportedly struck a Damascus office of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s Baath Party before dawn Sunday, the first attack of its kind in the capital since an anti-government uprising began last spring. | 11/20/11 07:48:58 By - Hannah Allam

Two dead, hundreds injured as protests rock Egypt

Spreading protests in Egypt kill one and injure hundreds, bringing instability to the nation poised to conduct elections. | 11/19/11 15:35:12 By - Hannah Allam and Mohannad Sabry

Kansas City lawyers tried to sign Gadhafi as client

A father-and-son lawyer team with offices in Springfield and Kansas City tried in April to sign late Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi as a client. The two had joined forces with an eclectic international collection of people with careers in the law and foreign relations. They approached Gadhafi’s regime as the American Action Group. They listed first among their membership Randell K. Wood, a lawyer who earned his law degree from the University of Missouri-Kansas City and had a long-standing practice in Springfield. Wood lobbied for the Libyans in the late 1980s for the removal of U.S. sanctions. | 11/18/11 19:44:25 By - Scott Canon and David Goldstein

Palestinians board Israeli settler buses to protest travel restrictions

Six Palestinian activists were arrested Tuesday when they attempted to enter Jerusalem on buses designated for Israelis alone. The group was hoping to bring attention to Israeli restrictions on Palestinians' freedom of movement in the West Bank by invoking the spirit of American civil rights activists who rode buses in the South in the 1960s in protest racial discrimination. | 11/15/11 17:51:14 By - Sheera Frenkel

Egypt's Islamists reach out to liberals as elections near

Shadi Taha, clean-shaven, in a black suit and spit-shined shoes, drew curious stares one recent evening as he sat among local men at a rundown cafe in this industrial Cairo suburb. | 11/15/11 16:57:07 By - Hannah Allam

Anti-settler groups say new Israeli law targets them

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government has thrown its support behind a series of bills that left-wing political groups say are intended to weaken them by severely limiting their funding. | 11/14/11 19:42:05 By - Sheera Frenkel

Arab League suspends Syria, calls for talks on transition with Assad opponents

The Arab League on Saturday suspended Syria's participation and warned of political and economic sanctions. | 11/13/11 10:36:43 By - Hannah Allam and Mohannad al Sabry

Palestinians concede that bid for U.N. statehood will fail

Palestinian officials admitted Thursday that their bid for statehood in the United Nations in all likelihood has failed. A U.N. Security Council committee that's been considering the Palestinian application for recognition as a member state is expected to issue a final statement Friday saying that it had been unable to muster majority support for the bid. The committee released a draft statement earlier this week that made the same point. | 11/10/11 17:16:54 By - Sheera Frenkel

U.S. lawmakers push to keep pressure on Syria's Assad

The United States and the rest of the international community need to increase pressure to oust Syrian President Bashar Assad and develop a comprehensive strategy to assist in forging democracy in the country once he's gone. | 11/09/11 19:04:58 By - William Douglas and Shahid Ali Panhwer

Egyptians fear violence, prolonged military rule as elections near

Fair and transparent elections were a core demand of the thousands of protesters who toppled President Hosni Mubarak last winter, but now that the moment has arrived, many Egyptians are more anxious than eager. | 11/09/11 18:08:12 By - Hannah Allam

As peace hopes fade, so do Israel's memories of Yitzhak Rabin

A dozen students on a field trip stood in front of the Yitzhak Rabin memorial in Tel Aviv on Tuesday to mark the anniversary of the former prime minister's assassination. | 11/08/11 17:47:57 By - Sheera Frenkel

Israelis anxious over expected report on Iran nuclear program

Over the last week, Israelis have been stocking up on water, laying in canned goods and other supplies and in general preparing for a conflict that many worry may not be far off. Others have taken even more dramatic steps, renewing or securing non-Israeli passports that would allow them to flee the country for elsewhere in the event of a conflict. | 11/07/11 18:04:06 By - Sheera Frenkel

Can N.C. State alum Abdurrahim el-Keib re-engineer Libya?

