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Saudi Schools Get Rain-Days off Amid Flooding

Posted on November 20, 2013 by ankakh

Saudi authorities have canceled school in the capital, Riyadh, and other regions for a fifth consecutive day after heavy rains flooded roads and knocked out power across the kingdom.

Storms occur nearly every year in the arid kingdom as weather patterns shift in the cooler months, but this year’s cloudbursts have been among the most severe since more than 100 people died in floods in 2009. At least four deaths are blamed on the current downpours.

The official Saudi Press Agency said schools were closed again Wednesday in Riyadh and at least four other provinces. Classes have been out since Saturday, shortly after the rains began.

Senior diplomat among at least 23 killed and 146 injured in twin suicide blasts outside the Iranian embassy in Beirut

Posted on November 19, 2013 by ankakh

A senior Iranian diplomat was reportedly among at least 23 people killed and 146 injured today in two suicide bomb blasts that struck close to the Iranian Embassy in the Lebanese capital of Beirut.

Lebanon’s National News Agency said the mid-morning explosions hit Beirut’s upscale neighborhood of Janah, a stronghold of the Shiite militant Hezbollah group.

Footage from security cameras showed a man rushing towards the outer wall of the Iranian embassy before blowing himself up, Lebanese officials said.

The officials who watched the videos said the second explosion was caused by a car bomb parked two buildings away from the embassy.

Lebanese security officials confirmed the two bombings were both suicide attacks. They spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

‘We tell those who carried out the attack, you will not be able to break us,’ Hezbollah lawmaker Ali Mikdad told Al-Mayadeen TV. ‘We got the message and we know who sent it and we know how to retaliate.’

Attacks have targeted Lebanon’s Shiite strongholds recently in what many see as retaliation by extremists for Hezbollah’s role in Syria.

Hezbollah has been fighting alongside Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces against largely Sunni rebels seeking to topple his government.

26 killed when train crashes into cars near Cairo

Posted on November 18, 2013 by ankakh

At least 26 people were killed Sunday night when a cargo train slammed into two cars south of Cairo, Egyptian state-run media reported.

Another 28 people were injured, Egypt’s head of emergency services told the Egynews website.

It was not immediately clear what led up to the collision.

Deadly train crashes are not uncommon in Egypt.

In January, train cars filled with Egyptian security force recruits hopped the tracks and crashed in Giza, killing at least 19 people and injuring some 107 others.

Obese Saudi Arabian man sheds more than 300 pounds

Posted on November 12, 2013 by ankakh

A morbidly obese Saudi Arabian man has lost 330 pounds (150 kilograms) since the Saudi king ordered him hospitalized three months ago, the official Saudi Press Agency reported.

In August, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia ordered Khalid bin Mohsen Shaari, who then weighed 1,345 pounds (610 kilograms), to undergo treatment in the capital, Riyadh. Shaari, estimated to be in his late teens, was unable to move by himself and was transferred from Jazan in southern Saudi Arabia.

His weight loss followed an intense nutritional and surgical treatment program a team of 21 specialists developed at the King Fahd Medical City, the agency said.

“The patient is responding well to treatment and is continuing to improve, especially the psychological aspect, ” Dr. Aa’ed al-Qahtani, head of the medical team, told the news agency.

Shaari’s most serious health issues are being managed, including heart and lung problems, diabetes and swelling and lack of mobility in the legs, according to al-Qahtani.

Al-Qahtani told the agency that Shaari is scheduled for one more “surgical phase” after which, if successful, he could return to normal life.

Syrian Opposition Refuses Moscow Talks

Posted on November 8, 2013 by ankakh

Russia’s Foreign Ministry says Syria’s main Western-backed opposition group is refusing to participate in talks in Moscow.

Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said Friday that the Syrian National Coalition is “blocking and refusing to participate” in the talks, which would focus on resolving the humanitarian crisis in Syria.

Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov earlier said that the opposition had “responded positively” to the proposal.

Russian officials had hoped the talks would bolster prospects for a proposed peace conference the U.S. and Russia are trying to convene in Geneva.

Israel releases Palestinian prisoners amid protests

Posted on October 30, 2013 by ankakh

Israel released 26 Palestinian prisoners early Wednesday, part of an agreement that fueled new peace talks.

The released prisoners were the second of four groups — roughly 100 prisoners — expected to be freed in a deal cobbled together by the United States to jump-start stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

The Palestinian Prison Authority confirmed 21 prisoners were released shortly after midnight in the West Bank and another five were released in Gaza.

