Egypt’s new prime minister, appointed in the summer, said on Sunday his government was finalizing a package of economic reforms to boost tax revenue and cut consumer subsidies and that he would present a draft to the president next week. Hisham Qandil told Reuters in an interview the government planned to direct energy subsidies
Foreign Islamists intent on turning Syria into an autocratic theocracy have swollen the ranks of rebels fighting to topple President Bashar al-Assad and think they are waging a “holy war,” a French surgeon who treated fighters in Aleppo has said. Jacques Beres, co-founder of medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres, returned from Syria on Friday
Six blasts targeting Shiite mosques in the disputed Iraqi city of Kirkuk killed at least eight people and wounded 67 during prayers on Friday, police and hospital sources said. The attacks were the latest in a wave of attacks apparently launched to stoke sectarian tensions and challenge the country’s Shiite Muslim Prime Minister Nuri
Syria has accused Egypt’s President Mohammed Mursi of “signing the death warrant” of a contact group trying to solve the nearly 18-month conflict by calling for regime change, official media reported on Friday. “Syria looks positively on any initiative seeking to contain the crisis and permit a return to normal life,” Deputy Foreign Minister
A Pakistani court on Friday granted bail to a Christian girl accused of blasphemy, in a case that has sparked an international outcry. Judge Muhammad Azam Khan ordered the release of Rimsha Masih, who was arrested in a poor Islamabad suburb on August 16 accused of burning papers containing verses from the Koran. “I
Canada announced on Friday that it is closing its embassy in Iran and would be expelling Iranian diplomats from Canada. Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said in a statement, “Canada has closed its embassy in Iran, effective immediately, and declared personae non gratae all remaining Iranian diplomats in Canada. “Canada’s position on
Defense Minister Ehud Barak has instructed officials in his ministry to examine the possibility of a new law which would allow security officials to close Israel’s border with the Sinai Peninsula whenever there is an alert of a possible terror attack or kidnapping in the area. Barak’s instructions were made following recent assessments made
Even the staunchest advocates of President Barack Obama conceded that his acceptance speech was a bit of a letdown. They had heard better speeches from Obama and better speeches at the convention. Maybe it was difficult to see Obama come down from the Olympian heights of 2008 and now asking for more time for
A Syrian general in charge of operations in west Aleppo has told AFP that Europeans are exhibiting "blindness" in supporting the rebels against President Bashar Assad's regime. Assad's forces are "the last dam that is holding back the flood of Islamists in Europe," he said. In an apartment on the west side of Aleppo,
Hundreds of protesters gathered on Wednesday in the main square in Shechem (Nablus), calling for the ouster of Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad. The protesters held up signs which read, “Go away Fayyad” and “Abbas and Fayyad, your government does not represent us.” The protesters were also joined by Hamas parliamentarians. PA
