Middle East
Israel to hold ‘routine’ emergency drill
(CNN) Israel’s plan to test its nationwide emergency response this week “is only a drill” and has nothing to do with “exaggerated” reports of heightened tensions with Syria, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Sunday.
“I would like to make it unequivocally clear that this is a routine drill,” Olmert said before the start of […]
U.S.: suicide bomber faked pregnancy
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — A top Iraqi political figure — who also is an imam at a prominent Shiite mosque in the capital — urged the abolition of militias Friday and decried violence and pervasive corruption in Baghdad’s Sadr City.
Sheikh Jalal al-Din Ali al-Saghir is a parliament member and a representative of the most […]
U.S. ship fires warning at boat in Suez Canal
WASHINGTON (CNN) The United States is working with the Egyptian government to figure out the details of a shooting incident in the Suez Canal involving a cargo vessel contracted by the U.S. military.
The Global Patriot is a civilian ship under contract to the U.S. military.
Egypt’s state-run news agency and other media reports say one […]
‘Concrete steps’ may pave way for Mideast talks
JERUSALEM (AP) Israel and the Palestinians agreed Sunday to a series of “concrete steps” aimed at paving the way for a final peace agreement later this year, beginning with Israel’s pledge to remove some West Bank roadblocks.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice speaks during a meeting in Jerusalem on Sunday.
Ex-Israeli president avoids rape charges
JERUSALEM (CNN) Israel’s Supreme Court has approved a plea agreement that allows former President Moshe Katsav to avoid rape charges and jail time, a court spokeswoman said Tuesday.
Charges against Moshe Katsav stemmed from the times he was Israel’s president and tourism minister.
The justices approved the deal 3-2, rejecting petitions against it.
Car bomb kills at least 51 Iraqis, official says
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — In one of the deadliest attacks in Baghdad in months, at least 51 Iraqis were killed and 75 were wounded Tuesday in an car bombing, an Iraqi Interior Ministry official said.
U.S.-allied fighters collect the body of a comrade who was killed in a suicide bombing Tuesday in Baghdad.
DJ’s drug sentence highlights UAE’s strict laws
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (CNN) The recent arrest and sentencing of a British disc jockey in Dubai highlights the need for foreign travelers to pay close attention to the United Arab Emirates’ strict rules on prohibited substances, a legal charity said Wednesday.
Western tourists oblivious to the severe drugs laws in the UAE often end up […]
Disabled Iraqi athletes compete
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) We’re standing on Baghdad University’s running track in the midst of a sandstorm. The sky is yellow, and a gritty cloud of dust whips our faces. Two large explosions rumble from downtown. No one here pays much attention.
A legless Iraqi athlete practices the shotput at Baghdad University.
Doctors report exposes torture of detainees
WASHINGTON (CNN) — Former terrorist suspects detained by the United States were tortured, according to medical examinations detailed in a report released Wednesday by a human rights group.
A U.S. serviceman with his dog watches a detainee at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq in 2003.
The Massachusetts-based Physicians for Human Rights reached that conclusion after two-day […]
Bombs targeting Iraqi security kill 18
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) American soldiers in northern Iraq found a mass grave containing 14 bodies, all believed to be Iraqi security forces or anti-insurgent Iraqis, the U.S. military said Monday.
Iraqis inspect damage to a house caused by an explosion Monday at an Iraqi army checkpoint in Baghdad.
All were shot in the head and had […]