When Abdurrahim el-Keib was a graduate student at N.C. State University, like many a future political figure he kept late hours, toiling night after night to put his lofty thoughts into inspiring words that might incite future generations to action. El-Keib, who was elected Monday as Libya's new prime minister by a national transitional council, is an electrical engineer with expertise in power distribution systems. "Technocrat," the international media is calling him, not politician. | 11/03/11 07:21:54 By - Jay Price

Kenyan forces gathering for push to seize port from Somalia's Shabab

Three weeks into their offensive against Somalia's Shabab Islamist militia, Kenyan forces are preparing for what's likely to be a decisive battle for the southern Somali port of Kismayo, which could either end Shabab's dominance in the region or add fuel to Somalia's decades-long civil war. | 11/02/11 15:00:32 By - Alan Boswell and Mohammed Yusuf

U.S cuts funding as UNESCO recognizes Palestine

UNESCO, the United Nations cultural agency, accepted Palestine as a full member on Monday, angering the United States, which announced that it would cut off funding to the international body. | 10/31/11 17:07:41 By - Sheera Frenkel

For many Israeli 'settlers,' their suburban home is just a place to live

To real estate agents, there's little difference between the homes they sell in Gilo, this sprawling neighborhood of high-rises and spacious streets, and those they offer just a few miles away in Jerusalem's Malcha neighborhood. But Gilo isn't part of Jerusalem. Instead, it's risen up on land Palestinians believe should be part of any future Palestinian state. | 10/26/11 16:24:11 By - Sheera Frenkel

Israel-Egypt prison swap will free jailed American

One week after the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners gained freedom for an Israeli soldier, Israel's cabinet agreed Tuesday to another swap, this time with Egypt to win the release of an American-Israeli law student who has been in Egyptian custody since June 12. | 10/25/11 17:46:48 By - Sheera Frenkel

53 bodies found in Libya raise more questions about fighters

Fifty-three bodies discovered over the weekend were those of loyalists of former Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi who appeared to have been executed after capture, the latest in a string of extrajudicial attacks attributed to revolutionary fighters from the western city of Misrata, a human rights group said Monday. | 10/24/11 17:01:41 By - Hannah Allam

Moammar Gadhafi's dead. Now what for Libya?

With the death Thursday of Moammar Gadahfi, Libya's de facto leaders now face the challenge of preserving the fragile unity they enjoyed while the deposed dictator was on the run as they begin transforming their war-battered nation into a democracy after 42 years of tyrannical one-man rule. | 10/20/11 19:36:15 By - Jonathan S. Landay

Lindsey Graham says GOP opposed Libya mission because Obama was president

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., hailed the death of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi Thursday but chastised Congress for its hesitance to assist anti-Gadhafi Libyan rebels and for criticizing President Barack Obama’s use of U.S. military resources to assist in air strikes. | 10/20/11 14:37:04 By - William Douglas

Video shows Gadhafi was alive when captured in Sirte

Fugitive Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi died Thursday from wounds sustained during capture near his hometown of Sirte, according to reports that were confirmed by Libyan transitional authorities and independent journalists. Amateur video broadcast on TV channels showed Gadhafi's purported corpse. Another showed him seemingly alive, but wounded. | 10/20/11 08:27:22 By - Mohamed Albuaishi and Hannah Allam

Shalit's condition leaves Israel second-guessing delay in his release

One day after Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit returned home after five years in captivity in the Gaza Strip, a deep sense of dissatisfaction settled over Israel Wednesday as questioning began of why it took so long for negotiators to win his release. | 10/19/11 18:40:56 By - Sheera Frenkel

Israeli soldier Shalit probably spent years under ground, doctors say

After five years in Palestinian custody, Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit came home Tuesday to adoring throngs and questions about his long years of captivity. Doctors said he was malnourished and that he probably had spent much of the last five years in solitary confinement below ground. | 10/18/11 19:18:45 By - Sheera Frenkel

