News Archive - 15 August 2014

>BAGHDAD (Reuters) - An increasingly isolated Nuri al-Maliki again protested his removal as Iraqi prime minister on Wednesday, as his own political party and his former sponsor in Iran publicly endorsed a successor who many in Baghdad hope can halt advancing Sunni jihadists. Although abandoned by former backers in the...

>VIENNA (Reuters) - U.N. nuclear watchdog chief Yukiya Amano will visit Iran on Sunday in an apparent attempt to push for progress in a long-running investigation into suspected atomic bomb research by Tehran. Amano's trip comes ahead of an Aug. 25 deadline for Iran to provide some information relevant...

>BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's most influential cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, threw his weight on Friday behind the new prime minister, calling for national unity to contain sectarian bloodshed and an offensive by Islamic State militants that threatens Baghdad. Speaking after Nuri al-Maliki finally stepped down as prime minister under...

>BEIRUT (Reuters) - With minorities facing death and persecution at the hands of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, Lebanon's Christians must lay aside their rivalries and agree on who should fill the vacant presidency, a leading Druze politician has warned. Walid Jumblatt, the most influential figure in Lebanon's...

>LONDON (Reuters) - Following four decades of war, sanctions, nationalization and unrest, oil and gas producers are gradually adjusting to rely less on the Middle East. The countries around the Persian Gulf and on the Arabian Peninsula still contain the greatest concentration of giant and super-giant fields anywhere in the...

During the week, our football moved even further into the Twilight Zone, with speculation laced with conjecture that, Aminu Maigari would do a Lazarus and return as President of the Nigerian Football Federation ( for the benefit of my non Christian readers, Jesus awakened Lazarus from the dead). As I...

We were told last week there were 40,000 Yazidis on Sinjar Mountain facing starvation if they remained there — and slaughter by the Islamic State ...

Today is Saturday, August 23, the 235th day of 2014. There are 130 days left in the year.Highlights in history on this date:1305 - Scottish rebel leader William Wallace is hung, drawn and quartered for treason in London.1514...

Having spent $1 trillion on Middle East wars these past dozen years and more, U.S. taxpayers deserve a break. Don’t send us the bill for ...

POLICE have continued their investigation into alleged sexual assaults by Cliff Richard, saying the public have come forward with information.

Great nations need organizing principles, and 'Don't do stupid stuff' is not an organizing principle. - Hillary Clinton, The Atlantic, Aug.

The UN has passed sanctions against the jihadists and the EU has voted to arm the Kurds, as the move to regain control of northern Iraq gains momentum.

Support for Mr Maliki’s designated replacement, Haidar al Abadi, has poured in from sources as diverse as Iran and Saudi Arabia.

MANILA, Philippines – Filipino students continued to shine in international math competitions as the 4-member Philippine delegation hauled 8 medals and awards at the 13th China Girls Mathematical Olympiad (CGMO) from August 10 to 14. Kelsey Lim Tiong Soon of Grace Christian College and Andrea Jessica Jaba ...

Kurdish women in Turkey no longer eye independence

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei REUTERS

Iran says a nuclear deal with Western powers is unlikely to be made by the November deadline.

Haidar al-Abadi faces ‘near-impossible’ task of trying to form unity government

Ridiculed at first, the new power which has seized a third of Iraq and triggered the first American air strikes since the US troop withdrawal in 2011 â has carved itself a powerful and possibly lasting presence in the Middle East.

Politicians have ranges of positions of varying widths that they find acceptable. Hillary Clinton, like her husband, has a very wide range; President Obama’s has been far narrower. This is...

Baghdad (AFP) - Iraqis and foreign powers voiced relief Friday after Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki agreed to step down, as the UN targeted Islamist militants and the EU backed the arming of their Kurdish rivals.

The first P&O Orient liner Oriana returns to Southampton after her maiden voyage to the Panama Canal in 1961. She was the largest vessel to pass through the canal since the German liner Bremen in 1939. Photo by Central Press/Getty Images Considered one of the wonders of the modern world,...

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s foreign minister said Friday that Tehran is unlikely to reach a final nuclear accord with world powers by a November deadline. ...

As a truce between Israel and Gaza Strip militants stretched into a third day, details of a peace proposal that includes the opening of border crossings emerged during talks in Cairo to find a lasting settlement.

ISRAELI Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office has denied reports of a crisis in US-Israeli relations over the Gaza war, after the state department confirmed a new policy of placing weapons shipments to the Jewish state under closer scrutiny due to concern over the large number of Palestinian civilian fatalities.

