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قضايا الدولة" تطالب رشيد وعز وعسل برد 660 مليون جنيه للدولة

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خالد سعيد رحمة الله عليه

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الرئيس الأمريكى باراك أوباما

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الدكتور محمد البرادعى

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الرئيس السابق حسنى مبارك

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الثلاثاء، مايو 07، 2013

Officials: Pakistan election rally death toll climbs to 23

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Supporters of Pakistani cleric Tahir-ul Qadri gather at a protest rally in Islamabad on January 17, 2013. (AFP)

The death toll in an election rally bombing by Taliban militants in a northwestern Pakistani tribal district climbed to 23 on Tuesday, officials said, the deadliest attack yet on the poll campaign.

The bomb hit a gathering of the right-wing Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI), a religious party in the outgoing government coalition in Kurram, part of Pakistan's Taliban-infested tribal belt on the Afghan border.

The blast took to 92 the number of people killed in attacks on politicians and political parties since April 11, according to an AFP tally.

"The death toll has risen to 23 after a fresh count this morning," Riaz Khan, the top administrative official in Kurram, told AFP.

Doctor Inayat Khan from the main hospital in Kurram tribal district confirmed the death toll and said 67 wounded were brought to hospital.

Khan said six critically wounded had been shifted to the northwestern garrison town of Kohat and the provincial capital Peshawar.

The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility, saying the target had been Munir Orakzai, a lawmaker elected as an independent but allied to the outgoing government.

It was the first attack on a political party in the tribal belt since campaigning began for what will be Pakistan's first democratic transition of power after a civilian government has completed a full term in office.

The Pakistani Taliban have condemned Saturday's elections as un-Islamic and directly threatened the main parties in the outgoing coalition, the Pakistan People's Party, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement and the Awami National Party (ANP).

The cleric Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman and his JUI party -- known as JUI-F -- have been mediators between the authorities and the Taliban, blamed for killing thousands of Pakistanis in a domestic insurgency over the past six years.

Orakzai is a senior tribal politician who is standing for JUI-F for the first time. The Taliban denied that JUI-F itself was the target.

Elections have been postponed in three constituencies where candidates have been killed. Those constituencies are in the southwestern province of Baluchistan, in Pakistan's biggest city of Karachi and in southern Hyderabad.

07 May, 2013


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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/asia/2013/05/07/Officials-Pakistan-election-rally-death-toll-climbs-to-23.html
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North Korea threatens ‘sea of flames’ retaliatory strike on South

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North Korea's army is 'completely ready to fight' against the South. (Courtesy: KCNA news agency)

The North Korean army threatened late Monday of an immediate retaliatory strike if "a single shell" falls on its side of the disputed maritime border during scheduled South Korean-U.S. military drills.

A statement from the southwestern command of the Korean People's Army said that any subsequent counterstrike would trigger an escalated military reaction that would see South Korea's border islands engulfed in a "sea of flames."

South Korean live-artillery exercises near the Yellow Sea border were an attempt to tip prevailing military tensions into an "actual war," said the statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.

North Korea moved two missiles primed for imminent test firing from a launch site, American officials said Monday, as North Asia tensions eased slightly on the eve of a U.S.-South Korea summit.

U.S. and South Korean officials had been worried Pyongyang would heighten a cycle of provocation, which has included threats of nuclear war, by firing the Musudan missiles, which have a range of up to 5,630 kilometers.

But a U.S. defense official told AFP on condition of anonymity: "they moved them," and added that there was no longer an imminent threat of a launch.

Pyongyang, which rattled the world earlier this year by staging a nuclear test, would have to make detectable preparations if it changed its mind about a missile launch, two officials said.

As always, North Korea's motivations under its young and unpredictable leader Kim Jong-Un, were not immediately clear.

But the move was revealed in Washington on the eve of a first summit between President Barack Obama and new South Korean President Park Geun-Hye at the White House on Tuesday, intended as a strong signal of unity to Pyongyang.

Earlier, a senior White House official warned that it was too early to say whether North Korea's spate of bellicose behavior, which prompted Washington to send nuclear-capable stealth B-2 bombers over South Korea, was ending.

"It's premature to make a judgment about whether the North Korean provocation cycle is going up, down or zigzagging," said Danny Russel, senior director for East Asia on Obama's National Security Council.

"Many analysts have anticipated that the North Korean provocation cycle would culminate in some sort of a grand fireworks display, and no one can rule that out," Russel said.

According to AFP, Washington is making strenuous efforts to cement Obama's relationship with Park, who arrived in Washington from New York, less than three months after being sworn into office.

Obama will host his visitor, the first woman to lead South Korea, in the Oval Office, hold an expanded luncheon meeting for both delegations, then appear with Park at a joint White House press conference.

Park will address a joint session of the U.S. Congress on Wednesday.

"I would say 90 percent of the U.S. North Korea policy now is simply staying tied tightly with the South Koreans, whichever direction they want to go in," said Victor Cha, who was former president George W. Bush's top aide on Korea.

Park has taken a firm stand against any concessions to North Korea but has also been careful not to close the door to future talks -- which U.S. officials say is ultimately the sole, albeit not ideal, way to deal with Pyongyang.
 

07 May, 2013


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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/world/2013/05/07/North-Korea-warns-its-neighbour-of-accidental-shells-.html
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Israel, Turkey reach draft compensation deal for flotilla victims

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A billboard in Ankara says "We are grateful to you" to Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan a few days after Israel apologized for the Gaza flotilla raid. (AFP)

Compensation for the victims of a 2010 Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla has been agreed on in a draft agreement reached by Israel and Turkey on Monday.

The deal was reached between Turkish officials, headed by the deputy foreign minister, and Israeli government representatives during a meeting in Jerusalem.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Office said a final agreement was expected soon. It did not reveal details on Monday's agreement and said "additional clarifications" were needed on a "few issues," according to AFP news agency.

Israel and Turkey are working to mend ties that were ruptured after the 2010 raid, which killed eight Turks and one Turkish-American when Israeli commandos stormed a ship bound for the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. Israel maintains a blockade on the territory.