Kenyan troops press assault on Somalia al Qaida group

Kenyan troops and tanks pushed 50 miles into Somalia on Monday and Kenyan aircraft bombed suspected terrorist positions in the first stage of a military campaign intended to destroy the Islamist insurgent group al Shabab. | 10/17/11 19:08:01 By - Alan Boswell and Mohammed Yusuf

For Israel's Shalit, freedom will start a long road to recovery

Dr. Mickey Zeifa knows better than most what captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit will face when he is released Tuesday. While much of Israel prepared to celebrate Shalit’s return in a prisoner exchange that will see 477 jailed Palestinians also go free Tuesday, Zeifa prepared to welcome a new member to his support group — Awake at Night — whose members are Israeli soldiers who were captured or held hostage in the line of duty. | 10/17/11 18:35:18 By - Sheera Frenkel

Rabin memorial defaced to protest Israel-Hamas prisoner swap

An Israeli man who lost five family members in the 2001 suicide bombing of a Jerusalem pizza restaurant on Friday defaced the memorial to Israel's assassinated Prime Minster Yitzhak Rabin as tension continued to mount here over next week's Israel-Hamas prisoner exchange. | 10/14/11 17:01:03 By - Sheera Frenkel

Israeli victims of violence feel mixed emotions on prisoner swap

While a celebratory atmosphere has settled over much of Israel in anticipation of the release next week of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit after more than five years of captivity, for some families, the upcoming prisoner exchange is a bitter reminder of all they've lost. | 10/13/11 17:33:49 By - Sheera Frenkel

Libyan rebels abuse, torture prisoners, rights group says

Libyan revolutionary forces are holding more than 2,500 detainees in makeshift prisons where they're subjected to beatings and languish without charges, the human rights advocacy group Amnesty International said Wednesday. | 10/12/11 18:53:33 By - Hannah Allam

Bitter enemies Hamas, Israel both win in prisoner swap

A prisoner swap that will exchange one hostage Israeli soldier for 1,027 jailed Palestinians was being hailed Wednesday as a victory for both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the leadership of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, a supreme irony in a world where Israel and Hamas have vowed to destroy each other. | 10/12/11 18:13:42 By - Sheera Frenkel

Israel, Hamas agree to huge prisoner exchange

Israeli and the Palestinian group Hamas agreed Tuesday to a vast prisoner exchange that would free Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in return for the largest release ever of Palestinians held in Israeli jails. | 10/11/11 18:40:15 By - Sheera Frenkel

With Gadhafi on the run, focus turns to Sahara's Tuareg

Stragglers on the march to modernity, swords at their sides, the nomadic Tuareg of West Africa, long a footnote in world affairs, may be about to take a more central role in counter-terrorism policy, thanks to the ouster of Libya's former leader Moammar Gadhafi. | 10/11/11 17:46:31 By - Alan Boswell

Tally of Coptic protest violence in Cairo: 22 dead, 327 injured

At Cairo's Coptic Hospital, 22 bodies lay in the morgue early Monday, silenced witnesses to what everyone agrees was the worst outbreak of violence to wrack this tense city since President Hosni Mubarak was forced from power eight months ago. | 10/10/11 19:36:26 By - Mohannad Sabry

At least 19 dead in Egypt church protests

A march by Coptic Christians turned deadly when protesters clashed with government forces in central Cairo, leaving at least 19 people dead and more than 200 injured in one of the bloodiest days in Egypt since the fall of Hosni Mubarak. | 10/09/11 19:33:31 By - Mohannad Sabry

Six weeks after Gadhafi's fall, Libya's rebels can't get their story straight

Libya's interim rulers were busy this week: They cheered the imminent fall of Moammar Gadhafi's hometown, ordered trigger-happy revolutionary fighters out of the capital, formed a new caretaker Cabinet and announced the discovery of 900 corpses in two mass graves. Only problem was, all those moves turned out to be premature, exaggerated or patently false. | 10/06/11 18:33:21 By - Hannah Allam

