RIYADH (AFP) - Iraqi political leaders have signalled support for a Saudi proposal to host talks aimed at resolving the political deadlock in Baghdad, the kingdom's foreign minister said on Sunday.
Despite no high-level official Iraqi reaction yet to King Abdullah's call for talks in Riyadh, "what we have heard is general support for the initiative," Prince Saud al-Faisal said.
"They app [...]
COTONOU (AFP) - Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki on Sunday promised his country would send humanitarian aid to flood-hit Benin as he visited the country as part of a West African tour.
"We are really touched by the numerous victims due to the floods in the country," Mottaki told AFP through a translator. "We are going to send a humanitarian shipment to Benin to contribute assis [...]
DAMASCUS (AFP) - Buffeted by economic realities that have forced farmers to replace mulberry trees with olive groves and fruit orchards, Syria's once-famous silk industry is these days hanging by a very fine thread.
In the green mountains of Deir Mama in western Syria, near the imposing Masyaf citadel, Mohammed Saud and his family however still raise silk worms in the spring and still spi [...]
KUWAIT CITY (AFP) - Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri on Sunday urged Iraqi political parties to accept the Saudi invitation to meet in Riyadh to resolve their political deadlock.
"We have been pleased to hear (Saudi) King Abdullah's invitation to Iraq's political leaders to resolve Iraqi problems under the umbrella of the Arab League," Hariri said in a keynote address at the Kuwait Fin [...]
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israel's tourism minister called on his countrymen on Sunday not to holiday in Turkey, after reports that its National Security Council had defined Israeli policies in the Middle East as a threat.
"Our citizens have nothing to do in Turkey," minister Stas Misezhnikov told reporters outside the weekly cabinet meeting.
"The Turks are causing themselves damage with all sor [...]
BERLIN (AFP) - Germany's interior minister on Sunday postponed a visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories, his spokesman said, after global intelligence agencies thwarted an air cargo bomb plot.
Thomas de Maiziere's trip to Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Ramallah to hold political talks "has been postponed due to current events related to suspect packages in air freight from Yemen," said [...]
ADEN, Yemen (AFP) - A Yemeni court sentenced 10 Somalis accused of piracy to five years in prison and acquitted three others in the southern port city of Aden on Sunday.
Judge Mohammed al-Abyad read the verdict in Aden's specialised criminal court, adding that the defendants, found guilty on piracy charges, had the right to appeal.
The 13 were arrested on October 12, 2009 in the Gulf of [...]
BAGHDAD (AFP) - An Iraqi court official on Sunday denied a family claim that ailing former deputy prime minister Tareq Aziz, sentenced to death last week, had begun a hunger strike.
"The information about Tareq Aziz is not accurate. He did not start a hunger strike," said Mohammed Abdul Sahab, spokesman for Iraq's supreme criminal court that had handed down the death sentence.
"He is in [...]
BAGHDAD (AFP) - The first flight by a European carrier in 20 years landed in Baghdad on Sunday, marking an important step for a country looking to post-war reconstruction following the ravages of the 2003 US-led invasion.
The Airbus A319 operated by France's Aigle Azur airline from Paris-Charles de Gaulle airport touched down at 6:00 am (0300 GMT), carrying on board France's Trade Ministe [...]
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he will fly to the United States next weekend for talks on Middle East peace efforts and to speak of the need to combat international terrorism.
"Next Sunday, I shall leave for the annual assembly of Jewish communities in the United States," Netanyahu told reporters at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting, referring t [...]
Passengers jump out of plane in India after bad landing
Recent Comments