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GENEVA (AP) — The U.N.'s top human rights official says her office estimates the death toll in Syria's nine-month uprising is now "much more" than 4,000. Navi Pillay, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, gave the latest figure a day before the global body is due to hold an emergency meeting on the crisis in the country. Pillay told reporters in Geneva on Thursday that evidence emerging of abuses committed by Syrian security forces affirms her call that the country's leadership should be prosecuted for "crimes against humanity."

A nephew of late PLO founder Yasser Arafat says the family will be releasing a 558-page French medical report detailing the cause of his death. Naser al-Qudwa told the Palestinian Authority's semi-official Maan News Agency the document is being translated from French before it is released. Al-Qudwa claimed the report would answer "many questions," adding the 'Palestinian people' had a right to clear answers regarding his uncle's death. The report by French doctors reportedly describes a platelet disorder and speculates on its cause. The doctors, however, ruled out cancer or acute infection, Al-Qudwa says. "We have said that it is...

BREAKING NEWS: Gaddafi 'captured' as rebel forces take control of Sirte Leader wounded in both legs prior to capture By DAILY MAIL REPORTER Last updated at 12:27 PM on 20th October 2011 Comments (0) Add to My Stories Share Muammar Gaddafi has been captured by revolutionary forces in Libya, it has been reported today. Gaddafi and his family have been on the run since Nato and rebel forces started closing the net on Tripoli in mid-August. The reports of Gaddafi's capture came on the same day that revolutionary forces said that they had taken control of Sirte - the leader's...

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli officials harshly criticized an Egyptian television interview with soldier Gilad Schalit minutes after Hamas militants freed him in a prisoner swap Tuesday, saying the questioning was inappropriate and insensitive. In the interview aired on Egyptian state television, a gaunt, sallow and uncomfortable looking Schalit appeared to struggle to speak at times, and his breathing was noticeably labored as he awkwardly answered questions. The footage, along with earlier Egyptian TV video showing Schalit being transferred to Egypt, were the first images seen of the soldier after more than five years in Hamas captivity. Armed Hamas militants were...

On a daily basis, I sit in awe at the amount of nonsense that pervades the world’s media. The latest is the preoccupation with the ethnicity of Steve Jobs’s biological father. Steve Jobs was adopted at birth. And until his untimely death last week, as far as almost anyone in the world knew, he was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Jobs. In fact, as far as Steve Jobs himself was concerned, his only parents were Paul and Clara Jobs. As the New York Times reported nearly 15 years ago (“Creating Jobs,” Jan. 12, 1997): “Jobs holds a firm...

n a blunt assessment, President Obama’s first national security adviser told a private audience this week that there is a “chasm” between the United States and its Gulf Arab allies that has yet to heal since the White House very publicly ushered Egypt’s president out of power in February. Retired Marine Gen. James Jones, who served as national security adviser in 2009-10, told a private meeting at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce that the United States’ Persian Gulf allies interpret the president’s handling of the Egyptian revolution as a sign that Washington will dump their monarchies or governments if enough...

Women are to be allowed to vote in Saudi Arabia. K ing Abdullah bin Abdulaziz announced the change yesterday and also said women would be allowed to run in elections. However, the new law will not come into force until 2015. In a speech, the king said the move was in accordance with sharia law.

In Syria on Monday, Mr. Assad continued his assault on the eastern town of Deir el-Zour, a day after his security forces killed 42 people there. The army also killed three people at a funeral in the town of Daraa, human rights activists said. Arab nations applied more diplomatic pressure, as Kuwait and Bahrain on Monday followed Saudi Arabia and withdrew their ambassadors to protest the ongoing violence. Saudi King Abdullah pulled his ambassador out of Damascus on Sunday, denouncing the "bloodshed" in Syria... A cabdriver from Daraa, who asked to be identified as Abu Mahmoud, said he and his...

Some of Islamofascism round-up - July-Aug 2011 UNITED STATESIn-Depth: Accused Fort Hood plotter got bombmaking recipe from Al Qaeda‎ Christian Science MonitorJuly 29, 2011http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Military/2011/0729/Accused-Fort-Hood-plotter-got-bombmaking-recipe-from-Al-QaedaFBI Charges KAC Director with Illegal Pak Lobbying‎ San Leandro India WestJuly 28, 201http://www.indiawest.com/ad.aspx?a=r1No bail for Florida imam accused of aiding Taliban‎Reuters - Peter Cooney - Jul 26, 2011 He has already rejected bail for the men's father, who was an imam at the Miami Mosque, also known as the Flagler Mosque in Miami, at the time of his arrest ...http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/26/us-usa-pakistan-charges-idUSTRE76P6KF20110726PAKISTANIslamist students terrorize Pakistan college campuses‎Bradenton Herald - Alex Rodriguez - 23 Jul 2011The organization's clout illustrates...

