WASHINGTON (AFP) – President Barack Obama on Tuesday marks the symbolic end of US combat operations in Iraq, seven years after an invasion he opposed, and at a time when the country still seems far from being stabilized. Speaking from the Oval Office, Obama will address Americans in a nationally televised speech at 8 pm [Continue]

BEIRUT (AFP) – Lebanon’s energy minister on Thursday said his country plans to outline its maritime sea borders and auction off rights to explore potential offshore natural gas and petrol reserves by 2012. [Continue]

JERUSALEM (AFP) – Pictures of an Israeli woman soldier posing in front of blindfolded and cuffed Palestinian prisoners that have been posted on Facebook triggered a stir in Israel on Monday. [Continue]

BUCHAREST (AFP) – The Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Jewish human rights organization, on Friday criticized Israeli President Shimon Peres who paid tribute to Romania for “rescuing 400,000 Jews” during World War II. The Jerusalem-based center voiced its “surprise and strong disappointment” at Peres who failed to mention [Continue]

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The Pentagon on Wednesday said it had notified the US Congress of a planned sale of Patriot missiles to Kuwait, which is looking to bolster its defenses against the threat from Iran. “Kuwait needs these missiles to meet current and future threats of enemy air-to-ground weapons,” the US Defense Security [Continue]

JERUSALEM (AFP) – A rare gold coin dating back more than two millennia to the year 191 BC has been found at a dig in northern Israel, the antiquities authority said on Wednesday. “The coin is beautiful and in excellent preservation. It is the heaviest gold coin with the highest contemporary value of any coin [Continue]

BRASILIA (AFP) – Brazil Tuesday signed on to UN sanctions against Iran despite misgivings over the measures following its efforts to negotiate a nuclear-swap deal with the Islamic state. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva signed the decree “because there is a tradition of carrying out (UN) Security Council resolutions, including those [Continue]

CAIRO (AFP) – Muslims awaited the sighting of the crescent moon on Tuesday to begin fasting during an especially gruelling month of Ramadan, with its sweltering heat and extremely long daylight hours. Muslims observe the ninth month of the lunar Islamic calendar by abstaining from food, drink and sex from dawn until sunset during Ramadan. [Continue]