As part of the U.S.-brokered rapprochement, Israel apologized for the raid and agreed to compensate the injured and relatives of the dead, while Turkey was expected to withdraw legal action against Israeli soldiers.

But families of the victims of an Israeli raid on an aid flotilla spoke out last month against compensation talks between Turkey and Israel, saying the Jewish state must first fully lift its blockade of the Gaza Strip.

In March, U.S. President Barack Obama help broker a rapprochement between the two during a visit to Israel. Despite accepting the apology and agreeing to the normalization of ties,

Turkish leaders have since warned that the restoration of full diplomatic ties with Israel would be dependent on it ending all commercial restrictions against the Palestinians.
 

07 May, 2013


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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2013/05/07/Israel-Turkey-reach-draft-compensation-deal-for-flotilla-victims.html
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U.S. democrat offers bill to arm Syrian opposition

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U.S. democrat offers bill to arm Syrian opposition

A Free Syrian Army fighter holds his weapon in Raqqa province, east Syria, May 6, 2013. (Reuters)

A top U.S. Senate Democrat introduced a bill Monday that authorizes arming rebels in Syria, a step Washington has been weighing after President Barack Obama said the Damascus regime may have used chemical weapons.

Senator Robert Menendez, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, introduced the Syria Stabilization Act of 2013 that would give "increased authorization to provide lethal and non-lethal assistance to Syrian armed opposition."

The bill is seen as intensifying pressure on Obama to take action in Syria after U.S. and other intelligence assessments that the regime has used chemical weapons, something Obama has warned would be a "game changer."

"The Assad regime has crossed a red line that forces us to consider all options," Menendez said in a statement.

"The greatest humanitarian crisis in the world is unfolding in and around Syria, and the U.S. must play a role in tipping the scales toward opposition groups and working to build a free Syria."

The measure specifically bars the administration from transferring portable, shoulder-fired missile or grenade launchers known as MANPADS, amid concern that such weapons have been finding their way from places like Libya into the hands of extremists who might use them against US interests.

It also increases sanctions on arms and oil sales to strongman Bashar al-Assad's regime, and authorizes a "transition fund" of some $250 million per year aimed at helping a civilian opposition in Syria prepare for a switch to some form of democratic rule.

The bill is likely to garner some bipartisan support, as a handful of Republicans including Senator John McCain have long said it was time to consider arming vetted opposition groups.

The Obama administration has expressed worry about the risks of pouring more arms into a volatile conflict, and has so far stuck to providing humanitarian assistance and non-lethal aid.

But Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel acknowledged last Thursday that Washington was taking a fresh look at whether to arm Syria's outgunned rebels.


 

07 May, 2013


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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2013/05/07/U-S-democrat-offers-bill-to-arm-Syrian-opposition-.html
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Saudi urges U.N. action against Israel strikes on Syria

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Saudi urges U.N. action against Israel strikes on Syria

Israeli raids on Syrian targets near Damascus at the weekend killed at least 42 soldiers, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights watchdog said. (Reuters)

Saudi Arabia on Monday called for U.N. action to end Israeli strikes on Syria, describing the raids as a "dangerous violation" of the sovereignty of an Arab state, the official SPA news agency reported.

Israeli raids on Syrian targets near Damascus at the weekend killed at least 42 soldiers, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights watchdog said.

A senior Israeli source said the raids targeted Iranian weapons destined for the Shiite Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

The Saudi cabinet voiced "deep concern from the worsening situation in Syria" and urged "swift action by the U.N. Security Council to stop these Israeli attacks on Syrian territories and ensure they are not repeated," said SPA.

The kingdom has repeatedly voiced support to rebels in Syria battling President Bashar al-Assad's forces and severed diplomatic ties with Damascus since 2011.

But its government on Monday described Israel's raids as "flagrant attacks and a dangerous violation of the sovereignty of an Arab state, warning of its dangerous effects in the region's security and stability."

A diplomatic source in Beirut told AFP the sites targeted by Israeli warplanes were the Jamraya military facility, a nearby weapons depot and an anti-aircraft unit in Sabura, west of Damascus.

Sunday's strike came about 48 hours after a reported Israeli raid on a weapons storage facility at Damascus airport.

U.N. leader Ban Ki-moon has warned against any escalation of a conflict that has killed more than 70,000 people in Syria since it erupted in March 2011.
 

07 May, 2013


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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2013/05/07/Saudi-urges-un-action-against-Israel-strikes-on-Syria-.html
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الاثنين، مايو 06، 2013

Myanmar president vows to protect Muslim rights

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Myanmar President Thein Sein. (AFP)

Myanmar President Thein Sein, nearly one year after sectarian violence first exploded under his watch, vowed Monday his government would do everything it can to protect the rights of minority Muslims living in the predominantly Buddhist nation.

The promise came amid fears that the religious unrest, which has morphed into a campaign against the country's Muslim community, could spread further after a new round of attacks last week saw several Muslim villages north of the main city Yangon burned to the ground.

Thein Sein's administration, which came to power in 2011 after half a century of military rule, has been heavily criticized for not doing enough to protect Muslims or stop the violence from spreading since it began with clashes between ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and Muslim Rohingya in the west last year.

New York-based Human Rights Watch has accused authorities - including Buddhist monks, local politicians, government officials, and state security forces - of fomenting an organized campaign of "ethnic cleansing" against the Muslims; the government has denied the charges. So far, hundreds of people have died and more than 135,000 people - almost all of them Muslims - have fled their homes.

In a speech broadcast on state television late Monday, Thein Sein vowed his "government will take all necessary action to ensure the basic human rights of Muslims in Rakhine state, and to accommodate the needs and expectations of the Rakhine people."

"In order for religious freedom to prevail, there must be tolerance and mutual respect among the members of different faiths," he said. Only then, he added, "will it be possible to coexist peacefully."

During his speech, the Myanmar leader also announced he would implement the recommendations of a special government-appointed panel set up last year to investigate the causes of the conflict.

The panel - whose members included ethnic Rakhine but no Rohingya - made myriad recommendations; including doubling the number of security forces in Rakhine state and introducing family planning programs to stem population growth among Muslims.

