WASHINGTON (AFP) - The Middle East is diseased with stagnation and its leaders must "upgrade" themselves and their societies to keep up with the demands of their people, Syrian President Bashir al-Assad said on Monday.
"We have took keep up with this change, as a state and institutions," said Assad in a rare interview with the Wall Street Journal newspaper as protests in Egypt entered the [...]
KUWAIT CITY (AFP) - Human Rights Watch called on Middle East governments on Monday to learn the lessons of the Tunisian and Egyptian uprisings and improve the freedom of their people.
"It would be wise for the governments in the region, for their own survival, to respect human rights of their people," Sarah Leah Whitson, HRW Middle East director, told a press conference in Kuwait City.
A [...]
HEBRON, Palestinian Territories (AFP) - The Israeli army on Monday rearrested Hamas lawmaker Mohammed Jamal al-Natsh, five months after he was released from prison, Palestinian security officials said.
Natsh, 53, was arrested in the West Bank town of Hebron.
He spent eight years in detention, Palestinian officials said, during which time he ran elected for office.
An Israeli military sp [...]
CAIRO (AFP) - The Suez Canal, the strategic waterway that connects Europe to Asia, is functioning at "full capacity", a canal official told state media, as oil prices soared on fears supplies could be disrupted by the turmoil in Egypt.
"The Suez Canal is working at full capacity and has not been affected by the current situation," the official told Egyptian television.
World oil prices r [...]
TEHRAN (AFP) - US hiker Sarah Shourd, freed on bail last year, has been summoned for trial in Iran along with her two American friends who remain in custody, the prosecutor general said on Monday.
"Sarah Shourd, one of the three Americans accused and who was released on bail, has been summoned to be present at the February 6 trial," Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejeie said, quoted by state news [...]
JERUSALEM (AFP) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday at the start of a two-day visit that will include a joint German-Israeli cabinet meeting.
Upon landing at Tel Aviv airport, Merkel headed straight to Netanyahu's office for talks due to focus on the Middle East peace process and an upcoming Quartet meeting in Munich, a source close to [...]
WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States has called for an "orderly transition" to a new government in Egypt but stopped short of demanding President Hosni Mubarak step down as protests engulf his regime.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton hammered home the US position with appearances Sunday on five cable news shows and President Barack Obama had used the same language in telephone calls to [...]
DOHA (AFP) - Egyptian police detained six Al-Jazeera journalists for several hours on Monday and their camera was withheld, said the channel which has run round-the-clock coverage of the mass protests in Egypt.
The Qatar-based Arab satellite channel said earlier that police had arrested six foreign journalists working for the English service of Al-Jazeera at their Cairo hotel.
They were [...]
BRUSSELS (AFP) - European Union foreign ministers on Monday called on Egypt to embark on an "orderly transition" leading the way to "free and fair elections."
A declaration adopted by the EU's 27 ministers urged Cairo to adopt a step-by-step approach, starting with a broad-based interim government and culminating with a democratic vote.
"The council urges Egyptian authorities to embark o [...]
CAIRO (AFP) - Widely hated interior minister Habib al-Adly and businessmen were axed in a new Egyptian cabinet announced on Monday by embattled President Hosni Mubarak that otherwise kept the line-up largely unchanged.
State television showed images of the new ministers being sworn in and shaking hands with Mubarak.
Absent were Adly and the finance and culture ministers of the previous c [...]
Passengers jump out of plane in India after bad landing
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