'End is in sight' for Libya mission, NATO says

NATO defense ministers said Thursday that the alliance would end its six-month mission in Libya once deposed leader Moammar Gadhafi can no longer mount attacks against civilians — a point that they suggested was imminent even though Gadhafi has evaded capture. | 10/06/11 16:53:28 By - Nancy A. Youssef

NATO chief says Libya mission doesn't hinge on Gadhafi's capture

Former Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi doesn't need to be captured or killed for NATO forces to end their mission in Libya, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Wednesday. | 10/05/11 16:24:52 By - Nancy A. Youssef

Libyan civilian toll from NATO bombings still unknown

When late-night NATO airstrikes rained down on this hardscrabble farming village, Majar, then-leader Moammar Gadhafi's propaganda machine kicked into overdrive. | 10/04/11 18:19:59 By - Hannah Allam

Family tells of terror from armed Gadhafi loyalists in Sirte

Militiamen loyal to Moammar Gadhafi swarm the streets of Sirte, brandishing rocket-propelled grenade launchers and passing out heavy weapons, including belt-fed machine guns, to anyone who's willing to fight. The electricity's been cut off since August, and those with generators are suspected of listening to news from the outside, marking them as disloyal. | 10/03/11 16:39:40 By - Hannah Allam

Arab Spring increases pressure on Israel to negotiate, Panetta says

In the face of the regime changes brought by the Arab Spring, negotiating with the Palestinians is all the more important for an “increasingly isolated” Israel, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Sunday en route to the Middle East. | 10/02/11 20:13:11 By - Nancy Youssef

American Samir Khan killed in U.S. attack in Yemen along with Awlaki

Samir Khan, who left his northeast Charlotte home for Yemen and became editor of an al Qaida-linked web magazine, was among the militants reported killed Friday in a U.S. air strike in Yemen. | 09/30/11 11:43:18 By - Steve Lyttle

Egypt's angry political groups say they'll boycott elections

In a major setback on Egypt's path to democracy, dozens of the country's political parties and movements announced Thursday that they'll boycott the first parliamentary elections scheduled since former President Hosni Mubarak's government collapsed seven months ago. | 09/29/11 19:20:39 By - Mohannad Sabry

A reporter in Libya wonders about lessons of war

Before I left for Libya to cover Moammar Gadhafi's flight from Tripoli and its aftermath, my roommate in Cairo remarked that I didn't look excited to be going. "I'm not sure what else I can learn about war," I said. | 09/28/11 15:28:03 By - David Enders

Egyptian military sets dates for elections, and the reaction is dismay

Egypt's ruling military council on Tuesday announced a long-awaited schedule for selecting a new civilian government that foresees parliament holding its first session on March 17, 2012, more than a year after the toppling of former President Hosni Mubarak. | 09/27/11 19:18:53 By - Mohannad Sabry

Read what Tantawi is alleged to have said at Mubarak's trial

The following transcript appeared on Egyptian social media sites, which claimed it was testimony by Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, the chairman of Egypt's Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, at the trial of former President Hosni Mubarak on charges Mubarak ordered the killing of protesters seeking an end to his rule. The questions were asked by Judge Ahmad Refaat, who had banned coverage of the testimony. There was no official confirmation or denial of the legitimacy of the transcript. McClatchy special correspondent Mohannad Sabry translated. | 09/27/11 18:18:44 By -

Bellicose talk as Turkey debuts a warship

Turkey officially accepted delivery of its first domestically manufactured warship Tuesday at a ceremony that underscored the country's push to become a regional power. | 09/27/11 16:51:44 By - Ipek Yezdani

Egyptian women, long allowed to vote, see little progress from revolt

Thousands of Egyptian women fought in the 18-day uprising that unseated longtime President Hosni Mubarak. They hurled stones at pro-regime attackers, delivered meals to hungry protesters, and drew global attention to the struggle through their blogs and Twitter accounts. | 09/26/11 16:33:51 By - Hannah Allam

