Latest Middle East News
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Five killed and dozens wounded in fierce Lebanon clashes
TRIPOLI // Five people were killed and more than 50 wounded in overnight clashes in Tripoli between Lebanese gunmen backing rival factions in Syria's civil war, doctors and security sources said today. Tripoli has suffered sporadic sectarian violence since the uprising against Syrian President Bashar Al Assad broke out in March 2011, but after a night of mortar, grenade and machine-gun ...
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Rand nosedive worst after Syria
The rand has plunged 7.9 percent against the dollar since reaching a four-month high on May 3, surpassed only by the Syrian pound’s 29 percent drop in the period among more than 160 currencies tracked by ...
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Israel seeking to revive peace talks with Palestinians Netanyahu
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told visiting US Secretary of State John Kerry Thursday that his country is seeking to revive peace talks with the Palestinians.At the beginning of a meeting with Kerry, Netanyahu said "above all, we want to restart the peace talks with the Palestinians."Kerry arrived in Israel on Thursday as part of the ongoing efforts exerted by the US ...
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Iran keen to speed up nuclear programme
Iran is trying to accelerate its uranium enrichment programme, a UN nuclear report showed, but experts said it was unclear when Tehran's new machines could start operating and how efficiently they would ...
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Egypt manages through the bottleneck 2nd currency auction succeeds
It did not say how much currency it actually sold Egypt's central bank kept the price of the country's currency steady against the dollar at a special $800 million foreign exchange auction on Wednesday, called to help importers pay for wheat, meat, cooking oil and other essential imports.It did not say how much currency it actually sold.Egypt has used up its foreign currency reserves, ...
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Another $150 million loan to Jordan from World Bank
Jordanin Police keep guard as Syrian refugees look on at the King Abdullah Refugee Camp for Syrian refugees 2 kilometers from the Syrian border (Photo by Chris Jackson/Getty Images) The World Bank has proposed a $150 million loan for Jordan to help it with the cost of thousands of Syrian refugees fleeing the civil war in Syria, Jordanian and World Bank board sources said on Wednesday."The ...
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U.N. report stokes concern over Irans nuclear programme - EU
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Iran's expansion of sensitive nuclear activity breaks United Nations resolutions and increases concerns about whether its nuclear programme is entirely peaceful, the European Union said on Thursday. A U.N. nuclear agency report released on Wednesday showed Iran was expanding nuclear activities, in clear violation of resolutions of both the U.N. Security Council and of ...
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Conflicts like Syria creating ‘global underclass’ of refugees – Amnesty
Syrian refugees build a makeshift tent while waiting for a trailer from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, at the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan. Photograph: Lynsey Addario/The New York ...
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Syria’s refugee exodus now at more than 1.5 million
Syrian refugees wait in line for a daily bread ration distributed by the World Food Program at the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan. Photograph: Lynsey Addario/The New York ...
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Iraqs state-owned Trade Bank eyes Lebanon Turkey - president
By Stanley Carvalho ABU DHABI | Thu May 23, 2013 7:20am EDT ABU DHABI May 23 (Reuters) - State-owned Trade Bank of Iraq (TBI) plans to expand its domestic presence as well as open branches in Lebanon and Turkey to tap growing trade between the countries, the bank's top executive said on Thursday. The bank, set up in 2003, operates as a commercial bank with a virtual monopoly on ...
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The X Factor Louis Walsh to be paid less than Sharon Osbourne | Media Monkey
judges for the next series - despite being the longest-serving member of the panel. The Sun reports that Simon Cowell has lured Sharon Osbourne back with an offer of 1.5m plus 300,000 to cover flights and stays at London's Dorchester during filming on the series. Gary Barlow and Nicole Scherzinger will also earns 1.5m. Altogether the judges' paybill has risen from 3.7m last year to ...
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Iran seeks to speed up nuclear activity IAEA
VIENNA (Reuters) - Iran is trying to accelerate its uranium enrichment program, a U.N. nuclear report showed, but experts said it was unclear when Tehran's new machines could start operating and how efficiently they would ...
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Syria-linked clashes kill six in Lebanon
CLASHES have killed six people in the Lebanese port of Tripoli, a security source says, as a fifth day of violence sparked by the Syria conflict spread to previously quiet neighbourhoods. "Very violent fighting took place last night until 5am (1200 AEST) that killed six people and wounded 40. The clashes and shelling affected several areas of the city, including the centre," the source ...
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Digital technology poised to reshape Middle East business
Middle East business will be transformed by digital technologies and companies not investing in that transformation face an existential competitive threat. That’s the message leading industry figures will be bringing to ArabNet ...