The United States is viewed less favorably in much of the Arab world today than it was during the final year of the Bush administration, and President Obama is less popular in the region than Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, according to a poll released today by the Arab American Institute, a nonpartisan research and advocacy group. Attitudes towards the US president and the United States as a whole have been growing increasingly negative over the past ten years due to the invasion of Iraq, outrage over Guantanamo Bay, and continued frustration over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, said James Zogby, president of...

Freedom And The Middle East By: Michael Freund Date: Wednesday, February 16 2011 [...] This was borne out most recently by a report issued by Freedom House, the independent Washington-based group that advocates for freedom worldwide. According to its annual survey, "Freedom in the World," of the 18 countries in the Middle East, only one is considered to be "free." And that one, of course, is Israel. Not a single Arab country - not one - did Freedom House consider fully "free." In effect, then, this means that of the approximately 370 million human beings currently residing in the Middle...

An Egyptian protester waved his national flag as tens of thousands gathered for a demonstration at Cairo's Tahrir Square on April 8, 2011. SIDI BOU ZID, Tunisia—Ali Bouazizi, who owns a grocery story at the center of this poor, remote North African town, was ecstatic when protests toppled his nation's dictator in January. These days, he sounds deflated. "This uprising was for what?" he asked in a recent interview. In Tunisia, he said, "the people who have money and the heritage of the old regime aren't giving up control." Mr. Bouazizi is no ordinary bystander to the revolution. He played...

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Five years ago, Lt. Col James G. Lacey published the article "The Impending Collapse of Arab Civilization" in The Naval Institute: Proceedings." He disputed the conclusions of two books which have particularly influenced recent foreign policy and grand strategy: The Crisis of Islam: Holy War and Unholy Terror, by Bernard Lewis, and The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order by Samuel P. Huntington. In his article, he stated: A more accurate understanding of events leads to the conclusion that Arab, not Muslim, civilization is in a state of collapse, and it just happens that most Arabs are...

DAKAR (AFP) – Tens of thousands of people marched through Dakar on Sunday at the start of the annual World Social Forum, an annual leftist gathering taking place as anti-government protests sweep the Arab world. The 11th edition of the forum, an alternative to the elite World Economic Forum held in the posh Swiss ski resort of Davos last week, brings together anti-globalisation activists opposed to capitalism. This year participants are focusing on the popular revolt spreading across northern Africa with demands for democracy and criticism of dire social conditions reflecting the crisis of capitalism. Bolivia's leftist President Evo Morales...

Ali Abdullah Saleh, the Yemeni president, has backed down on a plan to rule his impoverished Arab country for life after mass protests demanding his ouster. In an announcement on Wednesday, Saleh said he plans for elections in April had been scrapped along with constitutional amendments that would have seen him become president for life. "I will not extend my mandate and I am against hereditary rule," he said. The move would bring an end to a three-decade rule when his current term expires in 2013. Eyeing protests that brought down Tunisia's leader and threaten to topple Egypt's president, Saleh...

The Egyptian military arrested and later released six journalists from the Arabic television network Al-Jazeera, the network said today. "Special military units have just raided the hotel where our journalists from Al-Jazeera English were operating," Clayton Swisher, an Al-Jazeera reporter in Doha, Qatar, told ABC News. Swisher said the journalists were arrested and that newsgathering equipment was also confiscated. Though the journalists were released about 90 minutes later, the equipment was not returned. The six were told authorities did not "want to see [them] again" when they were released. Swisher told ABC News the network will continue to broadcast from...

Saudi Prince Turki bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud has warned the country's royal family to step down and flee before a military coup or a popular uprising overthrows the kingdom. In a letter published by Wagze news agency on Tuesday, the Cairo-based prince warned Saudi Arabia's ruling family of a fate similar to that of Iraq's executed dictator Saddam Hussein and the ousted Iranian Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, calling on them to escape before people "cut off our heads in streets." He warned that the Saudi royal family is no longer able to "impose" itself on people, arguing that deviations...