The Rohingya living in Rakhine state are widely seen as foreign intruders - illegal immigrants from neighboring Bangladesh who are largely denied citizenship even though many of them have lived in Myanmar for generations.

Thein Sein said his administration will "take all necessary security measures to deter illegal immigration," and "will deal with the citizenship-related issues," though he gave no details on how.

He promised aid to strife-hit Rakhine state and said his government would assist foreign aid organizations working in the country. But he said some international relief agencies operating there "may have worsened the situation" and should take into account "local sensitivities when planning activities."

Local Buddhists have repeatedly accused foreign aid groups of biased in favor of the Rohingya. International aid agencies, meanwhile, have complained their work has been obstructed and their staff have been physically threatened by extremists; they acknowledge that much aid is directed at the Rohingya, but they argue that is simply because the vast majority of displaced are Rohingya.

Thein Sein, who has been praised by the West for making moves to transition to democratic rule, also said that although free speech is the essence of democracy, "some people abuse this right with speech intended to provoke, cause fear and spread hatred, thereby exacerbating the conflict between different religious communities."

In recent months, a Buddhist campaign called "969," which urges Buddhists to shop only at Buddhist stores and avoid marrying, hiring or selling their homes or land to Muslims, has spread rapidly across the nation. Human rights activists say it has helped fuel anti-Muslim violence.

07 May, 2013


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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/world/2013/05/06/Myanmar-president-vows-to-protect-Muslim-rights.html
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Saudi Arabia marks King Abdullah’s 8th year on the throne

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Saudi King Abdullah has implemented a number of reforms, including allowing women for the first time to take part in the Shura Council. (Reuters)

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has made great strides on the social and economic levels since King Abdullah's rise to the throne eight years ago.

King Abdullah, also known as the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, came into power on August 1, 2005 following the death of his half-brother, King Fahd. However, the kingdom celebrated his 8-year reign on Monday, which marked the king's anniversary according to the Hijri Islamic calendar.

King Abdullah had implemented a number of reforms this year, including allowing women for the first time to take part in the Shura Council. His decree to allow 30 women to take seats in Saudi Arabia's ruling body marked a breakthrough in the country.

Also, the king introduced municipal elections for the first time in 2005, granting women the right to vote as well as run as candidates in the next local elections, scheduled to take place in 2015.

King Abdullah was quoted by the media as saying: "We refuse to marginalize women's role in Saudi society."

Thuraya al-Arrayed, an education specialist, who was appointed by the king as a Shura Council member, told Al Arabiya in an interview earlier this year that the royal decree "gave confidence to women to take part in important decision-making matters in the country."

"We are not here to represent ourselves but to represent the public, women and men alike."

Meanwhile, Al Arabiya reported on Monday that the Ministry of Civil Service was able to help around 300,000 young people, 37 percent of whom were women, find jobs and reduce the unemployment rate.

The report also said that King Abdullah established a number of economic cities, including King Abdullah Economic City in Rabigh, Prince Abdul Aziz bin Mousaed Economic City in Hael, Jazan Economic City and Media Knowledge Economic City.

During the king's reign, there have been improvements in the field of health, to which he allocated more than 12 billion riyals ($3,2 billion), and laid the foundation for 127 health projects.

07 May, 2013


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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2013/05/06/Saudi-Arabia-marks-King-Abdullah-s-8th-year-on-the-throne.html
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Iran presidency candidates to step forward

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Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. (Reuters)

Few Iranian presidential elections have been so unpredictable but the next few days will at least narrow down who will stand in the ballot on June 14, for which candidate registration starts on Tuesday and ends on Saturday.

What is certain is that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has held ultimate power as Supreme Leader for 24 years, wants to avoid both the mass protests by reformists that greeted the disputed re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2009, and also more of the public feuding between the outgoing president's allies and fellow hardliners which has marked Ahmadinejad's second term.

"The Iranian leadership is so nervous, even if it doesn't need to be. The 2009 election was an enormous loss of face for the establishment and they're very concerned about a repetition," said a Western diplomat based in Tehran.

"Instead of trusting the people, they have put their trust in all sorts of security measures.

Some hopefuls have already declared they will register to run in the first round in six weeks. But many with the strongest chances have been hanging back, weighing their prospects until the last minute, with an eye not only to public opinion but to the Guardian Council of clerics and jurists which can reject any candidacy until a final roster is published around May 23.

With reformist groups largely suppressed over the past four years, the election campaign may reflect little of the debates among Iranians - on how to shore up an economy sagging under Western sanctions, or on foreign policy and the nuclear program that has provoked international concern.

"There is an absence of political discussion, a lack of talk about taxation, the economy or relations with neighboring countries," the Tehran-based diplomat said.

Ahmadinejad camp

Ahmadinejad, who cannot seek a third mandate, secured an outright win with 62 percent in the four-man first round in 2009, provoking claims of fraud and the biggest protests since the revolution that deposed the Shah in 1979. If no candidate secures more than 50 percent, the runoff will be a week later.

Although Ahmadinejad, 56, is barred by law from running again, his rivals among fellow hardliners committed to resisting a dilution of the state's Islamist founding principles fear the confrontational incumbent will back a candidate - possibly his close aide Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei - to preserve his influence, even in the face of disapproval from the 73-year-old Khamenei.

"Unlike the first generation of revolutionary elite who played by the rules, Ahmadinejad's group has consistently pushed against regime red lines and at times even challenged the authority of the Supreme Leader," said Yasmin Alem, a U.S.-based expert on Iran's electoral system.

"For them, ambition trumps allegiance to the regime's principles."

For his part, Khamenei is turning to a loyal alliance which includes his adviser Ali Akbar Velayati, another ally Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel and charismatic Tehran mayor Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, in the hope of securing a quick and painless election win, say analysts and diplomats.

But that informal coalition's final candidate has yet to be declared - a sign they are still sizing up the competition.


Former presidents

Even less clear are the intentions of former presidents Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Mohammad Khatami, whose moderate candidacies would radically alter the contest. Both appear reluctant to stand unless given the nod from Khamenei but neither have ruled themselves out.

"I will not enter the field without his consent," Rafsanjani said this week, according to the Mehr news agency. "If circumstances are such that there will be conflicts and disputes between me and the leader, we will all lose."

