Middle East News

Richard Lugar (R) and Avigdor Liberman speak to the media in Lugar's Capitol Hill office in Washington, DC

Israeli FM discusses Iran in Congress visit

Kicking off a visit to Washington, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Monday discussed Iran's nuclear program with top US Senate Foreign Relations Committee Republican Dick Lugar Full Story


Court of Cassation endorses prison sentences for former NDP figures

Court of Cassation endorses prison sentences for former NDP figures

The Court of Cassation, headed by Judge Ahmed Gamal Eddin, on Monday endorsed a previous ruling by the Cairo Criminal Court that sentenced business tycoon Hisham Talaat Mostafa to 15 years in prison. The ruling Full Story

Five MPs to protest violence against demonstrators

Five MPs to protest violence against demonstrators

Five MPs announced Monday evening that they plan to hold hunger strikes or sit-ins inside Parliament to pressure security forces to cease violence against protesters. The MPs are Mohamed Shabana, Atef Meghawri, Nasser Aldin Full Story

Egypt presidential race to open mid-March

Former Arab League chief Amr Mussa (C) is a frontrunner in the presidential race

Candidates for Egypt's first presidential election since the ouster of veteran leader Hosni Mubarak can start registering from March 15, a month earlier than expected, the head of the elections committee said on Monday Full Story

Three Tawarga refugees killed near Tripoli

Displaced Libyans from Tawarga live in prefabricated houses for workers at a construction site in Tripoli in 2011

An armed group killed at least three refugees from the town of Tawarga on Monday near the Libyan capital as they tried to enter the city to hold a sit-in protest, a witness and other sources said Full Story

British judge orders radical cleric's release on bail

Abu Qatada, now 51, in a photo released by SITE Intelligence Group in 2009

A British judge on Monday ordered the release on bail within days of radical cleric Abu Qatada, described as a one-time aide of Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, despite concerns he poses a security risk Full Story

Parliament ends controversy over law on ministers’ trials

Parliament ends controversy over law on ministers’ trials

The People's Assembly legislative committee on Monday ended an argument about a law issued in 1958 that would allow Parliament to level accusations at ministers and refer them to trial, the state-run news agency MENA Full Story

Iraq court rules death for kidnapper of foreigners

US soldiers stand guard outside al-Yarmuk hospital in 2009.

An Iraqi court has sentenced a man to death for murder and for kidnapping French citizens and an Iranian consul, a statement released on Monday by the Higher Judicial Council said Full Story

Syrian forces pound Homs with rockets and mortars

A Yemeni protester with  Be Angry  painted on his back takes part in a rally in Sanaa in solidarity with Syrian people

Syrian forces on Monday pounded the powderkeg city of Homs with rockets and mortars, killing 17 people and wounding scores amid outrage over a Russia-China veto of a UN resolution to stop the violence Full Story

Second building collapses in one week in Alexandria

Second building collapses in one week in Alexandria

At least five people were killed early Monday when a residential building collapsed in Montazah, Alexandria, in the second building collapse in the city this week, state-run MENA reported. Full Story

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