Misrata demand for leading role in transition roiling Libya's politics

Few Libyans dispute that the western city of Misrata suffered devastation and fielded the best fighters in the battle to topple Moammar Gadhafi's regime, but how those sacrifices are rewarded is one of the main debates stalling the next phase of an interim government. | 09/26/11 06:21:06 By - Hannah Allam

Six explosions in Karbala province kill 10

BAGHDAD, Iraq — A chain of six explosions, involving car bombs, motorcycle bombs and roadside bombs was unleashed on the center of the Shiite pilgrimage city of Karbala Sunday, killing 10 civilians and wounding at least 70, Iraqi police said. | 09/26/11 06:10:23 By - Laith Hammoudi

Yemen's President Saleh addresses nation for first time since return

President Ali Abdullah Saleh addressed the Yemeni people Sunday for the first time since returning to the increasingly volatile nation, calling for direct elections but not making any direct pledge to step down. | 09/26/11 06:07:59 By - Adam Baron

Yemen's Saleh shows no signs of stepping down in TV address

President Ali Abdullah Saleh addressed the Yemeni people Sunday for the first time since returning to the increasingly volatile nation, calling for direct elections but not making any direct pledge to step down. | 09/25/11 20:21:53 By - Adam Baron

New try at peace talks after Palestinians ask to join UN

Hours after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas made an impassioned appeal for full U.N. membership for an independent Palestinian state, U.S. and European diplomats on Friday proposed a new round of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks to begin within a month, with the goal of reaching a deal by the end of 2012. | 09/23/11 19:43:35 By - Lesley Clark

Palestinians celebrate Abbas' historic declaration of U.N. bid

The Palestinian bid for U.N. membership may face a certain veto from the United States in the Security Council, but on Friday there was no hint that anyone in the West Bank saw it as anything other than a historic moment. | 09/23/11 17:35:58 By - Sheera Frenkel

President returns to Yemen, unsettling an already tense nation

President Ali Abdullah Saleh unexpectedly returned to the capital Friday morning after more than three months of medical treatment and convalescence in Saudi Arabia in a move that threatened an escalation of violence in this increasingly volatile city. | 09/23/11 09:09:01 By - Adam Baron

Fleeing Syrian activists are finding a haven in Libya

Syrian activists fleeing persecution for taking part in the six-month-old revolt against their government are flocking to Libya, where they face no visa requirements and can find work easily because of the exodus of foreign laborers during the uprising against Moammar Gadhafi. | 09/23/11 04:44:08 By - Hannah Allam

Libya fighters say they've cut key Gadhafi escape route

After fierce battles in desert towns and oases, revolutionary forces now control most of Libya's vast south, making it harder for Moammar Gadhafi's loyalists to flee into neighboring Niger, Chad and Algeria, southern representatives to the interim ruling authority said Thursday. | 09/22/11 18:59:36 By - Hannah Allam

Egypt's military rulers won't lift hated emergency law until next year

Egypt's caretaker military government announced Wednesday that the emergency law that allows it to jail people without charges and try civilians before military courts will not be lifted until the middle of next year. | 09/21/11 18:11:23 By - Mohannad Sabry

For Libyans, photos of the dead recall their sad history

In the main square of this coastal city, portraits of the dead cover every wall. This makeshift memorial is where Benghazi families can, for the first time, share their private heartbreak over the victims of Gadhafi's 42-year rule in the newly renamed Freedom Square. Similar displays are springing up in other cities, grim illustrations to the Libyan story of suffering and, finally, rebellion. | 09/21/11 16:36:37 By - Hannah Allam

Revolutionary unity tested as Libya's ex-rebels face setbacks

A month after jubilant revolutionary fighters seized control of Tripoli, the movement is grappling with military and political setbacks in the struggle to wrest all of Libya from Moammar Gadhafi's loyalists. | 09/20/11 19:19:56 By - Hannah Allam