He was president from 1989 to 1997. Khatami, a reformist who succeeded Rafsanjani until 2005, retains much popularity, especially among secular middle classes, youth and women voters.

"Khatami is definitely the most loved," said a social media consultant in Tehran working for a reformist campaign. "Everyone is waiting for his response. The Qalibaf and Velayati staff are calling his office constantly to see if he will run."

Both Rafsanjani and Khatami have been sidelined since 2009 and their association with reformist leaders Mirhossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karoubi - losing candidates to Ahmadinejad in 2009 and under house arrest for more than two years - has attracted sharp criticism from hardliners.

Mainstream contenders are not the only ones facing pressure from the authorities. Hooshang Amirahmadi, an academic living in the United States, intends to take part in the election to call for economic reform and ending confrontation with Washington but said that officials have tried to discourage him from standing.

"I was in Tehran two weeks ago and they told me to stay away," he told Reuters from New Jersey, where he is a professor of planning and public policy at Rutgers University.

"They said that my safety is in danger. They are really nervous and that surprises me."

07 May, 2013


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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2013/05/06/Iran-presidency-candidates-to-step-forward.html
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U.S. says ‘no information’ Syria rebels used chemical arms

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U.S. says 'no information' Syria rebels used chemical arms

White House spokesman Jay Carney. (AFP)

The United States said Monday it was "highly skeptical" of an assertion that Syrian rebels had used chemical weapons, after a U.N. human rights investigator suggested the opposition had deployed sarin gas.

Washington also reiterated that Israel had every right to protect itself and to prevent sophisticated weaponry from getting into the hands of Hezbollah, following several Israeli raids on sites in Damascus.

"We are highly skeptical of suggestions that the opposition could have or did use chemical weapons," said White House spokesman Jay Carney.

"We find it highly likely that any chemical weapon use that has taken place in Syria was done by the Assad regime. And that remains our position," Carney said.

A senior U.S. official separately said that Washington had no information to suggest Syrian rebels had "capability or the intent to deploy or use such weapons."

Carla del Ponte, a former war crimes prosecutor, told Swiss public broadcaster RSI that "according to the testimonies we have gathered, the rebels have used chemical weapons, making use of sarin gas."

The senior official also noted that "Ms Del Ponte does not work on the same expert team, which the United Nations has assembled to go into Syria as they are two different parts of the United Nations organization."

Carney also reiterated President Barack Obama's statement at the weekend that Israel was within its rights to safeguard its security, though would not directly comment on Israeli military reaction.

"Israel certainly has the right to be concerned about the transfer of sophisticated weapons to Hezbollah, and that has been a concern of Israel's for a long time," Carney said.

The air strikes early on Sunday near Damascus were the Jewish state's second reported air raids on Syria in 48 hours. An early Friday raid had targeted a weapons storage facility at Damascus airport.

A watchdog group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told AFP that 42 soldiers were killed in the strikes and another 100 remained unaccounted for.

Carney also sidestepped a question about whether the slaughter of civilians in a civil war that has claimed more than 70,000 lives amounted to genocide.

"The terminology that may be used by courts or the United Nations or others, I will leave to them," Carney said.

"But it is heinous and despicable. It is the kind of action that long ago rendered Assad incapable of continuing in power with any kind of legitimacy."

Obama is coming under increasing pressure in Washington from domestic political critics who are demanding action, including an operation to arm rebels or set up a no-fly zone to protect civilians.

The White House has said it is considering all its options, including reviewing its opposition to date to providing weapons to rebels, but Carney declined to provide a timeline for the deliberations.

07 May, 2013


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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2013/05/06/U-S-says-no-information-Syria-rebels-used-chemical-arms.html
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NATO regrets U.N. inspectors denied access by Syria

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NATO regrets U.N. inspectors denied access by Syria

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen. (AFP)

NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Monday he regretted Syria's refusal to authorize access to U.N. inspectors probing the possible use of chemical weapons in the conflict.

"It's very important that U.N. inspectors get full and free access to Syria to investigate what has actually happened, and it is regrettable that so far the Syrian authorities have denied the U.N. such access," Rasmussen said at a news conference.

He said he had no conclusive information on the use of chemical weapons after human rights investigator Carla del Ponte said there was evidence rebels may have used the deadly nerve agent sarin against President Bashar al-Assad's regime.

"I would like to stress that the use of chemical weapons is a breach of international law whoever uses them," Rasmussen said.

"We are very deeply concerned" about the situation in Syria, he added. "We call on the international community to find a political solution as soon as possible."

But he refused to comment on reports of Israel's weekend strikes against targets in Syria. "I'm aware of press reports," he said. "We have no indication of such activity in areas relevant to NATO Patriots."

07 May, 2013


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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2013/05/06/NATO-regrets-U-N-inspectors-denied-access-by-Syria.html
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Mortar shells land in Golan Heights

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Israeli soldiers walk past signs pointing out distances to different cities at an observation point on Mount Bental in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights May 5, 2013. (Reuters)

The Israeli military says a stray mortar shell fired from Syria has landed in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights.

The shelling comes days after a pair of airstrikes in Syria blamed on Israel.

The military says Monday's shelling appears to be accidental spillover from the Syrian civil war, and not connected to the airstrikes.

Stray shelling and gunfire from the Syrian civil war has periodically landed in the Golan in recent months. The Israeli military believes most of these incidents have not specifically targeted Israel.
 

06 May, 2013


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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2013/05/06/Mortar-shells-land-in-Golan-Heights.html
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Taliban bomb kills 14 at Pakistan election rally

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Pakistani soldiers keep watch at the state-run Printing Corporation of Pakistan in Lahore on May 6, 2013. (AFP)

A bomb tore through a Pakistan political rally Monday, killing 14 people and wounding 56 in one of the deadliest attacks on the campaign for Pakistan's historic elections on Saturday.

The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility, saying its target had been a lawmaker elected as an independent but allied to the outgoing government. Officials said the lawmaker escaped unhurt.

The killings bring to 83 the number of people killed in attacks on politicians and political parties since April 11, according to an AFP tally.

