Dozens of extremist Israeli settlers of the Shavot Ami illegal outpost, installed on Palestinian lands west of the southern West Bank of Nablus, attacked dozens of Palestinian vehicles and hurled stones at them. Local sources reported that several vehicles were damaged, but no injuries were reported. Israeli soldiers and policemen were present in the area but did not attempt to stop the settlers. Ghassan Douglas, in charge of the settlements file at the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank,...

For the majority of British forces in Iraq, their six-year occupation came to an end on July 31, a deadline set in an accord signed between London and Baghdad in 2008 for the full withdrawal of British troops. The withdrawal of all but approximately 400 service personnel of the remaining 4000 British troops still on Iraqi soil brings to an end a six-year occupation during which – at its height in the months after the 2003 invasion – saw 46,000 troops involved in combat operations,...

Ireland has agreed to take in two detainees from the US Guantanamo Bay prison camp to support US President Barack Obama in his plans to close the controversial site. Irish Justice Minister Dermot Ahern confirmed the decision after talks with US Ambassador Dan Rooney. “In making this decision I am conscious of the intention of the United States to close the centre at Guantanamo Bay, in part by transferring detainees no longer regarded as posing a threat to security but who cannot return ...

The Obama administration’s envoy to Sudan has called for removing Khartoum from the US terrorism blacklist and ending sanctions on the Arab country. “There’s no evidence in our intelligence community that supports (Sudan) being on the state sponsors of terrorism,” retired general Scott Gration told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The US envoy said the sanctions are “hurting the very development” needed to keep a fragile peace in Sudan. “The co...

The Municipal Affairs Department in Abu Dhabi plans to launch a number of intensive crackdowns aimed at fighting the haphazard accommodation across the emirate said Rashid Mubarak Al Hajri, Head of the department. Al Hajri’s statement was in response to statistics released by the Municipal Affairs Department on previous inspection visits to erring buildings that are haphazardly occupied. According to Al Hajri, one campaign issued as many as 635 warnings to commercial and resid...

Iran state TV confirmed that it has detained three Americans who crossed the border from northern Iraq, saying they failed to heed warnings from Iranian guards. Kurdish officials from the self-ruled region in northern Iraq said the three – two men and a woman – were tourists who had mistakenly crossed into Iranian territory while hiking in a mountainous area near the resort town of Ahmed Awaa. “The Iranians said they have arrested them because they entered their land without...

Iran state TV confirmed that it has detained three Americans who crossed the border from northern Iraq, saying they failed to heed warnings from Iranian guards. Kurdish officials from the self-ruled region in northern Iraq said the three – two men and a woman – were tourists who had mistakenly crossed into Iranian territory while hiking in a mountainous area near the resort town of Ahmed Awaa. “The Iranians said they have arrested them because they entered their land without...