Obama to Palestinians: Seek goals at negotiating table, not the UN

With his administration and U.S. allies unable to dissuade Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas from pursuing membership at the United Nations, President Barack Obama will make a case Wednesday for reviving the moribund Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. | 09/20/11 19:19:14 By - Lesley Clark

Congressional effort would block Palestinian funding if statehood pursued

Republican U.S. Rep. Kay Granger of Texas, who took over a key U.S. House funding subcommittee in January, has emerged as a behind-the-scenes power player in the Israel-Palestinian Authority face-off that is coming to a head this week at the United Nations. | 09/20/11 19:05:51 By - Maria Recio

Niger town fears Libya turmoil will boost al Qaida group

On the southern edge of the Sahara desert, 600 miles from the Libyan border, residents of this dusty town are worrying that they're about to become another wartime lesson in the law of unintended consequences. | 09/20/11 13:51:11 By - Alan Boswell

U.N. showdown looms as Palestinians press statehood

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas reaffirmed his determination Monday to seek full United Nations membership, spurning the latest attempt by White House negotiators to avoid having to block the move and inflaming anti-American anger in the Middle East. | 09/19/11 19:34:35 By - Lesley Clark, Sheera Frenkel and Jonathan S. Landay

Mother of anti-Gadhafi militant finally talks about her family's fight

This is the price Zeinab Suleiman paid for her family's fight against Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi: five dead sons, two more in an Iraqi prison, a slain brother, three fatherless granddaughters, and too many arrests and raids to count. | 09/19/11 17:22:27 By - Hannah Allam

Death toll tops 50 as clashes continue in Yemen

The Yemeni capital was rocked by violence Monday for a second straight day as government forces clashed with demonstrators and defected soldiers, leaving at least 25 people dead. | 09/19/11 16:38:44 By - Adam Baron

Blast hits home of officer at center of Pakistan's terrorist fight

A suicide bomber driving an explosives-laden car rammed into the house of a senior counterterrorism police official Monday in the southern city of Karachi, killing eight people but not the officer who was the apparent target, officials said. | 09/19/11 15:42:43 By - Saeed Shah

Niger calls for help to monitor its border with Libya

The government of Niger on Friday called for international assistance to track what it said was a huge number of weapons and people that have flooded into the country from Libya in the weeks since the government of Moammar Gadhafi collapsed. It also announced that it would not return Gadhafi figures who've fled here if they might face the death penalty at home. | 09/16/11 19:53:50 By - Alan Boswell

Libyan employees 'saved oil, gas sector,' oil minister says

When Moammar Gadhafi's loyalists fled this sprawling refinery and petrochemical complex in late August, shortly after Tripoli fell, they left behind lethal "forget-me-nots" for the revolutionaries who unseated him. | 09/16/11 17:27:31 By - Roy Gutman

Palestinians to submit statehood bid next Friday

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas formally announced Friday that he will ask the U.N. Security Council to endorse his statehood bid, putting the United States in line for a showdown with the Palestinians and their supporters across the Arab world. | 09/16/11 16:36:06 By - Sheera Frenkel

Regaining confiscated property next fight for many in Libya

Fawzi Darnawi's fight to get back a house that belonged to his father is almost as old as he is. Under former Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's Sultat al Shaab ("Power of the People") program in the 1970s and '80s, the government confiscated thousands of businesses and properties. Many of the confiscated houses then were sold to new owners or rented out by the government itself. | 09/16/11 15:58:53 By - David Enders

Palestinians rebuff Obama, edge closer to statehood bid

Palestinian leaders on Thursday rebuffed the latest U.S. attempt to dissuade them from seeking U.N. recognition of a Palestinian state, all but guaranteeing a veto by the Obama administration that would please domestic supporters of Israel but further inflame anti-U.S. anger across the changing Middle East. | 09/15/11 19:32:19 By - Sheera Frenkel, Jonathan S. Landay and Lesley Clark

