UN Secretary-general Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday called on Israelis and Palestinians to start negotiations immediately and to take measures to avoid disruptions by extremists. “There is no alternative to negotiations for a comprehensive and just resolution of the conflict, and no alternative to addressing all the core issues for a two-state solution,” said the secretary-general Read more »
Category Archives: World News
President Assad: Syria Ready for War but Prefers Peace
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad warned Israel on Wednesday that Syria is prepared for any future war with the Jewish state, though his country still prefers peace, the Lebanese Al-Manar TV channel reported. Al-Assad told the Hezbollah-sponsored TV channel in an exclusive interview that Syria refused “to be part of a gamble that would put its Read more »
U.S., Israel Fail to Reach Agreement on Israeli Settlement Plan
The United States did not reach agreement with Israel over the latter’s settlement plan after two days of visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday. The talks between Netanyahu and U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell concluded but did not heal the dispute between the two countries, U.S. officials were quoted by the Read more »
Israeli Media Dresses Down Netanyahu’s Washington Trip
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to conduct an urgent meeting with his senior cabinet ministers just two hours after his return from Washington on Thursday. The premier was in the United States principally to address the annual American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) conference. However, he took the opportunity to meet with U.S. Read more »
Bin Laden Threatens to Kill Americans If Khaled Executed
Osama bin Laden threatened to execute any Americans taken prisoner by al-Qaida if Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks, is executed, pan-Arab al-Jazeera television reported Thursday. Bin Laden said in a new audio message that the day the U.S. takes the decision to execute Sheikh Mohammed and his co- inspirators, Read more »
Iraq Orders Its FM to Quit Arab Summit
The Iraqi government ordered Thursday its delegation, headed by Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, to quit meetings of Arab summit and cut its representation, official television reported.
Arab FMs Conclude First Preparatory Meeting with Talks on Palestinian Cause
Arab foreign ministers concluded Thursday here the first preparatory session of the 22nd Arab Summit slated for Saturday and Sunday, laying out the draft resolution for the gathering of Arab leaders. The ministers discussed a draft resolution to endorse a plan to protect al-Aqsa Mosque and Jerusalem in light of the continued Israeli aggression. Arab Read more »
Russia to Help Vietnam Build Submarine Base: Minister
The Russian Navy will help Vietnam build a submarine base, Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said Thursday. Russia and Vietnam have bright prospects of bilateral military and technical cooperation, he said, as “Vietnam needs a submarine base and the Russian Navy will provide help.” Vietnam also invited Russia to take part in the construction of a Read more »
Nigerian Senate Amends Constitution
The Nigerian Senate on Thursday amended the country’s 1999 constitution. The senate also passed a budget of 4.609 trillion naira for the fiscal year 2010. (1 U.S. dollar is 174 naira)
Obama, European Leaders Discuss Iran, Middle East Peace: White House
U.S. President Barack Obama on Wednesday had a video conference with leaders of Britain, Germany and France to discuss Iran’s nuclear program and the Middle East peace process, said the White House. According to White House spokesman Robert Gibbs, Obama, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel discussed Read more »
U.S., Russia “Very Close” to Nuclear Disarmament Deal: White House
The White House said on Wednesday that the United States and Russia are “very close” to reaching a new nuclear disarmament treaty to replace the expired Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START). “We are very close to having an agreement on a START treaty, but we won’t have one until President Obama and his counterpart Medvedev Read more »
Obama Asks Netanyahu to Build Confidence for Mideast Peace Talks
U.S. President Barack Obama asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to build confidence for the Middle East peace talks during their meeting on Tuesday, the White House said on Wednesday. The talks were “honest and straightforward,” said the White House spokesman Robert Gibbs. Obama and Netanyahu held a 90-minute closed-door meeting at the White House Read more »
Can GOP Repeal Health Care Reform?
Even as U.S. President Barack Obama signed his health care overhaul into law on Tuesday, opponents were vowing to repeal the historic legislation. So far, more than a dozen U.S. states’ attorneys-general have announced their plans to file suit against the federal government in order to halt one of the bill’s provisions, which requires all Read more »
Expert: New Health Care Bill an Enormous Burden for US
The new health care bill signed by U.S. President Barack Obama on Tuesday is a major historical victory for the Democrats, but merely a victory of ideology, says a U.S. expert on Wednesday. The new bill represents an enormous increase in cost for Americans both in individual taxes and deficit of the country, said Richard Read more »
Car Bomb Explosion Kills 7 in Colombian Port City
At least seven people were killed and 50 others injured Wednesday when a car bomb exploded in the port city of Buenaventura in southwestern Colombia. The explosion occurred at 9:45 a.m. local time (1445 GMT) in downtown Buenaventura, just 20 meters away from the mayor’s office, and caused huge damage to nearby buildings, police said. Read more »
ROK Officials Head toward DPRK to Discuss Cross-border Tours
A group of South Korean businessmen crossed the border earlier Thursday to enter the Democratic People’ s Republic of Korea, amid heightened tension following Pyongyang’s threat to seize South Korean properties in protest of delayed resumption of cross-border tours. The visit comes after the DPRK announced last week that it would confiscate the South Korea’s Read more »
Aircraft Crashed at Campus in Kedah State of Malaysia
A Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) aircraft crashed near a campus early Thursday in the Kedah State in northern Peninsular Malaysia. Officials from the Universiti Utara Malaysia, or literally the Malaysia Northern University, confirmed the incident when contacted by Xinhua on Thursday. However, the officials said that the incident site was quite far away from Read more »
Strong Quake Hits Philippines, No Mass Damage Reported
A strong earthquake measuring 6 on the Richter scale hit Metro Manila and surrounding provinces in Luzon on Thursday afternoon, but there were no reports of mass damage or casualties. The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said earlier that the quake was measured at 6.2 on the Richter scale but revised it later to Read more »
Japanese DM to Visit Okinawa, Discuss Futenma Issue
Japan’s Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa is to visit Okinawa Prefecture on Thursday and Friday to discuss with local politicians the relocation of U.S. military personnel based in the prefecture. The issue of what will happen to the U.S. military presence in the prefecture has caused controversy in recent months, with the Democratic Party of Japan Read more »
Tajikistan Holds Elections to Choose Senate Members
Tajikistan’s politicians went to the polls Thursday to choose 25 members for the country’s upper house of parliament, following elections for the lower chamber earlier this month. Members of the local district parliaments will choose five Senate members for each of the five districts to sit in the 33-seat Senate, according to reports reaching here Read more »