Families of the prisoners were on hand in the West Bank, where cheers went up as buses carrying the prisoners arrived.

But the prison release has angered some Israelis, who protested outside the West Bank prison where the inmates where held before their release.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called the decision to free Palestinian prisoners one of the most difficult of his career.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas welcomed the prisoners’ release, describing it as a “day of joy.” But he warned that there would be no peace agreement with Israel until all Palestinian prisoners had been freed.

Inspectors Can’t Access 2 Syria Chemical Sites

Posted on October 28, 2013 by ankakh

The global chemical weapons watchdog says its inspectors in Syria have not been able to reach two sites because of security concerns, meaning that one of the first in a series of tight deadlines on the path toward destroying the country’s poison gas stockpile by mid-2014 has been missed.

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said Monday that as of Sunday its inspectors in Syria have checked 21 out of 23 sites declared by Damascus to be part of its poison gas and nerve agent program.

The mission update didn’t say who was responsible for the security problem, but that negotiations “to ensure the conditions necessary for safe access” to the two remaining sites will continue.

Officials have said cease-fires may be needed to reach some sites.

Former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat may have been poisoned with radioactive polonium after scientists find traces in his underwear and toothbrush

Posted on October 15, 2013 by ankakh

Former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat may have been poisoned to death with radioactive polonium, scientists in Switzerland have revealed.

Arafat died in France on November 11, 2004, at the age of 75, but at the time doctors were unable to specify the cause of death.

Experts revealed that several belongings and items of clothing belonging to Arafat, including his toothbrush, hat and underwear, contained high ‘unexplained levels’ of the radioactive material.

Arafat, who died after falling ill at his headquarters in the West Bank, showed symptoms of nausea, stomach pain and kidney and liver failure – signs consistent with radiation poisoning.

But the lack of hair loss or a shortage of bone marrow casts doubt on that theory, the scientists admit.

Much rumour had surrounded Arafat’s death after doctors couldn’t identify how he died.

Speculation continued unabated when his widow Suha initially refused a post mortem examination on her husband’s body.

But she changed her mind and asked judges in France last year to launch a murder probe into her husband’s death, claiming he was poisoned because he was an ‘obstacle to peace’.

Experts at Lausanne’s Radiation Physics Institute have now released details of the tests which ‘support the possibility’ he did not die of natural causes.

A statement said: ‘Several tests on samples of bodily fluids contained an unexplained higher level of polonium 210, compared to control samples.

‘These findings support the possibility of Arafat’s poisoning with polonium 210.’

The team, whose findings are published in British medical journal The Lancet this week, said they regretted that no post-mortem investigation was carried out after Arafat’s death.

Polonium breaks down quickly in the human body and is difficult to trace if there is a delay.

Seven Red Cross workers kidnapped in Syria after gunmen attacked their convoy in north of the country

Posted on October 14, 2013 by ankakh

Seven members of the Red Cross have been kidnapped by gunmen in Syria today.

The six workers and one volunteer were travelling in a four-vehicle convoy in the north of the country when the attackers blocked their path and opened fire, according to Syria state media.

They had been delivering medical supplies in the Idlib province when the abduction took place near the town of Saraqeb, at around 11.30am local time.

The Syrian media reports blamed the attack on ‘terrorists’ – a term often used to describe the rebels fighting President Bashar Assad. The Idlib area has been largely under rebel control for the past year.

A spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross today confirmed that the people had been kidnapped, but that they had not been contacted by anybody claiming responsibility. The organisation has called for their immediate release.

Officials say a Syrian Arab Red Crescent volunteer and three of six Red Cross staffers taken hostage in Syria are free and safe.

The Red Cross has not offered any information about the gender of nationality of the six employees who were captured.

However, a spokesman said that the team had been in the field since 10 October to assess the medical situation in the area and to look at how to provide medical aid in the province, which is said to be: ‘by definition is a difficult area to go in.’

More than two million worshippers arrive in Mecca for hajj pilgrimage… with another million expected to join them in world’s largest annual gathering of Muslims

Posted on October 11, 2013 by ankakh

In the searing heat, this was the scene at the Grand Mosque in Mecca today as millions of pilgrims arrived for the annual hajj – a religious journey that is viewed as one of the Muslim faith’s greatest acts of worship.

The mosque, the focal point of Islam, was teeming with visitors wearing the simple white folds of cloth prescribed for hajj.