The device hit a rally by the right-wing Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI), a religious party in the outgoing government coalition. It exploded in Kurram, part of Pakistan's Taliban-infested tribal belt on the Afghan border.

"At least 14 people have been confirmed dead and 56 injured," Riaz Khan, the top administrative official in Kurram, told AFP.

"I fear the death toll could rise further because several of the injured are in a critical condition," he added.

Khan said the bomb was planted at a rally by two national assembly candidates representing the JUI faction led by cleric Fazul-ur-Rehman.

The apparent target, Munir Orakzai, escaped unhurt while Khan said the other, Ain u Din Shakir, was slightly injured.

It was the first deadly attack on a political party in the tribal belt since campaigning began for what will be the country's first democratic transition of power after a civilian government has completed a full term in office.

Interim Prime Minister Mir Hazar Khan Khoso strongly condemned the attack and said another national assembly candidate had been injured.

Repeated calls for candidates to be granted more security have failed to stop a wave of attacks, most of them claimed by the Pakistani Taliban.

"Basically it was an attack on Munir Orakzai, who was a part of the past government for five years," Taliban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan told AFP by telephone from an undisclosed location.

The Pakistani Taliban have condemned the elections as unIslamic and directly threatened the main parties in the outgoing coalition, the Pakistan People's Party, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement and the Awami National Party (ANP).

"He supported the People's Party and ANP government which launched several operations against us," Ehsan told AFP.

Rehman and his JUI faction -- known as JUI-F -- have been a mediator between the authorities and the Taliban, blamed for killing thousands of Pakistanis in a domestic insurgency over the last six years.

Orakzai is a senior tribal politician who is standing for JUI-F for the first time. The Taliban denied that JUI-F itself was the target.

Elections have been postponed in three constituencies, in the southwestern province of Baluchistan, in Pakistan's biggest city of Karachi and in the southern city of Hyderabad, where candidates have been killed.

06 May, 2013


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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/asia/2013/05/06/Taliban-bomb-kills-14-at-Pakistan-election-rally-.html
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Russia, China express alarm after Israel hits Syria

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Israeli soldiers walk near tanks close to the ceasefire line between Israel and Syria on the Israeli occupied Golan Heights May 6, 2013. (Reuters)

Russia and China expressed alarm on Monday over the regional repercussions of two Israeli air raids on Syria, while Israel played down strikes which its officials said targeted Iranian missiles bound for Lebanese Hezbollah militants.

Oil prices spiked above $105 a barrel, their highest in nearly a month, on Monday morning as the air strikes on Friday and Sunday prompted fears of a wider spillover of Syria's two-year-old civil war that could affect Middle East oil exports.

Israel, whose prime minister visited China on Monday in a sign of business-as-usual, sought to persuade Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Monday that the air strikes did not aim to weaken him and dismissed the prospects of an escalation.

"There are no winds of war," Yair Golan, the general commanding Israeli forces on the Syrian and Lebanese fronts, told reporters while out jogging with troops.

"Do you see tension? There is no tension. Do I look tense to you?" he said, according to the Maariv NRG news website.

The attacks hit targets manned by Assad's elite troops in the Barada River valley and Qasioun Mountain, residents, activists and opposition military sources said. They included a compound linked to Syria's chemical weapons program, air defenses and Republican Guards' facilities, the sources said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 42 soldiers were killed and 100 more were missing, while other opposition sources put the death toll at 300 soldiers.

Russia said it was concerned the chances of foreign military intervention in Syria were growing, suggesting its worry stemmed in part from media reports about the alleged use of chemical weapons in the conflict that has killed 70,000 people.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said the reported air strikes "caused particular alarm".

"The further escalation of armed confrontation sharply increases the risk of creating new areas of tension, in addition to Syria, in Lebanon, and the destabilization of the so-far relatively calm atmosphere on the Lebanese-Israeli border."

Assad's government accused Israel of effectively helping al Qaeda Islamist "terrorists" and said the strikes "open the door to all possibilities". It said many civilians had died.

Lebanon

Lebanon has called on the U.N. Security Council to condemn violations of its airspace by Israel.

Lebanon urged the 15-member council to "compel Israel to halt its violations of Lebanon's sovereignty by air, sea and land, and carry out all its obligations in accordance with resolution 1701," according to a letter obtained by Reuters on Monday.

U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701 halted the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war in southern Lebanon, which remains a Hezbollah stronghold. Lebanon regularly accuses Israel of violating its airspace.

"The Israeli Air Force continues to violate Lebanese airspace and in the previous days intensified its circuits above Lebanon. This constitutes a disgraceful violation of [Lebanon's] sovereignty," Lebanon wrote to the Security Council.

Iran

Israel has not confirmed the attack officially, but has reinforced anti-missile batteries in the north. Israeli officials said that, as after a similar attack in the same area in January, they were calculating Assad would not pick a fight with a well-armed neighbor while preoccupied with survival.

Syria would be no match for U.S. ally Israel in any direct military showdown. But Damascus, with its leverage over Lebanon's Hezbollah, could still consider proxy attacks through Lebanon.

Israeli officials said the raids were not connected with Syria's civil war but aimed at stopping Hezbollah, an ally of Iran, acquiring weapons to strike Israeli territory if Israel were to attack Iranian nuclear sites.

Iran denies Israeli and Western accusations that it is bent on acquiring atomic weapons - a long-running dispute that now threatens to intersect with the bloody strife in Syria.

Tehran, which has long backed Assad, whose Alawite minority has religious ties to Shi'ite Islam, denied Israel's attack was on arms. Shi'ite Hezbollah did not comment.

China, hosting Netanyahu, urged restraint and the respect of sovereignty, without mentioning Israel by name. Moscow and Beijing, allies of Assad, have blocked Western-backed measures against Assad at the United Nations Security Council.

A U.S. official said U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was due to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday to see if he could persuade Moscow to support U.S. peace efforts.

Following the air strikes, the United Nations said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on all sides "to act with a sense of responsibility to prevent an escalation of what is already a devastating and highly dangerous conflict".

The military in Turkey, one of Assad's most vocal critics and home to more than 400,000 refugees from the civil war that grew out of protests against his rule, launched a 10-day military exercise on Monday at a base near the border.