The tangle of lists that Canadian banks and other financial institutions rely on to sanction terrorists, tyrants and other troublemakers are confusing and often out of date, industry players are telling the federal government. That report comes from Jim Bronskill of the Canadian Press. More from his article: The complaints...

BOISE, Idaho (AP) -- Former Idaho Republican congressman George Hansen died Thursday of natural causes at an eastern Idaho medical center. He was 83.

Yahoo will use this information to send you a one time email or SMS reminder prior to the start of the concert. Yahoo will not share this data with Live Nation. If you have a Yahoo Account, you can manage your concert reminders and other notifications here. Reply ‘Stop’ to...

European Union foreign ministers on Friday approved sending weapons to Iraq’s embattled Kurds, as Kurdish forces, bolstered by U.S. air strikes, struggle to push back against advancing Islamic State militants. Meanwhile, U.S. airstrikes and aid drops by the U.S., Britain and others have eased fears of...

They are sweet, innocent American children, and they don’t understand why their daddy can’t come home. Pastor Saeed Abedini has been unjustly imprisoned in Iran for almost two years, and his children have made a video pleading for President Obama to bring him home. Pastor Saeed’s dire situation is more...

When a rocket struck in Baghdad's Green Zone in 2007 during a news conference by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the world's top diplomat ducked and looked unsettled. Al-Maliki, however, never flinched, and dismissed the attack as "nothing." A year later,...

Aileen Graef TEHRAN, Aug. 15 (UPI) -- Yezdany and Sarvebaz Heraner are making commuting in Tehran more enjoyable by providing a mobile bookstore in their taxi.

Iraqis and foreign brokers alike breathed a sigh of relief Friday after Nuri al-Maliki stepped aside, which many saw as vital to tackling a spiralling military and humanitarian crisis. Support for Maliki's designated replacement, Haidar al-Abadi, has poured in from sources as diverse as Iran and Saudi Arabia. When jihadist...

JUSTIN Bieber as paid a $A12,000 fine held over from last year, for bringing a pet monkey into Germany without the necessary papers.

Many were expecting bellicose statements in the Yalta speech of Russian President Vladimir Putin in connection with the Ukrainian crisis, but the dominant word was "peace." The speech was aimed for Western audiences, that's why there was no live broadcast of Putin's speech.

By Raheem Salman and Michael Georgy BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Tribal leaders and clerics from Iraq's Sunni heartland offered their conditional backing on Friday for a new government that hopes to contain sectarian bloodshed and an offensive by Islamic State militants that threatens to tear the country apart. One of the...

A senior Iranian official has hailed the ongoing democratic transition in Iraq and reaffirmed Iran’s support for the establishment of sustainable security in the Arab country.

BAGHDAD - Iraq's top Shiite cleric urged unity on Friday after Nouri al-Maliki agreed to step down as prime minister, reviving hopes for a new government that can take on Sunni insurgents who have overrun large parts of the country.

BAGHDAD - Iraq's top Shiite cleric urged unity on Friday after Nouri al-Maliki agreed to step down as prime minister, reviving hopes for a new government that can take on Sunni insurgents who have overrun large parts of the country.

My family’s old house in the Nuseirat refugee camp in Gaza was recently rebuilt by its new owner. It is now a beautiful three-storey building with large windows set within red frames. In Israel’s most recent and deadliest war on Gaza, the house sustained significant damage.

The historic visit of Richard Nixon to Beijing in May 1972 brought to an end 25 years of American hostility towards the People’s Republic of China. During the Carter era, full diplomatic relations were established. Since then the two countries’ relations witnessed many ups and downs.

Turkish president-elect Recep Tayyip Erdogan has taken to publicly branding critically minded journalists as traitors or foreign agents.

Embattled two-term Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki says he is stepping aside and will support his nominated replacement. Maliki -- under enormous international pressure to step down -- announced his decision late Thursday in a nationally televised address. He pledged his full support for nominee Haider al-Abadi. "I can say...

In an effort to quell international outcry, incumbent Prime Minister Noor al-Maliki stepped down from the Prime Minister position late Thursday evening, according to the AP.

Speaking Freely is an Asia Times Online feature that allows guest writers to have their say. Please click here if you are interested in contributing. As the specter of disintegration looms for Iraq, the main victor in this scramble for power is none other than Israel.

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Iran, Israel and Arab states have taken part in several informal meetings, most recently in Geneva on June 24-25.