Tiny Burkina Faso confronts Gadhafi's enormous legacy

Even though his portrait no longer graces the lobby of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso's premier hotel, fallen Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's presence in this West African nation won't fade quickly. | 09/15/11 16:51:53 By - Alan Boswell

A familiar face emerges to lead Libya's new army

Former Libyan military officers packed an auditorium here on Wednesday to listen to the man who has been appointed to lead the country's army as the leaders of the movement that deposed dictator Moammar Gadhafi's last month attempt to consolidate their control. | 09/14/11 18:22:48 By - David Enders

Palestinian anger rising against U.S. over U.N. resolution

Palestinian shopkeeper Fadi Bin Masraf was busy this week, putting away stacks of merchandise that feature the U.S. flag as part of imitation-designer American brands. | 09/14/11 17:47:06 By - Sheera Frenkel

Palestinian search for U.N. membership puts U.S. in bind

Palestinian leaders will ask the U.N. Security Council for full United Nations membership, Palestinian officials said Tuesday, despite a U.S. vow to veto the move and fears that it could deal a fatal blow to the moribund peace process. | 09/13/11 19:59:08 By - Sheera Frenkel and Jonathan S. Landay

Turkish premier's blast at Israel welcomed in Cairo

Israel's increasing isolation in a changing Middle East became clear Tuesday when the prime minister of Turkey, once one of the Jewish state's most dependable allies, kicked off a state visit here with a series of fiery speeches in which he branded Israel a criminal and demanded U.N. recognition for a Palestinian state. | 09/13/11 18:09:13 By - Hannah Allam and Mohannad Sabry

Egypt police raid Al Jazeera office as sense of crisis grows

Security police raided the Egyptian offices of the Al Jazeera news channel Sunday and detained a member of its technical staff in the first move of its kind against a foreign news organization since the ruling military council declared a state of emergency in the wake of the storming of the Israeli embassy here. | 09/11/11 17:58:17 By - Mohannad Sabry

Libyan rebels accuse pro-Gadhafi forces of holding 'human shields'

Libyan rebels have broken off their assault on a key city south of Tripoli after discovering that forces loyal to ousted dictator Moammar Gadhafi there had placed Russian-made Grad rockets and mortars on the roofs of houses filled with civilians, the rebels' military spokesman said Sunday. The decision to halt the rebel offensive on Bani Walid makes it unlikely the rebels would have full control of the country before the end of September. | 09/11/11 17:58:00 By - Roy Gutman

Israel facing 'diplomatic tsunami' with Arab neighbors

The attack on the Israeli embassy in Cairo has brought into sharp relief Israel's increasing isolation in a still region grappling with the changes of the Arab Spring. | 09/10/11 18:34:10 By - Sheera Frenkel

Egypt declares emergency after Israeli embassy attack

Egypt declared a state of emergency Saturday after a mob stormed the Israeli embassy, forcing the evacuation of the ambassador and dealing what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called a "severe injury to the fabric of peace" between the two increasingly uneasy allies. | 09/10/11 18:29:19 By - Mohannad Sabry

Libya looks to restart oil production, but skirmishes go on

Libya's transitional government plans to resume crude oil and gas production within days, a senior official said Saturday, even as revolutionary fighters were driven back in their attempt to oust holdouts loyal to ex-strongman Moammar Gadhafi. | 09/10/11 18:29:00 By - Roy Gutman and David Enders

Demonstrators storm Israeli embassy building in Cairo

Dozens of protesters stormed the building housing the Israeli embassy in Cairo Friday, breaking down a security wall and seizing documents from a storage area in the worst anti-Israeli violence since President Hosni Mubarak was ousted from office seven months ago. | 09/09/11 20:19:29 By - Mohannad Sabry

Rebels say Gadhafi loyalists holding hostages outside Sirte

Forces loyal to Moammar Gadhafi have moved hundreds of hostages to a village outside Sirte in what appear to be preparations for a final violent stand, officials of the National Transitional Council said Thursday. | 09/08/11 18:54:18 By - Roy Gutman and David Enders