The violence in Syria has inflamed wider regional tensions between Shi'ite Muslim Iran and Sunni-ruled Arab states, some of them close allies of the West.

Senior Republican Senator John McCain said on Sunday that the Israeli air strikes could add pressure on Washington to intervene in Syria, although President Barack Obama has said he has no plans to send ground troops.

After Friday's raid, Obama defended Israel's right to block "terrorist organizations like Hezbollah" from acquiring weapons. A U.S. intelligence official said on Sunday Washington was not given any warning before the air strikes.
 

06 May, 2013


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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2013/05/06/Russia-China-express-alarm-after-Israel-hits-Syria.html
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Kerry to ‘make another stab’ at Syria deal with Russia

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U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry delivers a statement after a meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistani Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani in Brussels April 24, 2013. (Reuters)

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will "make another stab" at seeing if the United States and Russia can work together to find a political solution to end Syria's civil war when he visits Moscow this week, a senior U.S. official said on Monday.

Kerry departs for Moscow on Monday afternoon and is scheduled to see Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday to discuss a wide range of issues including the Iranian and North Korean nuclear programs, Afghanistan and U.S.-Russian trade.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the U.S. official said he did not know if Washington and Moscow might be able to move forward on a political plan for Syria that they endorsed on June 30, 2012, but that has since gone nowhere.

That plan, agreed to in Geneva, was aimed at resolving through talks among all sides a civil war that has cost more than 70,000 lives, but it left open the question of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's exact fate.

Russia says his exit from power must not be a precondition for a dialogue among Syrians to end the conflict.

"We have their formal commitment with their agreement to the Geneva Communiqué of June 30th 2012 but now we need to go beyond formal commitments like that to figure out if there are ways to actually build off of it," said the U.S. official.

"It is no secret that so far we have not been able to do that but we certainly want to try to make another stab at it, to make another effort at it, because events on the ground have become steadily worse," he added.

"The casualty figures are mounting, the rate of killing has gone up and as the Israelis strikes show, the situation is adding to instability in the region," the official said.

Israel conducted two air raids on neighboring Syria over the weekend.

06 May, 2013


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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/world/2013/05/06/Kerry-to-make-another-stab-at-Syria-deal-with-Russia.html
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Israel asks Google to U-turn on ‘Palestine’ recognition

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On Friday, Google changed the term "Palestinian Territories" to "Palestine" across all its products. (Courtesy: Google)

Google may be hindering diplomatic peace efforts in the Middle East, Israel's deputy foreign minister said in a letter addressed to the search giant's CEO on Monday.

On Friday, Google changed the term "Palestinian Territories" to "Palestine" across all its products.

By doing this, the search giant is "recognizing the existence of a Palestinian state," Elkin wrote in a letter to Google CEO Larry Page, reported The Jerusalem Post.

"Such a decision is in my opinion not only mistaken but could also negatively impinge on the efforts of my government to bring about direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority," Elkin wrote.

"Google has brought about so many positive changes in the world by promoting connections between people and between peoples. This decision, however, is in contradiction to such aims, and distances the parties from real dialogue.

"I would be grateful were you to reconsider this decision since it entrenches the Palestinians in their view that they can further their political aims through one-sided actions rather than through negotiating and mutual agreement," he added.

The change was introduced at the beginning of May.

"We're changing the name 'Palestinian Territories' to 'Palestine' across our products. We consult a number of sources and authorities when naming countries," Google spokesman Nathan Tyler said in a statement to the BBC on Monday.

"In this case, we are following the lead of the U.N., Icann [the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers], ISO [International Organization for Standardization] and other international organizations," Tyler added.
 

06 May, 2013


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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2013/05/06/Israel-asks-Google-to-U-turn-on-Palestine-recognition.html
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Libya gunmen besieging ministries demand government quits

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Protesters wave a Libyan flag as they demonstrate in Martyrs' Square demanding Qaddafi-era officials to be banned from taking up political posts, in Tripoli May 5, 2013. (Reuters)

Gunmen on Monday demanded the Libyan government's resignation as they besieged ministries despite the adoption of a law to purge officials from the regime of dead dictator Muammar Qaddafi from their posts.

"We are determined to continue our movement until the departure of (Prime Minister) Ali Zeidan," said Osama Kaabar, a leader of the militias who had promised to lift their siege if the law was passed.

The General National Congress, under pressure from the gunmen, on Sunday voted through the controversial law to exclude former Qaddafi regime officials from public posts in a move that could see the premier removed from office.

An AFP correspondent reported that armed men in vehicles equipped with machineguns and anti-aircraft guns still surrounded the foreign and justice ministries on Monday.

"The adoption of the law on political exclusion is a major step in the right direction. But we will take our time to examine certain aspects of the law," said Kaabar who is also a vice president of the Superior Council of Libyan Tuwwar (revolutionaries).

"On the other hand we are determined to bring down the government of Ali Zeidan," he said, accusing the premier of "provoking the thuwar," former rebels who fought Qaddafi's forces during the 2011 armed uprising.

Zeidan's government launched a campaign a few weeks ago to remove the militias from the capital Tripoli.
 

06 May, 2013


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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2013/05/06/Libya-gunmen-besieging-ministries-demand-government-quits-.html
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SARS-like virus kills two more in Saudi, ministry says

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Saudi Arabia reports two new death cases as a result of the country's new virus. (AFP)

A new SARS-like virus has killed two more people in Saudi Arabia, taking the number of deaths from the coronavirus that the kingdom has announced to seven in one week, the health ministry said.


"The health ministry has announced that three infections by the new coronavirus have been registered during the past days in Al-Ahsaa. Two of the victims have died while the third is in a stable condition," state news agency SPA said late Sunday.

The report did not identify the nationality of the latest victims.

On Wednesday, the health ministry announced five Saudis recently died of the SARS-like virus and that two more were being treated in an intensive care unit.

The World Health Organization said on Friday that three new cases of the virus were detected in Saudi Arabia.

The outbreak has occurred in the oil-rich Red Sea region of Al-Ahsaa, which is near Bahrain and Qatar.

