U.S. President Barack Obama is set to nominate former Nebraska senator Chuck Hagel as Secretary of Defense, according to various reports. The move signals that the Administration intends to continue the Middle East policy that could be described as "speak softly and carry an even softer stick" vis-à-vis the resurgent Islamist threat. "Key Democrats
A Muslim doctor who fled to Pakistan after his Nebraska-based clinic left dozens of patients infected with hepatitis C, including several who died, now wants to return to the United States and practice medicine, and he blames his earlier problems on Islamophobia, according to a new report. The Omaha World-Herald has reported that Tahir
Sources revealed to Al Arabiya early Saturday that fighters from al-Qaeda and the armed Ansar Dine extremist group, running a convoy of 100 vehicles loaded with weapons, were heading toward Mali’s northern town of Moti. The convoy moved Thursday morning from the Islamist-held town of Timbuktu towards Mopti, in a step seen to express
Egyptian ambassador to Cyprus, Menha Mahrous Bakhoum, has appeared in a video swearing at and slapping a police officer at Larnaca airport, claiming she was subject to verbal and physical humiliation by airport security despite her diplomatic standing. The incident reportedly took place on Saturday. A day later Cyprus Foreign Minister Erato Kozakou Marcoullis
Long before he was elected as Egypt's president, Mohammed Morsi rejected negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority and referred to Jews as "apes and pigs". The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) has translated and uploaded comments by Morsi, a member of Hamas's parent movement the Muslim Brotherhood, which he made in 2010
Police at the Grand Mosque in Mekkah arrested on Thursday a man found carrying papers that show he is looking for a Jewish woman to marry, according to a report by the daily al-Hayat newspaper. Lieutenant Abdulmohsen Maiman, spokesman for the Grand Mosque police, told the paper that the 49-year-old Saudi national could be
Egyptian security forces found anti-tank missiles in a warehouse in Egypt’s northern Sinai on Friday, in a region south of Arish city. According to a security source, the missiles were supposed to be shipped to Gaza through underground tunnels. He described the missiles as being 75 centimeters long, with a two kilometer range.
Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood has been accused of taking 10 billion Egyptian pounds (U.S. $1.5 billion) from the American government, according to claims by Egyptian lawyers. An immediate investigation into the accusation was ordered by Prosecutor General Talaat Abdallah on Thursday. The lawyers, Mohamed Ali Abd al-Wahab and Yasser Mohamed Sayab, filed the complaint
A car bomb killed at least 20 Shiite Muslim pilgrims at a bus station in the Iraqi town of Mussayab on Thursday, at the peak of a Shiite religious commemoration. The blast erupted late in the afternoon in the town which is about 60 kilometers (40 miles) south of the Iraqi capital. It targeted
Taliban commander Mullah Nazir, who sent men to fight NATO troops in Afghanistan, was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Pakistan along with five loyalists, local security officials said Thursday as reported by Reuters. Maulvi Nazir Wazir, also known as Mullah Nazir, an important commander from the Wazir tribe, was killed on Wednesday
