Sudan has said it regrets a southern leader’s call for regional independence in a referendum scheduled for 2011.
The governing Sudanese National Congress Party, or NCP, said on Sunday the call by Salva Kiir, the president of South Sudan, contradicts a peace deal that ended a two-decade civil war.
Kiir, a former guerrilla commander, said on Saturday that [...]
The challenger to Afghanistan’s president in the forthcoming presidential election runoff has said he will not stand as a candidate.
Abdullah Abdullah cited the government’s refusal to make changes in the electoral commission.
Addressing his supporters in Kabul, the capital, on Sunday, Abdullah said: “I’ll not take part in the election… I’ve not taken this decision [...]
The US has called for the resumption of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians as soon as possible and without preconditions, an apparent climbdown on earlier demands for Israel to halt settlement building.
The settlement issue should be considered as part of peace negotiations, Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, said at a [...]
In a desert landscape teeming with the gilded novelties of imported Western culture, the gas-rich Gulf Arab nation of Qatar is staking its cultural reputation on a US film festival with a decidedly Middle Eastern spin.
Far from the glittering lights of Hollywood, California, international celebrities are flocking to Doha this we
“When I tell people I am from Afghanistan the first words out of their mouth are ‘Osama, Taliban, war’,” says Daoud Sediqi, former presenter of Afghan Star, his country’s version of the Pop Idol talent show.
The year 2009 has been momentous for Mr Sediqi.
In January, he attended the Sundance Film Festival in the US to [...]
A car bomb has exploded in a crowded market in the northwest Pakistani city of Peshawar, killing at least 80 people and wounding about 100, officials have said.
A huge blaze erupted after the explosion on Wednesday, which came just hours after Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, arrived in Islamabad, the Pakistani capital, for talks with [...]
By SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science Writer
WASHINGTON – Have you heard that the world is now cooling instead of warming? You may have seen some news reports on the Internet or heard about it from a provocative new book. Only one problem: It’s not true, according to an analysis of the numbers done by several independent [...]
Israel is denying Palestinians access to even the basic minimum of clean, safe water, Amnesty International says.
In a report, the human rights group says Israeli water restrictions discriminate against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
It says that in Gaza, Israel’s blockade has pushed the already ailing water and sewage system to “crisis point”.
Israel says the [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]