Iraq’s political gambits move to regional stage
BAGHDAD: Iraq's political bazaar is branching out. Envoys for Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and his chief rival crossed paths in Kuwait this week. Iraq's deputy prime minister just returned from…
Yemen guard who killed Frenchman had “personal motives”
DUBAI: A Yemeni security guard who shot dead a Frenchman at an Austrian energy firm's compound near Sanaa this week was driven by "personal motives", Yemen's interior ministry said on…
2 insurgents dead in Israeli raid in West Bank
JERUSALEM: Israeli troops killed two senior Hamas insurgents in an early-morning raid on a house in the West Bank city of Hebron on Friday, a Hamas official said. A Hamas…
Somali pirates seize Taiwanese fishing vessel
NAIROBI: Somali pirates seized a Taiwanese fishing vessel with 14 crew members onboard in the southernmost hijacking yet, the European Union Naval Force said on Friday. The seizure of Feng…
Sudan launches manhunt for UN staffer kidnapped in Darfur
EL FASHER: Sudanese forces were conducting a manhunt in the north Darfur state capital El Fasher on Friday after gunmen kidnapped a UN staffer during a visit by Security Council…
Peace talks impossible with this Israeli govt, says Abbas aide
RAMALLAH: A top aide to Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas said on Thursday that it was impossible to have a "serious peace process" with the current Israeli government. The remarks by…
Behind propaganda, Iran fights fuel sanctions
LONDON: Iran's assertion that it has side-stepped some international sanctions and become self-sufficient in gasoline is political propaganda, experts say, but it could become a reality as early as 2013.…
Top IMF official sees little hope for quick currency deal
WASHINGTON: A deal to end the raging global currency dispute is unlikely to come when economic powers meet in Washington on Friday according to a top IMF official. Youssef Boutros-Ghali,…
Vimpelcom in talks with Algeria over Djezzy
MOSCOW: Vimpelcom is in talks with Algerian officials over the fate of the north African nation's top mobile phone operator Djezzy that Algiers wants to nationalize and the Russian firm…
Europe turns right
AMSTERDAM: Whatever happened to the good Europeans, those nice folks in small northern countries who liked to think of themselves as the world champions of liberty and tolerance? Of course,…
