Violent clashes erupt at Jerusalem’s holiest site

By MATTI FRIEDMAN, Associated Press Write
JERUSALEM – Israeli police firing stun grenades faced off Sunday against masked Palestinian protesters hurling stones and plastic chairs outside the Holy Land’s most volatile shrine, where past violence has escalated into prolonged conflict.
A wall of Israeli riot police behind plexiglass shields marched toward young men covering their faces with [...]

US cuts funding to Iran opposition

 
  
In an apparent shift from the Bush administration’s efforts to foster regime change in Iran by financing opposition groups, the Obama White House has all but dismantled the Iran Democracy Fund.
While the move has been criticised by neo-conservatives in the US, it has been welcomed by Iranian human rights and pro-democracy activists.
The controversial program was [...]

Karadzic war crimes trial to begin at the Hegue

The war crimes trial of former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic is set to begin in The Hague on Monday, although without the defendant himself present in court.
Karadzic has said he will boycott the opening of his trial in protest at what says is a “rush to justice” by the UN-backed International Criminal Tribunal for [...]

Scores dead in Iraq car bombing

Hundreds of people were wounded in the attack, the worst for months in the Iraqi capital [AFP]
 

Two car bombs in central Baghdad have killed at least 136 people and wounded more than 550 others, police sources have told Al Jazeera.
The blasts went off less than a minute apart on Sunday, near the ministry of justice and the headquarters [...]

Future historians will probably say Obama deserved Nobel laureate

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 [...]

Pakistan: blasts strike across the country

 
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 [...]

‘Separation’ Show Deepens Split Between Israel and Turkey

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 [...]

Leaping wolf snatches photo prize

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 [...]

Goldstone dares US government on Gaza report

 
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 [...]

Shelling in Somali capital kills more than a dozen, wounds 60

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 [...]