Almost two million people have so far arrived at the site in Saudi Arabia for the rites, which reach a peak on Monday – and another million are expected.

And with temperatures hitting 36c (97f), many congregated in the cooler shadow of the building’s minarets.

Haj must be performed at least once in their lifetime by all Muslims capable of making the expensive, difficult journey – a duty that applies equally to Sunni and Shi’ite Muslims at a time of tension between Islam’s main sects.

Saudi Arabian authorities have asked pilgrims to put politics aside during the annual hajj, but amid bitter divisions in Egypt, some Islamists refuse to keep quiet.

Keenly aware of the potential for political tensions to flare into violence at a time of upheaval across the Middle East, the Saudi Interior Minister Prince Mohammed bin Nayef asked pilgrims to leave disputes at home.

Most Egyptians making their way into the holy city said their most fervent prayers were for peace.

‘What will become of us? Who will lead us?’: More than 700,000 mourners attend Israel’s largest ever funeral after the death of ultra-orthodox rabbi

Posted on October 8, 2013 by ankakh

At least 700,000 mourners gathered in Jerusalem today for the funeral of influential ultra-orthodox Rabbi Ovadia Yosef.

Thousands of police officers were deployed to control the crowds clamouring to stand near the spiritual leader’s body on the day of his death, as per Jewish tradition.

Ambulance workers reported 20 people had been injured in the commotion, also attended by President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Iraqi-born Rabbi – founder of the Shas Party and a leading Torah scholar – was 93 when he died shortly before 1.30pm today.

He was an arbiter of Halacha (Jewish law) and promoted rights for Jews emigrated from the Middle East and North Africa.

Around 100 followers spent the night and day standing outside his ward in Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital in Jerusalem after doctors announced the situation was critical as they tried to control ‘a total failure of his body systems’.

Mr Netanyahu described Rabbi Ovadia as ‘among the greatest rabbis of our generation’.

‘The Jewish People have lost one of the wisest men of this generation.

‘I admired his amiable personality and his direct approach.

‘In my meetings with him I was always made wiser and learned something.

‘I send my condolences to his family, to his students, and his followers.’

One of the nation’s most important figures, Rabbi Ovadia’s health has been at the centre of media attention over the last few weeks.

He was hospitalised last month after complications following kidney treatment.

Paris Prosecutor Probing Fortune of Assad’s Uncle

Posted on September 30, 2013 by ankakh

The Paris prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation into the real estate holdings of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s uncle after international watchdogs accused him of corruption.

Sherpa and Transparency International filed a complaint earlier this month, alleging that Rifaat Assad is worth several million euros and that the sum is far beyond what he earned as a Syrian military commander or as the country’s vice president. The complaint alleges that this fortune, including several dozen Paris apartments and a luxurious townhouse, was built by stealing from Syrian public funds and by abusing his power.

The prosecutor’s office opened a preliminary investigation Monday.

In 2011, Rifaat Assad told The Associated Press that he had lost all his money in the stock market and lived off the largesse of his children.

Israel Breaks up Gaza Strip Demonstration

Posted on September 27, 2013 by ankakh

The Israeli military says it has dispersed a demonstration of Palestinians who had marched to the Israeli border in the northern Gaza Strip.

It says troops fired tear gas to break up a crowd of around 300 who had entered the immediate border area, which it considers off limits.

Israel, which withdrew from Gaza in 2005, considers the Hamas-run territory to be a hostile entity. It has carried out two large military operations there in response to militant rocket attacks in recent years. The border area has been largely quiet since a weeklong Israeli military offensive last November.

Friday’s demonstration marked the 13th anniversary of the outbreak of the second Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation.

Small demonstrations also took place in east Jerusalem and the West Bank.