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Protestant pastor arrested in Iran
Amid intensified persecution of Protestant churches in recent years, authorities in the Iranian capital of Tehran have arrested Rev. Robert Asserian, pastor of the Central Assemblies of God Church. "The pressure has become unbearable; they constantly threaten the church leaders and their families with imprisonment, unexplained accidents, kidnapping and even with execution," said a ...
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Report Following his election ban Irans Rafsanjani blasts rulers
TEHRAN, Iran - An Iranian pro-reform website is reporting that former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani has strongly criticized the policies of the country's ruling clerical establishment, days after a constitutional watchdog disqualified him from running in the June 14 elections. "I think it is not possible to run the country worse than this," Jaheshnews.ir quoted him as saying ...
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More natural gas confirmed offshore Israel
A natural gas discovery off the coast of Israel may hold as much as 2 trillion cubic feet of reserves, operator Noble Energy Inc. announced. Noble said it confirmed a natural gas discovery in the Karish prospect offshore Israel. Drilling uncovered a natural gas pay measuring 184 feet, which Noble said indicated a reserve potential of 1.6 trillion-2 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Karish ...
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Arab Parliament warns of escalation of events in Syria
WAM CAIRO, May 23rd, 2013 -- The Arab Parliament has warned of a dangerous escalation of events in Syria amid the intervention of third parties directly and indirectly in the pro-Syrian regime. Ahmad bin Mohammed Al-Jarwan, Speaker of the Arab Parliament, condemned the continuation of violence, murder and heinous crimes committed against Syrian civilians, the use of heavy weapons on the ...
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Kuwait crude oil exports to S. Korea up 14.4 percent
WAM ABU DHABI, May 23rd, 2013 (WAM): Kuwait's crude oil exports to South Korea in April grew 14.4% from a year earlier to 11.08 million barrels, or 369,000 barrels per day (bpd), according to latest data released by the state-run Korea National Oil Corporation. As South Korea's number-two supplier, Kuwait provided 16.0% of the Asian nation's total crude oil imports in April, ...
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Senate Votes Unanimously Toward War Against Iran
S.Res.65 , which ';[s]trongly support(s) the full implementation of United States and international sanctions on Iran and urg[es] the President to continue to strengthen enforcement of sanctions legislation.'; The legislation, as expected from a Lindsey Graham product, is full of misstatements, historical revisionism, and war-drum-beating hyperbole. Particularly revolting is the ...
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Five killed in Lebanon’s Tripoli
A Lebanese Sunni gunman holding a rifle, takes a position in Al-Koubbeh, in Tripoli. Five people were killed and more than 50 wounded in overnight clashes in Tripoli between Lebanese gunmen backing rival factions in Syria's civil war, doctors and security sources said on ...
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Barred from election Rafsanjani lambasts Iranian authorities report
In this picture taken on Saturday, May 11, 2013, former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani waves to media as he registers his candidacy for the upcoming presidential election at the election headquarters of the interior ministry in Tehran, Iran. (AP Photo/Ebrahim ...
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Media watchdog criticises UAE over tweeters jail term
United Arab Emirates this month on similar charges.RSF "expresses outrage at the Abu Dhabi appeals court confirmation of the 10-month prison sentence of netizen Abdullah al-Hadidi," it said in a statement issued on Wednesday.Hadidi is the son of one of 94 Islamists being tried in the Gulf state's top court over an alleged plot to seize power.A court jailed him for posting details ...
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Israel government divided on peace issue Livni
Head of Israel's parliamentary opposition Tzipi Livni attends a news conference at the Knesset, Israel's parliament, in Jerusalem, Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2011. (AP Photo/Sebastian ...
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Iran says IAEA report shows nuclear drive is peaceful
A new report by the UN atomic watchdog validates Iran's progress in its "peaceful" nuclear activities despite international sanctions, the country's envoy to the agency said on ...
Israel Focus
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Biggest construction project in Israeli history
The Port of Ashdod is the gateway to the economy of Israel, it has played a central role in the development of the state and will play a central role in future development, hence the reason for an ambitious $500 million expansion project currently underway in two stages (in the picture, green represents stage 1 and brown stage 2).
The Port of Ashdod is currently undergoing the largest construction project ever undertaken in the history of Israel. In 1999, Israel news media reported that the government wanted to double the cargo capacity of Ashdod, an ambitious construction project was therefore envisioned, involving the building of new piers, new docks, warehouses and cargo handling equipment. It was to take place in two stages, with the total project costing around $500 million. Read more
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