In Iraq, a popular cleric cranks up anti-U.S. rhetoric
January 9, 2011
Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, the anti-American political figure who returned to Iraq this week from self-imposed exile, told tens of thousands of his followers Saturday to “resist” and “disturb” the United States.
Amid massive security, Egypt’s Christians protest peacefully
January 5, 2011
Hundreds of supporters of Egyptian Christians protesting a New Year’s bombing that killed nearly two dozen of their members marched Tuesday night on a church in a Cairo suburb, where they were met by an equal number of security officers in riot gear.
Iran invites foreign diplomats to nuclear sites
January 4, 2011
Iran has confirmed that it has invited foreign diplomats to tour its nuclear facilities.
The invitation comes ahead of fresh talks with key world powers over Iran’s controversial nuclear programme.
Women fighters willing to die for Gaza
January 4, 2011
With faces covered and guns loaded, Palestinian militants are training among the sand dunes of Gaza.
Copts return to scene of deadly bombing in Egypt
January 2, 2011
Emotional congregants returned to their church Sunday in Alexandria, Egypt, mourning the loss of fellow worshippers in a bombing a day earlier.
Inside the Church of the Two Saints, grisly reminders of the explosion — believed to be caused by a suicide bomber — remained as tearful worshippers lighted candles to honor the dead. Broken glass and debris littered the church’s interior and portions of the walls were splattered with blood.
Iran claims it shot down ‘Western spy planes’
January 2, 2011
Iran said Sunday it had shot down what it described as two Western spy planes over the Persian Gulf, according to Iranian media reports.
Brig. Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, air force commander for Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guard Corps, made the comments to Payam Engelab, or Message of the Revolution, an internal Islamic Revolution Guard Corps publication, according to the semi-official Fars news agency.
Egypt car bomb kills seven at Alexandria Coptic church
December 31, 2010
car bomb explosion outside a church in the north Egyptian city of Alexandria has killed seven people and injured 24, the interior ministry says.
The blast, apparently caused by a car bomb, hit people as they left a new year’s service at the al-Qidiseen church shortly after midnight.
Violent deaths in Iraq fall ‘but at slower rate’
December 30, 2010
The number of civilians killed by violence in Iraq in the past year was the lowest since the 2003 US-led invasion, a rights group has said.
Iraq Body Count (IBC), which collates casualty reports, said deaths dropped by 15% from 2009 to just under 4,000.
Israel ex-President Moshe Katsav found guilty of rape
December 30, 2010
Former President of Israel Moshe Katsav has been found guilty of rape by a court in Tel Aviv.
He had faced two allegations of rape by an employee when he was tourism minister in the 1990s. He was also convicted of later sexual offences.
Red Cross connects Yemeni families, Guantanamo detainees
December 29, 2010
Some families in Yemen have not seen their relatives imprisoned at the U.S. facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in almost a decade.
Now, for the first time, they are able to use video-conferencing technology made available by the International Committee of the Red Cross to change that.