"Are the peoples of the Middle East somehow beyond the reach of liberty? Are millions of men and women and children condemned by history or culture to live in despotism? Are they alone never to know freedom and never even to have a choice in the matter?"... "Sixty years of Western nations excusing and accommodating the lack of freedom in the Middle East did nothing to make us safe - because in the long run, stability cannot be purchased at the expense of liberty," Bush said. "As long as the Middle East remains a place where freedom does not flourish,...

How to be a bigot under the guise of a "critic of Israel" Try and substitute 'anti-Zionist' instead of anti-Jewish, at least make sure, your references convey such messages. Avoid all humanitarian aspects of Israel's humane army in its constant fight against Arabs who trick them into firing upon civilians, ommit all the risky steps Israeli soldiers take in going house to house searching for bombs/bombers, instead of just leveling the place down (if Zionists were not caring about civilians), the repeated notification for residents to leave a certain area ahead of anti-terror operations, in order to give a chance...

Despite a surge in criticism of Israel by key members of the Obama Administration, Muslims throughout the Middle East say they are losing confidence in the “change” promised by President Obama in his Cairo speech. “Merely insulting Jews, even if done in a very flamboyant and public way, falls far short of our expectations,” said Ayal Khutnutz, spokesman for the United Arab League. “For all his talk, Obama has yet to kill a single Jew. His promise of a new dawn in US-Muslim relations is an empty one.” Khutnutz called for the United States government to “put an end to...

New York Times columnist David Brooks says that what Vice President Joe Biden told NBC's David Gregory Sunday concerning the trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in New York City doesn't pass the laugh test. "What Joe Biden said on ['Meet the Press'] today will be laughed at around the Arab world." Maybe even more shocking, speaking during the panel discussion segment that followed Biden's interview, Brooks agreed with some things former Vice President Dick Cheney spoke about concerning this matter on ABC's "This Week." "The KSM trial has become a total mess. What Joe Biden said today on the program...

The Vatican's top cleric in the heart of Muslim Arabia tends to a flock of 2 million Christians spread around six desert nations. But he has to do it quietly: Most of them must still pray in secret and are forbidden to display crosses and other symbols of their faith. n this image taken Tuesday... From his base in the emirate of Abu Dhabi on the Persian Gulf, Archbishop Paul Hinder travels the Arabian Peninsula, even slipping in and out of Saudi Arabia - the birthplace of Islam, where restrictions on Christians are the toughest.

(IsraelNN.com) A delegation of the Rabbinical Congress for Peace (RCP) met with U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Mr. James Cunningham, today and called for a reassessment of the entire U.S. policy vis-à-vis the Israelis and Palestinians. The rabbis told Ambassador Cunningham that it was time to try the Biblical approach to the dispute over the Land of Israel. Going Biblical "Who knows, Mr. Ambassador, maybe this is your defining moment." Rabbi Dov Lior, the Rabbi of Kiryat Arba-Hevron, said: "G-d gave the US the power and influence to affect the rest of the world and supporting Israel is the key to...

The U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency has signaled its intent to consider a rash of foreign military sales to Egypt, including the transfer of anti-tank missiles. The government of Egypt has also requested anti-ship missiles, engine upgrades for its fleet of F-16 jet fighters and Fast Missile Crafts worth an estimated $1.18 billion. The proposed sale is expected to "contribute to the foreign police and national security objectives of the United States by helping to improve the security of a friendly country which has been and continues to be an important force for political stability and economic progress in the...

U.S. and the Arab and Muslim World       December 10, 2009 Special Dispatch No.2687 Official Friday Sermons from Sudan: Our Son Obama Hussein is Taking the Same Path as His Predecessor and Has Succumbed to Zio-Christianity; He Should Acknowledge That the Jews Carried Out 9/11; The Twin Towers Will Be Rebuilt in Israel; Hurricane Katrina was Allah's Curse of the Jews on America; America Must Follow Benjamin Franklin's Warning Again The following are official Friday sermons by Sudanese Sheikh Abd Al-Jalil Al-Karouri, the imam of the Shahid Mosque in Khartoum and a member of the Sudanese Islamic...

A foreign policy of penance has won America no friends. By FOUAD AJAMI 'He talks too much," a Saudi academic in Jeddah,... It was the norm for American liberalism during the Bush years to brandish the Pew Global Attitudes survey that told of America's decline in the eyes of foreign nations. ... 2009 bring findings from the world of Islam that confirm that the animus toward America has not been radically changed by the ascendancy of Mr. Obama. In the Palestinian territories, 15% have a favorable view of the U.S. while 82% have an unfavorable view. The Obama speech in...