Tunisia’s ‘sex jihadis’ who were sent to Syria to have sex with 100 rebels

Posted on September 21, 2013 by ankakh

EACH are coming home pregnant with their children Tunisian women who have travelled to Syria to offer themselves to Islamist fighters are returning home pregnant with rebels’ children, it has been revealed. A Tunisian government minister told members of parliament this week the women, who are waging ‘sexual jihad’, are ‘having sexual relations with 20,30,100’ men before returning to Tunisia pregnant. Interior Minister Lotfi ben Jeddou made the revelations at the National Constituent Assembly on Thursday, though didn’t elaborate on the number of women who have returned in this condition. Jihad al-nikah, permitting extramarital sexual relations with multiple partners, is considered by some hardline Sunni Muslim Salafists as a legitimate form of holy war. The minister also did not say how many Tunisian women were thought to have gone to Syria for such a purpose, although media reports have said hundreds have done so, France 24 revealed. However, Ben Jeddou also said that since he assumed office in March, ‘six thousand of our young people have been prevented from going’ to the country. He has said in the past that border controls have been boosted to intercept young Tunisians seeking to travel to Syria. Earlier this year a group of Tunisian girls travelled to rebel-held Northern Syria to offer themselves to opposition fighters. Their action came after growing in concern in Tunisia about religious orders or ‘fatwas’ that circulated the internet calling on Muslim women to perform jihad through sex. A Tunisian minister of religious affairs appealed to girls at the time not to be influenced by Islamic preachers outside of Tunisia who made a number of ‘sexual fatwas’. Noureddine al-Khadimi rejected ‘sexual jihad’ fatwas, urging Tunisian people and state institutions to not respond to them.

Germany Gives $2.7M to Help Destroy Syria Weapons

Posted on September 19, 2013 by ankakh

Germany says it’s giving 2 million euros ($2.7 million) to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to help it oversee the destruction of Syria’s arms stocks.

An agreement last Saturday between Russia and the U.S. called for an inventory of Syria’s chemical weapons within a week, and for all components of the program to be out of the country or destroyed by mid-2014. The Hague, Netherlands-based OPCW will have to oversee that process.

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle had offered technical or financial support to help destroy the weapons. On Thursday, he said Berlin has decided to contribute extra funding so that the chemical weapons watchdog can “deal with the Herculean task.”

Heavy Clashes Among Syrian Rebels Near Iraq Border

Posted on September 14, 2013 by ankakh

Activists say heavy clashes between Syrian opposition fighters and Islamic extremist rebel factions near the Iraqi border have killed at least five people.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group says the ongoing battles Saturday in the town of Boukamal pit the al-Qaida-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq against more moderate rebel brigades.

Infighting among rebel groups, particularly between al-Qaida-linked extremist factions and more moderate units, has escalated in recent months. The violence undermines the opposition’s primary goal of overthrowing President Bashar Assad.

It also complicates efforts by the U.S. and its allies to provide greater support to the Syrian opposition.

Iraq Officials Say Blasts at Shiite Mosque Kill 35

Posted on September 12, 2013 by ankakh

A suicide attacker staged a double bombing near a Shiite mosque in northern Baghdad as worshippers were leaving after evening prayers on Wednesday, killing at least 35 in the latest deadly episode of violence to rock the country, according to Iraqi authorities.

A suicide bomber made his way to the gate of the mosque and then blew himself up. Shortly afterward, a car he apparently arrived in exploded nearby, police said.

At least 52 people were wounded, according to police and hospital officials, who confirmed the casualty numbers. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to release the information.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Suicide and car bombings targeting Shiites are frequently the work of al-Qaida’s branch in Iraq, known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

Millions Watch Popular Egyptian Talk Show on the Armenian Genocide

Posted on September 11, 2013 by ankakh

By Harut Sassounian

Publisher, The California Courier

Ever since Egypt’s President Mohamed Morsi was removed from office, Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been harshly critical of the new government, strongly advocating his fellow Islamist Morsi’s return to power.

Given Erdogan’s unwelcome meddling in Egypt’s internal affairs, millions of Egyptians have expressed anger and resentment against Turkey and its prime minister. Egyptian newspapers have been replete with anti-Turkish reports and commentaries. Dozens of articles have been published condemning Turkish denials of the Armenian Genocide and urging Egypt’s new leaders to recognize it. There have also been calls for erecting a monument for the Armenian Genocide in Cairo and demands that Turkey pay restitution for the Armenian victims. In an unprecedented move, attorney Muhammad Saad Khairallah, head of the Institute of the Popular Front in Egypt, filed a lawsuit accusing Turkey of committing genocide against Armenians.

On Sept. 4, Khairallah and Dr. Ayman Salama, Professor of International Law at Cairo University, appeared on Lilian Daoud’s highly popular talk show, Al-Soura al-Kamila (The Complete Picture) on ONtv, watched by millions in Egypt and throughout the Arab world. Participating in the show by phone were Resul Tosun, former Turkish Parliament member from Erdogan’s Islamist AK Party, and Harut Sassounian, Publisher of The California Courier. The 36-minute TV program was conducted in Arabic, a language I have rarely used since childhood.