Arms smuggling explodes across Egypt-Libya border

The NATO-backed war in Libya has turned the ramshackle Egyptian border town of Salloum into a multimillion-dollar smuggling hub, with at least two huge shipments of weapons seized in recent weeks and many more loads passing into Egypt undetected, smugglers and military officials say. | 09/08/11 17:31:01 By - Mohannad Sabry

A Gadhafi exile in Africa is unlikely, experts say

Despite reports that Moammar Gadhafi is fleeing toward Niger or nearby Burkina Faso, few experts on African politics believe it is likely he would be granted refuge in either country. | 09/07/11 19:15:33 By - Alan Boswell

African women say rebels raped them in Libyan camp

When the sun sets on the refugee camp for black Africans that has sprung up at the marina in this town six miles west of Tripoli, the women here brace for the worst. | 09/07/11 18:40:57 By - David Enders

2 convoys of Gadhafi aides roll into Niger, but where's their leader?

As members of the ousted government of Moammar Gadhafi rolled into Niger with gold, jewels, cash and other state property on Tuesday, the U.S. said it had asked Niger to arrest those who could be prosecuted and return the property to the people of Libya. | 09/06/11 18:41:17 By - Roy Gutman and Jonathan S. Landay

NATO strategy for Gadhafi holdouts: first leaflets, then bombs

As Libya's revolutionary regime prepares for a military assault on three towns still controlled by Moammar Gadhafi loyalists, NATO aircraft backing the new authorities aren't just destroying missiles and tanks. | 09/05/11 19:04:50 By - Roy Gutman

Fistfights, insults disrupt Mubarak trial testimony

Not even an hour into the third day of the trial of deposed Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, a fistfight broke out in court Monday and insults flew between his supporters and detractors as an exasperated judge tried to restore order to the chaotic proceedings. | 09/05/11 17:25:15 By - Mohannad Sabry

Both sides in Libya conflict clash at Gadhafi stronghold

BENGHAZI, Libya — Loyalists of Moammar Gadhafi fired on "Free Libya" forces Sunday as they advanced on one of the last strongholds of the ousted leader, quashing hopes for a peaceful handover of the town, the rebel military spokesman said. | 09/04/11 17:36:45 By - Roy Gutman and David Enders

In Libya, one of final Gadhafi strongholds poised to fall

BENGHAZI, Libya — One of the last strongholds of the ousted Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, the town of Bani Walid, is on the verge of surrender to revolutionary forces, a top official said Saturday, as the new regime issued a second ultimatum to the remaining pockets of resistance. | 09/03/11 17:58:02 By - Roy Gutman and David Enders

At cemetery for Gadhafi fighters, grisly work goes on

A rudimentary cemetery sits on a sand dune overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. Under headstones fashioned from cinder blocks lie the bodies of more than 700 men who Libyan revolutionaries say were killed fighting for former leader Moammar Gadhafi. | 09/02/11 22:26:15 By - David Enders

Gadhafi fleeing across desert toward Niger, rebels say

Ousted Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi is fleeing south across the Sahara Desert, bound perhaps for the border with Niger, the military spokesman for the rebel National Transitional Council told McClatchy on Thursday. | 09/01/11 18:45:00 By - Roy Gutman

Libya rebels call on Sirte residents to liberate their city

The revolutionary fighters who deposed Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi last week have set up a base in the town of Sadada in preparation for a possible offensive on Gadhafi's hometown of Sirte, one of the fugitive former dictator's last bastions of support in the country. | 08/31/11 17:34:04 By - David Enders

With source of water still in Gadhafi hands, Tripoli goes thirsty

Water is in short supply in Tripoli, Libya's newly liberated capital, and from here it's easy to see why: the massive storage tank, part of the network that supplies water to the capital from a huge underground aquifer in southern Libya, is nearly empty. | 08/30/11 06:22:31 By - David Enders

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