Recent News

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  Egypt reopens main crossing to Gaza Strip

  May 23, 2013 / Egypt

      The Egyptian authorities have reopened the Rafah crossing with the Gaza Strip following the release of seven Egyptian security forces kidnapped in the volatile Sinai Peninsula last week. The border crossing between Egypt and the besieged Gaza Strip was reopened on Wednesday after Egyptian guards ended their five-day strike. The striking guards had been protesting the kidnapping of their colleagues. “This is all we wanted. We have ended our strike and reopened the border,” Al-Ahram Arabic news website [...]

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  Stagnant development projects imperil Kuwait’s stock market boom

  May 23, 2013 / Economy

      Kuwait’s stock market boom could run out of steam if the government doesn’t push ahead soon with long-delayed infrastructure projects aimed at diversifying the oil-reliant economy. Turnover on the Kuwait Stock Exchange has tripled from six months ago as reduced political unrest and an improved economic outlook have spurred hopes that mega-infrastructure projects will finally get off the ground. The benchmark share index has risen 38 percent this year, driven by local retail investors mainly, with small cap [...]

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  Newseum (dis)honors dead Gaza reporters

  May 23, 2013 / WORLD NEWS

      One man’s journalist is another man’s terrorist. Or so one can conclude from a controversial decision by America’s most prominent media museum to include – and then remove – the names of two Palestinian cameramen from a memorial event for journalists killed while reporting the news in 2012. The two, Hussam Salama and Mahmoud al-Kumi, worked for the Hamas-affiliated Al-Aqsa TV and died Nov. 20, 2012, when an Israeli missile hit their car in Gaza City as they [...]

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  Little for Kerry to gain from Mideast visit

  May 23, 2013 / Israel

      Efforts to kick-start Israeli-Palestinian negotiations without backdoor discussions with Hamas are unlikely to yield results, analysts told The Daily Star – meaning John Kerry is likely to leave the region empty handed at the end of the week. With the Palestinian leadership beset by infighting, and Israel and the United States preoccupied with wider regional threats, tackling the deadlock behind the 65-year conflict has been put on the diplomatic back burner. Nonetheless, the U.S. Secretary of State will [...]

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  Syrian rebels stay out of Tripoli fight

  May 23, 2013 / Syria

      Speaking over the crackle of gunfire in a small shop in Tripoli, Amin Mando, a senior Syrian opposition coordinator in the city, explains how his group of refugees and dissidents won’t be dragged into a conflict in Lebanon’s north. Syrians cannot and will not fight in the violent and escalating clashes between the largely Alawite pro-Syrian regime neighborhood of Jabal Mohsen and the Sunni area of Bab al-Tabbaneh that supports the opposition, Mando says. Sources say the rebel [...]

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  Kerry: Arming rebels on the table if Assad shuns peace talks

  May 23, 2013 / Syria

      U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry warned Wednesday that arming rebels was a real option if President Bashar Assad did not engage in peace talks, but the logistics of doing so remained elusive. Kerry is in Amman for the “Friends of Syria” meeting seeking support from European and Arab states for a peace initiative that he launched jointly with Russia for a conference in Geneva in the coming weeks. Speaking alongside his Jordanian counterpart Nasser Judeh, Kerry made [...]

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  Tripoli in flames as truce proves elusive

  May 23, 2013 / Lebanon

      Fighting intensified in the northern city of Tripoli after talks to reach a cease-fire failed Wednesday, as the casualty toll from four consecutive days of fighting rose to 14 dead and more than 100 wounded. Clashes were still raging in the city well into the night. Mediation attempts to put a cease-fire into place between the rival neighborhoods of Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen failed, and the partial calm of Wednesday afternoon was shattered with a new round [...]

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  Parties debate duration of Parliament term extension

  May 23, 2013 / Lebanon

    Caretaker Minister of State Nicolas Fattoush presented Parliament with a draft law Wednesday to extend the legislature’s term, as rival parties negotiated the duration of the extension. Fattoush requested that Parliament’s term be extended for two years, until June 20, 2015. According to Zahle MP Fattoush’s proposal, the extension of Parliament’s mandate is justified in order to avoid a political vacuum in the country, given that a caretaker government is currently managing state affairs. Speaking to The Daily Star, [...]

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  New elegant Xbox still largely a mystery

  May 23, 2013 / Technology

      Will gamers want One? After four years of development, Microsoft unveiled the Xbox One entertainment console and touted it as an all-in-one solution for playing games, watching TV and doing everything in between. Microsoft wants the Xbox One to be central to your living room and packed the new Xbox with such features as the ability to change TV channels through voice commands. Although the device won’t go on sale until later this year, at a price that [...]

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  Murray and Del Potro out of French Open

  May 23, 2013 / Tennis

      Britain’s world No. 2 Andy Murray has pulled out of the French Open after failing to recover from a lower back injury which he aggravated at the Italian Open last week. “It’s a really tough decision and I love playing in Paris, but after seeking medical advice, I am not fit to compete,” Murray said in a statement released by his management company. “Apologies to the organizers and thanks to everyone for the messages of support. Now my [...]

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