Prof. Salama informed the audience that the Turkish Military Tribunal in 1919 indicted the criminals responsible for the Armenian Genocide. Seventeen Turkish officials were found guilty, and three were hanged. Dr. Salama indicated that France, Great Britain and Russia had issued a joint Declaration in 1915, warning that they would hold Turkish leaders responsible for massacring Armenians and committing “crimes against humanity and civilization.”

Attorney Khairallah insisted that raising the Armenian Genocide issue in Egypt is long overdue and does not have any political undertones. He hoped that his lawsuit will force Egypt, “the largest Sunni country in the Middle East,” to serve as an example for other Arab countries to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide. Khairallah announced that his lawsuit will be considered by the Egyptian Court on November 5. He hoped that the Court would make a historic decision regarding this critical “human rights issue.”

When the hostess of the TV show asked for my opinion on the Egyptian lawsuit, I expressed my great satisfaction, hoping for a positive verdict on the eve of the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide, and looking forward to its recognition by the Egyptian government.

I also commented that Erdogan had anointed himself as the new Sultan of the Middle East, and sole defender of all Muslims, Arabs and Palestinians. However, Erdogan’s misrepresentation was finally exposed when the Arab world realized that he was simply trying to dominate the region, pursuing Turkey’s self-interest rather than that of Arabs and Muslims.

Former Turkish parliament member Resul Tosun, joining the show by phone, quickly antagonized the viewers by claiming that “the current Egyptian government that came to power after the military coup is not legitimate, therefore, the filed lawsuit cannot be considered legitimate.” Tosun then went on to parrot his Turkish bosses’ baseless denials of the Armenian Genocide.

Prof. Salama, incensed by Tosun’s remarks, called Erdogan “the successor of the Ottoman butchers who committed the Armenian Genocide.”

The TV hostess then asked for my reaction to Tosun’s perverted views on the Armenian Genocide. I reminded the viewers that Kemal Ataturk, in an interview published in the ‘Los Angeles Examiner’ on August 1, 1926, had demanded that the Young Turks be “made to account for the lives of millions of our Christian subjects who were ruthlessly driven en masse and massacred.” I also recalled that the Sheikh of Al-Azhar, leader of the globally preeminent center of Islamic studies in Cairo, had issued a Fatwa (religious decree) in 1909 chastising Turkish officials for massacring 30,000 Armenians in Adana, Cilicia.

At the end of the show, attorney Khairallah announced that public rallies will be held shortly to demonstrate that his group’s lawsuit emanates from a popular demand — Egyptians asking their government “to recognize that Armenians were massacred at the hands of Turkish criminals.”

So far, Lebanon is the only Arab country to have recognized the Armenian Genocide. If Egypt follows suit, can Syria and the rest of the Arab world be far behind?

Here is the link to the talk show: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teAKr6Psyl0&sns=em

UN: Iran Exile Camp in Iraq Unsafe After 52 Killed

Posted on September 3, 2013 by ankakh

The United Nations mission to Iraq says a camp north of Baghdad where 52 Iranian dissidents were killed this week is unsafe and is urging Iraqi officials to do more to protect dozens of remaining residents.

The statement Tuesday follows a visit by U.N. officials to Camp Ashraf the previous day. It says members of the delegation saw the bodies of 52 victims with apparent gunshot wounds, confirming death tolls provided by backers of the exiles and an Iraqi official.

Before the killings, Camp Ashraf had been home to about 100 followers of the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, an Iranian dissident group that opposes Tehran’s clerical regime.

The MEK blames Iraqi security forces for the killings. Iraq denies that, and some Iraqi officials say there was an internal camp dispute.

Libya to Try Gadhafi’s Son Next Month

Posted on August 28, 2013 by ankakh

Libya to Try Gadhafi’s Son Next Month

Libya’s prosecutor general says late dictator Moammar Gadhafi’s son and his spy chief have been charged with murder in relation to Libya’s 2011 civil war.

Abdel-Qader Radwan said Tuesday that the trial will start on Sept. 19 in the capital on alleged crimes committed during Gadhafi’s 42-year rule and during the eight-month civil war that deposed him. The defendants are former intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senoussi and Seif al-Islam Gadhafi, the only son of the former dictator who is in custody.

A militia is holding Seif al-Islam in the Libyan town of Zintan. International Criminal Court judges had ruled that Libya cannot give Seif al-Islam a fair trial and asked authorities to hand him over to The Hague.