There are 191 articles

  • Dutch MP insults Islam, calls for ban on Quran

    A Dutch member of parliament has called for the Quran to be banned in the Netherlands, describing it as a "fascist book" which calls on people to kill non-believers and rape women. Geert Wilders, leader of the far-right Freedom Party, called for the ban in a letter published in De Volkskrant newspaper. In his letter, Wilders compares the Muslim holy.. More

  • Israel may build nuclear plant

    Israel is planning to build a nuclear power station in the southern Negev desert, Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, the infrastructure minister, has said. Army radio quoted Ben-Eliezer as saying that "the Israeli government will make a historical decision concerning the creation of a nuclear power station ... in the Negev". The ministry of infrastructure was.. More

  • Iraqis losing optimism

    Another alarming poll related to the Iraqis’ dilemma was recently released by USA Today, ABC News, the British Broadcasting Corp. and the German Network ARD. The survey, which interviewed 2,212 Iraqis, proves that their so-called American-led rescuers made their lives worse. With schools closing everyday, jobs being lost and deaths spreading on.. More

  • Families accuse Russia with new Beslan video evidence

    New video footage has emerged that shows the chaotic and brutal end to the Beslan school massacre was caused by Russian security forces and not Chechen fighters. That is the claim being made by a victims' support group. The tape was sent anonymously to the Beslan Mothers' Committee and screened at a local community centre. The group says the video,.. More

  • Pakistan begins to raze madrasa

    Pakistani authorities are demolishing the battle-scarred madrasa or religious school in Islamabad's Red Mosque complex, where scores of students and other civilians were killed in an army assault this month. Officials said on Wednesday they decided to raze the four-storeyed structure as it has been badly weakened in the fighting. "We are demolishing.. More

  • 500 thought dead in Hungary heatwave as Britain floods

    Up to 500 people are estimated to have died across Hungary last week, partly due to a heatwave gripping central and southeast Europe, say Hungarian medical officials. Record-breaking high temperatures also killed 12 Romanians, one man in Macedonia and another man on the island of Corfu, officials said, while firefighters, soldiers and volunteers.. More

  • UK battles worst floods in 60 years

    The worst flooding to hit the UK in 60 years has left hundreds of thousands of people without electricity or drinking water and destroying crops. Officials said on Monday that some rivers were still rising, with the western section of the River Thames on the verge of bursting its banks. Hilary Benn, Britain's environment secretary, said: "This emergency.. More

  • Somalis flee as attacks escalate

    At least 10,000 people have fled fresh violence in Somalia's capital Mogadishu in the past week, the UN says. A report by the UN refugee agency says violence has surged since the launch of national reconciliation talks recently and has prompted the fresh exodus. On Sunday, four civilians were killed following a series of explosions at Mogadishu's.. More

  • Kosovo leaders to press Washington on independence

    Kosovo Prime Minister Agim Ceku called Saturday for a timetable for the province's independence from Serbia ahead of talks with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Washington. Ceku said the province's ethnic Albanian majority was growing tired of waiting after the United States and its European allies dropped a bid to secure a UN resolution on.. More

  • Underground lake may ease Darfur crisis

    In the dry wasteland of Sudan's war-racked Darfur region, the imprint of an ancient 8,000sq-mile underground lake has been discovered by geologists from Boston University. If confirmed, a lake as big as the area of Wales could replenish the region for a century. It is also raising hopes that one cause of the devastating civil war could be alleviated.. More

  • Egypt faces water crisis

    A large puddle provides the only drinking water for many residents of Brulus on the Nile Delta. The water is putrid. Anger and desperation brought residents to the streets, blocking the local highway in protest at what they say is the Egyptian government's indifference to the crisis. One woman protesting said: "We have to use this water, we have.. More

  • Britain confirms US as strongest ally

    New British Foreign Secretary David Miliband, seeking to quash speculation that London may distance itself from Washington over Iraq, insisted yesterday the US was still Britain's number one ally."It is the single most important bilateral relationship," he told BBC television in his first broadcast interview since taking office. "Our commitment to.. More

  • One year on, Lebanon still healing wounds of war

    "Quite simply, Lebanon has become a house divided," Lebanon's Daily Star newspaper said on Thursday in an article about last summer’s war between Israel and Hezbollah, which Lebanon marked while facing a deep political and economic crisis as well as a deadly standoff between the army and rebels holed up in a Palestinian refugee camp in the north... More

  • Somalia: The Ethiopian occupation, the reconciliation pipedream & the way forward

    For some everything that could go wrong for Somalia came to pass, for others, considering how rapidly Mogadishu is turning into Baghdad, the worst -both for Somalia and the region - is yet to come. However, there is no dispute that each day that passes makes it more evident that occupation leads neither to "reconciliation" nor to a "way forward." Seven.. More

  • Prisoners tortured by Iraqi Kurds

    The US-based rights group, Human Rights Watch, has issued a report detailing torture and abuses in security prisons in the Kurdish area of northern Iraq. It found a consistent pattern of abuse involving detainees being subjected to beatings and stress positions, and allegations of electric shock torture. The Kurds have been running their own affairs.. More