The latest deaths bring the number of people who have died after contracting the virus -- first detected last year -- to 18, of which 11 have been reported in Saudi Arabia.

The SPA report on Sunday said the ministry "reassures everyone that the cases are still not widespread compared with other flu viruses," adding there was "no reason to worry".

The ministry says 13 infections have been "recently" registered in the kingdom.

The virus was first detected in mid-2012 and is a cousin of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which triggered a scare 10 years ago when it erupted in east Asia, leaping to humans from animal hosts.

The mysterious virus has been deadliest in Saudi Arabia, and the other cases were reported in Jordan, Germany and Britain

06 May, 2013


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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2013/05/06/SARS-like-virus-kills-two-more-in-Saudi-ministry-says.html
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Report: Israeli strikes killed dozens of troops, says Syrian official

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Damage is seen in what appears to be a chicken farm following an air strike near Damascus May 5, 2013, in this handout photograph distributed by Syria's national news agency SANA. (Reuters)

The Israeli airstrike on Sunday in Syria hit several critical military facilities near Damascus and killed dozens of elite troops stationed near the presidential palace, a high-ranking Syrian military official told the New York Times on Monday.

A doctor at the Syrian military's Tishreen Hospital said there were at least 100 dead soldiers and many dozens more wounded, the Times reported.

Meanwhile, The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights watchdog said on Monday that the Israeli strikes on Syrian military targets at the weekend killed at least 15 soldiers and dozens more were unaccounted for.

"At least 15 soldiers were killed, and dozens more are missing" after the strikes near Damascus early on Sunday, the Observatory's Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP news agency.

"These three sites (targeted) would usually have around 150 soldiers in them, but it's not clear if they were all there at the time of the strikes."

Syria said on Sunday that Israel had targeted three military sites near Damascus, with a diplomatic source in Beirut saying the attacks were against a military facility, a weapons depot and an anti-aircraft unit.

The Syrian government has not given an official toll from the attacks, but the foreign ministry said in a letter to the U.N. that the Israeli "aggression caused deaths and injuries and serious destruction."

An senior Israeli source said the target was weapons destined for Lebanese group Hezbollah, which is allied with the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

But a top Iranian general said any arms Israel targeted in Syria did not come from the Islamic republic, in remarks published on the Revolutionary Guards website on Monday.

Brigadier General Masoud Jazayeri "denied Western and Israeli media reports that an Iranian weapons depot has been targeted in Syria," the website reported.

"The Syrian government does not need Iran's military aid, and these sorts of reports are propaganda and psychological war," added the deputy chief of the armed forces.

Syria's residents were startled by heavy blasts that shook Damascus early Sunday when Israeli warplanes targeted a military research center in the capital's suburbs, Syrian state television reported.

The TV reported the explosions that rocked Jamraya were caused by an Israeli missile strike on the research center that took place at 1:56 a.m. local time.

"Everything was quiet and suddenly we saw this bright orange light in the sky followed by a very loud explosion," said Tarek Hillnawi, a Damascus resident who was sitting on his balcony chatting with his friends when the blast occurred.

"I felt that it was over for us, that all of Damascus has been set on fire."

An hour following the large blast, Al Samaa Syrian TV released a photo allegedly showing the moment the Syrian army launched an attack targeting an Israeli warplane. Unconfirmed news circulated that the Syrian army took down an Israeli jet.

At least 40 blasts were heard across the capital following the alleged Israeli attack, which according to activists, targeted the Syrian government's security forces sites in Damascus, including the Maher al-Assad Fourth Division Military Group and the weapon depot of the Syrian Republican Guard in Jamraya. Syrian state media denied these attacks.
 

06 May, 2013


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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2013/05/06/Israel-air-strikes-on-Syria-killed-at-least-15-soldiers-says-NGO.html
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Palestinian leader Abbas meets China’s Xi

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Chinese President Xi Jinping shakes hands with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas in Beijing. (AFP)

Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas in Beijing on Monday, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu due to follow him later this week.

Abbas's three-day trip, the first by a Middle Eastern leader since Xi took office in March, ends Tuesday, overlapping with a five-day visit to China by Netanyahu that began in Shanghai on Monday and will end in the capital.

Chinese state-run media have called Abbas' trip a state visit, while officials described Netanyahu's as an "official visit".

Beijing has traditionally remained distant from Middle Eastern affairs, though in recent years it has begun to take a more active diplomatic role.

After a full military welcome ceremony outside the Great Hall of the People, Xi told Abbas he had "maintained the strategic choice of peace" and helped "building a country which has received the wide respect and support of the Palestinian people and international society".

Abbas said: "I appreciate China's high position in the world nowadays. In recent years all the Chinese governments have adopted wise policies that have effectively had benefits and avoided harm".

The two sides signed cooperation agreements on economic technical cooperation and cultural exchange, details of which were not immediately available.

Ahead of his visit, Abbas told China's state news agency Xinhua that he planned to discuss obstacles to Israeli-Palestinian talks and ask Beijing to urge Israel to end policies that obstructed the Palestinian economy.

During his meetings Netanyahu is expected to seek greater Chinese backing for tougher sanctions against Iran in an attempt to slow its atomic program, which Israel and Western states suspect is aimed at developing nuclear weapons.

A spokesman for the Israeli embassy in Beijing said that Netanyahu had arrived and begun his official meetings on Monday, without giving details.

06 May, 2013


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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/world/2013/05/06/Palestinian-leader-Abbas-meets-China-s-Xi.html
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U.N. investigator: sarin gas used by Syrian opposition fighters

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U.N. investigator: sarin gas used by Syrian opposition fighters

In a video uploaded on the web of a shelling that took place in Damascus's Douma, traces of chemical weapons were spotted on camera. (Al Arabiya)

The deadly nerve agent sarin has been used by Syrian opposition fighters during the war-torn country's conflict, U.N. human rights investigator Carla del Ponte said late Sunday.

"According to the testimonies we have gathered, the rebels have used chemical weapons, making use of sarin gas," del Ponte, a former war crimes prosecutor, said in an interview with Swiss radio late on Sunday, according to AFP news agency.

