By Andrew Hunt
The Norwegian Nobel committee’s decision to award the Nobel Peace Prize to President Barack Obama left many around the world scratching their heads, wondering why a leader who has not been in the White House for an entire year received the prize.
I admit that even though I think highly of Obama, I wondered [...]
A series of three blasts have hit Pakistan, with the latest killing at least 17 people travelling to a wedding in the northwest tribal region.
The group, which included women and children, were on a bus in the Mohmand area, a haven for Taliban fighters.
Authorities said that the cause of the blast was unclear, but that [...]
By NICHOLAS BIRCH, CHARLES LEVINSON and MARC CHAMPION
A war of words ignited by a new Turkish TV series depicting Israeli military atrocities escalated Friday, shaking what is probably Israel’s strongest partnership in the Middle East.
The first episode of the series, “Separation,” aired Wednesday on the public channel TRT, showed what appeared to be an Israeli soldier gunning down an [...]
Science reporter, BBC news
Jose Luis Rodriguez’s haunting portrait of an Iberian wolf won over the judges
A picture of a hunting wolf has won the prestigious Veolia Environment Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2009 award.
Jose Luis Rodriguez captured the imaginations of the judges with a picture that he had planned for years, and even sketched out [...]
Richard Goldstone, the jurist who authored a UN report accusing Israel of war crimes and crimes against humanity during its war on Gaza, has challenged the US to justify its claims that his findings are flawed and biased.
Goldstone told Al Jazeera on Thursday that he had not heard from the administration of Barack Obama, the US [...]
By MOHAMED OLAD HASSAN, Associated Press Writer
MOGADISHU, Somalia – Islamic insurgents fired mortars at Somalia’s airport as the president was boarding a plane Thursday, sparking battles that killed at least 20 people as return fire slammed intoresidential areas and a market, officials said.
The president was unhurt and his plane took off safely, police said.
Somalia’s capital sees near-daily bloodshed [...]
GAZA – Gaza’s Hamas Islamic movement has announced that it accepted Egypt’s proposed pact for inter-Palestinian reconciliation and will unilaterally sign it in Cairo Saturday.
Ahmed Yousef, a deputy in the deposed ministry of Hamas foreign affairs, told reporters Friday that “after long debates and discussions (we) will handover the drafted pact to Egypt Saturday with [...]
Iran and three world powers have been handed a draft agreement aimed at reducing international concerns over Tehran’s nuclear programme.
The International Atomic Energy Agency, which proposed the plan after talks in Vienna, wants an answer by Friday.
Details have not been confirmed, but the plan is believed to involve Iran exporting uranium to be enriched in [...]
By DIANA ELIAS
KUWAIT CITY – (AP) Kuwait’s highest court granted women the right to obtain a passport without their husband’s approval, the case’s lawyer said Wednesday, in the latest stride for women’s rights in this small oil-rich emirate.
Unlike with highly conservative neighbors like Saudi Arabia, women in Kuwait can vote, serve in parliament and drive — and now can obtain [...]
Dozens of ethnic Uighurs, including several children, remain unaccounted for more than three months after China launched a crackdown on ethnic unrest in the country’s far west, a human right group has said.
A report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) released on Wednesday, said the group had documented the cases of at least 43 Uighur men [...]