France steps up campaign to stop Iran woman stoning
PARIS: A French campaign to stop the stoning to death of an Iranian woman convicted of adultery intensified Thursday after President Nicolas Sarkozy added his support. Two French former presidents…
‘Sons of Iraq’ feel betrayed by motherland
SAMARRA: The Sunni Arab militiamen who sided with American soldiers against Al-Qaeda during Iraq's brutal insurgency fear the exit of thousands of US troops will herald a surge in bloody…
WikiLeaks releases CIA analysis, no bombshell revelations
WASHINGTON: WikiLeaks on Wednesday released a CIA memo analyzing the risks of terrorists operating from the United States, but the document offered no dramatic revelations of government secrets like the…
Iran offers joint nuclear fuel production with Russia
TEHRAN: Iran has made a proposal to Moscow to jointly produce nuclear fuel for its Russian-built Bushehr plant and future facilities; the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization was quoted…
Israeli government mulls alternatives to settlement freeze, say media
JERUSALEM: Israel's premier and his top ministers are mulling alternatives to the settlement freeze Palestinians are seeking as the two sides prepare to launch a new round of talks next…
Militants kill 8 policemen in northern Afghanistan
KABUL: Insurgents killed eight Afghan policemen in a raid early Thursday on a checkpoint outside the northern city of Kunduz, the provincial chief of police said. Abdul Raziq Yaqoubi said…
6 Sunni fighters killed in ambush in Iraq, says Police
BAGHDAD: Insurgents killed six members of a government-allied Sunni militia in an ambush northeast of Baghdad on Thursday, police said, offering no respite to a nation still reeling from a…
Traces of a broken civilization
As far as the eye can see, from Al-Tonssy flyover (the Autostrad), there is, or more correctly was, the chaotic sprawl of Souq El-Gomaa (or the Friday Market). One would…
Sudan gold miners vie with archaeologists for desert riches
Dust-covered miners criss-cross Sudan's Nubian desert, absorbed by the drone of the pan-shaped metal detectors with which they scour the ground in search of gold. The desert, about 500 kilometers…
Sufism is alive
“Sufism is an entirely indigenous, deeply rooted resistance movement against violent Islamic radicalism. Whether it can be harnessed to a political end is not clear. But the least we can…