"We still have to deepen our investigation, verify and confirm (the findings) through new witness testimony, but according to what we have established so far, it is at the moment opponents of the regime who are using sarin gas," she added.

She stressed that the U.N. commission of inquiry on Syria, which she is a part of, had far from finished its investigation.

The commission, which is set to present its latest findings to the UN Human Rights Council during its next session in June, might still find proof that the Syrian regime was also using this type of chemical weapons, del Ponte said.

Sarin is a powerful neurotoxin developed by Nazi scientists in the 1930s.

Originally developed as a pesticide, sarin was used to deadly effect in the 1988 raid on the Kurdish village of Halabja in northern Iraq. A Japanese cult also used sarin in two attacks in the 1990s.

The gas works by being inhaled or absorbed through the skin and kills by crippling the nervous system.

Symptoms include nausea and violent headaches, blurred or tunnel vision, drooling, muscular convulsions, respiratory arrest, loss of consciousness and then death, according to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

In high doses, sarin paralyses the muscles around the lungs and prevents chemicals from "switching off" the body's secretions, so victims suffocate or drown as their lungs fill with mucus and saliva.

Even a tiny dose of sarin -- which, like other nerve gases such as soman, tabun and VX, is odourless, colourless and tasteless -- can be deadly if it enters the respiratory system, or if a drop comes into contact with the skin.

But speculations have been rife over which side of the conflict have been allegedly using chemical weapons.

Last week, Washington acknowledged that chemical weapons were used in Syria, confirming an earlier statement by an Israeli army official that Syrian regime forces had "used lethal chemical weapons" against the opposition.

A defected Syrian regime officer told Al Arabiya last week he was ordered by the regime to use chemical agents against the rebels, but replaced the deadly sarin with liquid bleach before defecting.

"The regime used sarin gas on three occasions, and I am increasingly afraid that they will use agents more powerful than sarin. They have VX gas and mustard gas, also known as iprit," Zaker al-Saket said.

Saket explained that President Bashar Assad's army has "three types of chemical weapons: harassing chemical agents, incapacitating agents, and lethal agents." While regime forces only used harassing agents such as tear gas at the start of the uprising, he said, they gravitated toward more deadly chemical weapons as the conflict progressed.

"The regime used incapacitating agents at first, but when the world remained silent about this, and the regime thought that the international community did not care, it used lethal [chemical] weapons in more than 13 locations. The last incident was in Utaybah," he said.

In December 2012, a video uploaded on the web showing the wreckage after a shelling that took place in Douma, an area in the Damascus suburbs, purported to show chemical weapons existence. 

The video showed a fiery wreckage caused by a bomb dropped from a Syrian fighter jet. The fire was uncontainable by either water or dirt and was releasing toxic substance as it began to bubble underneath the ground.

06 May, 2013


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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2013/05/06/U-N-investigator-sarin-gas-used-by-Syrian-opposition-fighters.html
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Afghan-Pakistani clashes flare for second time in days

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Pakistani army at the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. (AFP)

Cross-border clashes broke out Monday between Afghan and Pakistani security forces for the second time in days, escalating tensions between Kabul and Islamabad, officials said.

Ties between the fractious neighbors have become increasingly strained despite renewed efforts last month from U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to get them to work more closely on peace efforts in Afghanistan.

Afghanistan and Pakistan are in dispute over a site where Pakistan has tried to construct a gate on what Afghan officials say is Afghan territory. Clashes last Wednesday in the same spot killed an Afghan guard and wounded two Pakistanis.

The porous border is unmarked in places and a key battleground in the fight against Taliban violence plaguing both countries.

"Pakistan shamelessly, again today, tried to construct those buildings. This action led to fighting," said Ahmad Zia Abdulzai, spokesman for the government in eastern Afghan province Nangarhar.

Abdulzai said the fighting involved heavy and light weapons, but refused to say who started it, when asked.

A senior Afghan official in Kabul confirmed the incident.

Pakistani officials blamed Afghans for starting the clashes.

"Afghan troops opened unprovoked fire from across the border at our post... They fired mortars and automatic weapons," one Pakistan official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

"Our troops responded with retaliatory fire. There have not been reports of any casualties so far. The exchange of fire continues at intervals," a second official said, also speaking on condition of anonymity.

Afghanistan and Pakistan are both U.S. allies in its war on terror.

But Kabul accuses Islamabad of playing a double game in supporting Taliban insurgent attacks on U.S. and Afghan troops. Pakistan denies the allegations and is locked in its own battle against Pakistani Taliban.

Pakistan, which backed Afghanistan's 1996-2001 Taliban regime, is seen by the West as having a central role in negotiating a political settlement with Taliban insurgents who shelter in Pakistan's border districts.

06 May, 2013


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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/asia/2013/05/06/Afghan-Pakistani-clashes-flare-for-second-time-in-days.html
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‘Islamist’ gunmen kill alcohol seller in Egypt’s Sinai

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Four Islamists kills a man who was selling alcohol in Egypt's Sinai. (AFP)

Gunmen shot a man dead who was selling alcohol in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula on Sunday in an attack security officials said was likely carried out by Islamist militants.

The four gunmen killed Rami Ahmed, 28, at a bar on a main road near El-Arish, a town in the northern Sinai Peninsula. It is an area where Islamist militant influence has expanded since the uprising that toppled President Hosni Mubarak more than two years ago.

"We are still in the early stages of the investigation but it is likely that Islamic hardliners were behind the incident," one of the security officials said. He said the victim came from the Nile Delta, north of Cairo, suggesting the shooting was unlikely to be related to local tribal rivalries.

Egypt's government has been trying re-establish state authority that collapsed in Sinai following the 2011 uprising against Mubarak. Hardline Islamist groups based mostly in North Sinai have exploited the vacuum to launch attacks both across the border into Israel and on Egyptian targets.

In August last year, 16 Egyptian border guards were killed in an attack blamed on Islamists who then hijacked an armored vehicle which they smashed across the border into Israel, where they were killed by Israeli forces.

Last month, Islamist militants fired two rockets from Sinai into Israel.

06 May, 2013


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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2013/05/06/-Islamist-gunmen-kill-alcohol-seller-in-Egypt-s-Sinai.html
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عداد الزوار


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