Paris: French prosecutors opened a murder inquiry into the death of Yasser Arafat on Tuesday, his widow's lawyer said, after she and a TV investigation raised new questions about whether the Palestinian leader was poisoned.
There have long been rumors in the Arab world that Arafat was poisoned, and a Swiss lab's recent finding of elevated levels of polonium-210, a rare and highly lethal radioactive substance, on Arafat's clothing has fed those claims.
However, the Institute of Radiation Physics said its findings were inconclusive and that only exhuming Arafat's remains could bring possible clarity.
Palestinian officials have waffled on that matter initially approving the exhumation and then saying the matter needed more study, only further fueling suspicions. ...
more
09:27 AM, Aug 29, 2012
Hyderabad: Yemen's historic ties with Hyderabad are set to get a boost with the Arab nation planning to set up an honorary consulate in the city. Ausaf Sayeed, India's ambassador to the Islamic Republic of Yemen, said persons of Yemeni origin in Hyderabad had been representing for a full-fledged Yemeni consulate. However, Yemeni authorities were considering setting up only an honorary consulate. An eminent person of Yemeni origin will be...
11:38 AM, Jun 08, 2012
CNN's Arwa Damon travelled inside the city of Holms where the military continues to assault towns and villages. ...
10:03 AM, Feb 18, 2012
United Nations: Diplomats have failed to reach agreement on a UN resolution aimed at ending the bloodshed in Syria, leaving discussions in limbo pending consultations with their home governments. Envoys said on Thursday that yet another text is being drawn up for them to send to their capitals for consideration. British Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant told reporters after the session that the new version will be put to a vote...
11:21 AM, Feb 03, 2012
Beirut: Syrian troops crushed pockets of rebel soldiers on Tuesday on the outskirts of Damascus and the UN Security Council took up a draft resolution demanding that President Bashar Assad halt the violence and yield power. US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told the Security Council that action to end the violence in Syria would be different from UN efforts to pacify Libya. "I know that some members here...
08:04 AM, Feb 01, 2012
Cairo: Egyptians head to Tahrir Square on Wednesday to mark the first anniversary of the uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak with some seeking a new revolt against army rule and others celebrating the changes already achieved. It is a year since protesters inspired by an uprising in Tunisia took to the streets in Egypt and the January 25 anniversary has exposed divisions in the Arab world's most populous country over...
07:38 AM, Jan 25, 2012
Beirut: Syrian security forces, undaunted by the presence of Arab League observers, have killed at least 12 protesters as hundreds of thousands demonstrated against the government of President Bashar al-Assad, opposition activists said. Five members of the security forces were also killed in a shooting in the city of Homs, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Friday. Assad, 46, has signed up to an Arab League plan...
08:49 AM, Dec 31, 2011
Cairo: An Egyptian court on Tuesday ordered the country's military rulers to stop the use of "virginity tests" on female detainees, in a rare condemnation by a civilian tribunal of a military practice that has caused an uproar among activists and rights groups. The virginity test allegations first surfaced after a March 9 rally in Cairo's Tahrir Square that turned violent when men in plainclothes attacked protesters, and the army...
08:11 AM, Dec 29, 2011
Cairo: Egyptian medical officials say that one demonstrator has been killed outside the country's Cabinet building, where protestors have camped overnight to prevent the entrance of the country's newly-appointed prime minister. Witnesses say that the protestor was killed when an army vehicle ran over him early on Saturday. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media. Thousands more demonstrators are gathered...
02:31 PM, Nov 26, 2011
Cairo: Egyptian former prime minister Kamal Ganzouri accepted a request from the ruling generals to form a new government, state media reported, but protesters brushed away their choice and vowed to hold another mass rally on Friday to demand the army quit power. Ganzouri confirmed he had agreed in principle to lead a national salvation government after meeting with the head of the ruling military council, Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein...
03:16 AM, Nov 25, 2011
Cairo: A prominent Egyptian-born US columnist said uniformed police sexually assaulted, beat and blindfolded her after she was detained on Thursday near Tahrir Square during clashes, leaving her left arm and right hand broken and in casts. Mona Eltahawy, 44, lives in New York and is a prominent women's rights defender, a lecturer on the role of social media in the Arab world and a former Reuters journalist. Eltahawy describes...
01:28 AM, Nov 25, 2011
Cairo: Egypt's ruling military council asked former Prime Minister Kamal Ganzouri to form a new government on Thursday after protesters demanded the army sack the previous cabinet, Al Jazeera television reported, citing unspecified reports. Ganzouri headed a cabinet from 1996 to 1999 that introduced some economic liberalization measures. Many Egyptians viewed him as an official who was not tainted by corruption, but his record serving under Mubarak could stir opposition...
01:03 AM, Nov 25, 2011
Cairo: Syria has agreed to pull its military out of cities, release prisoners and hold talks with the opposition as part of an Arab plan to end violence triggered by an uprising against President Bashar al Assad. "We are happy to have reached this agreement and we will be even happier when it is implemented immediately," Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani said after Arab foreign ministers met...
02:48 AM, Nov 03, 2011
![Suhasini Haidar]( "Suhasini Haidar")
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's flight path from Tripoli to Kabul this week should have given the US administration some reason to reflect on ...
11:50 AM, Oct 22, 2011
Suhasini Haidar: Hello and welcome to this week's edition of World View with me Suhasini Haidar. It has been nine months and counting the fires across the Arab world continue to burn and the Arab Spring as it is called is continuing to claim lives and in fact Governments. Today, we want to talk about what India could have done and can still do. Remember, it all began last December ...
06:07 PM, Sep 17, 2011
Suhasini Haidar: Hello and welcome to this week's edition of World View with me Suhasini Haidar. It has been nine months and counting the fires across the Arab world continue to burn and the Arab Spring as it is called is continuing to claim lives and in fact Governments. Today, we want to talk about what India could have done and can still do. Remember, it all began last December...
11:48 AM, Sep 13, 2011
Suhasini Haidar: Hello and welcome to this week's edition of World View with me Suhasini Haidar. It has been nine months and counting the fires across the Arab world continue to burn and the Arab Spring as it is called is continuing to claim lives and in fact Governments. Today, we want to talk about what India could have done and can still do. Remember, it all began last December...
11:48 AM, Sep 13, 2011
Sanaa: Yemeni government warplanes and artillery pounded several villages of anti-government tribes north of the capital on Tuesday, killing at least three people, a senior tribal leader said. Sheik Ali Youssef of the Naham tribe said that Republican Guard forces, which are commanded by embattled President Ali Abdullah Saleh's son, began bombarding the villages scattered in the Naham mountain area, some 20 miles (30 kilometers) north of Sanaa, on Monday,...
01:51 AM, Jun 29, 2011
Paris: A spokesman for the rebel Libyan National Transitional Council said on Tuesday there was no room for talks with Muammar Gaddafi after the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for the Libyan leader's arrest. "After the ICC decision I don't think there is a place for any direct or indirect contact with Gaddafi," said spokesman Mahmoud Shammam. Shamman spoke to reporters after rebel chief Mahmoud Jibril met French President...
01:05 AM, Jun 29, 2011
Dubai: Yemen is considering using force to secure and repair its main oil pipeline, blown up in an attack by angry tribesmen in mid-March, a senior Yemeni official told Reuters on Tuesday. The comments came amid a persistent political impasse over the fate of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who is recovering in Saudi Arabia from wounds suffered in a June 3 attack, and continuing unrest in the south, where nine...
01:00 AM, Jun 29, 2011