Muslim "extremists” are “spreading lies” by alleging that Israel is digging underneath the Temple Mount to cause the collapse of the mosques, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told the Cabinet Monday morning. The Arab world, including the Palestinian Authority, has increasingly accused Israel of the same charges over the past several years, and many Muslim and Arab leaders have told the Arab world that the Temples never existed.

ARAB STATES LAUNCH SECRET MOVES WITH CHINA, RUSSIA, FRANCE TO STOP USING DOLLAR FOR OIL TRADING... DEVELOPING...

Saddam Hussein killed more Arabs and Muslims than any other Middle Eastern leader in recent history. He committed genocide against the Kurds, launched wars of aggression against Iran and Kuwait, launched missiles at Israel and Saudi Arabia, tortured innocents without compunction and imposed totalitarianism in Iraq. His regime brought unprecedented war, terror and misery to the region. Why, then, does the Butcher of Baghdad remain such a heroic figure to so many Arabs? Saddam Hussein, at the opening of his trial. Photo: AP [file] Two decades ago, famed historian Bernard Lewis wrote a prescient piece in The Wall Street Journal...

It was the furies of the Arab world, not Afghanistan, that struck America eight years ago today. ArticleThe road that led to 9/11 was never a defining concern of President Barack Obama. But he returned to 9/11 as he sought to explain and defend the war in Afghanistan in a speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Phoenix, Ariz., on Aug. 17. "The insurgency in Afghanistan didn't just happen overnight and we won't defeat it overnight, but we must never forget: This is not a war of choice; it is a war of necessity. Those who attacked America on...

The world's first Muslim cartoon superheroes have taken the Arab world by storm, and now they are headed for British television screensNamed the 99, as each possesses one of Allah's 99 attributes, the characters include a burka-clad woman named Batina the Hidden and a Saudi Arabian Hulk-type man named Jabbar the Powerful. They have proved a hit from Morocco to Indonesia and were recently named as one of the top 20 trends sweeping the world by Forbes magazine. Now they are being brought to British television by Endemol, the production company behind Big Brother, with a mission to instill Islamic...

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, several hours before his scheduled meeting on Monday with U.S. President Barack Obama, said that the Arab world will not make any gestures towards Israel until a regional treaty is signed. A Middle East peace pact must include Israeli agreement on the Arab demand for the right of millions of foreign Arabs to immigrate to Israel and the demand that the Palestinian Authority have control over all of eastern Jerusalem, Egyptian officials said.

Seventy-one senators have signed an AIPAC-backed letter to US President Barack Obama supporting his effort to encourage Arab states to normalize relations with Israel. It comes after Americans for Peace Now and other left-wing pro-Israel groups - including Brit Tzedek v'Shalom and J Street - made a battleground of the document, which was circulated by Sens. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) and James Risch, (R-Idaho). They called on senators not to sign it unless it is amended to include mention of steps that all the parties in the Middle East need to take towards peace - especially Israel's need to stop settlement...

THE supposedly "moderate" Palestinian party remains steadfast in its refusal to recognize Israel as a Jewish state. But then, this week's Fatah gathering in Bethlehem won't even help promote the creation of a new Palestinian state. All of which leaves the Obama plans for the Middle East looking like a road map to nowhere. It's been 62 years since the UN General Assembly partitioned British-mandated Palestine into two states, defining one as Arab and the other as Jewish. Egypt signed on to peace 30 years ago, and in 1993 Yasser Arafat "recognized" Israel in the Oslo agreement. Six years ago,...

‘It made me feel so jealous,” said Abdulmonem Ibrahim, a young Egyptian political activist, of the recent upheaval in Iran. “We are amazed at the organization and speed with which the Iranian movement has been functioning. In Egypt you can count the number of activists on your hand.” This degree of “Iran envy” is a telling statement on the stagnation of Arab politics. It is not pretty, Iran’s upheaval, but grant the Iranians their due: They have gone out into the streets to contest the writ of the theocrats. In contrast, little has stirred in Arab politics of late. The...

WHAT ails the Arabs? The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) this week published the fifth in a series of hard-hitting reports on the state of the Arab world. It makes depressing reading. The Arabs are a dynamic and inventive people whose long and proud history includes fabulous contributions to art, culture, science and, of course, religion. The score of modern Arab states, on the other hand, have been impressive mainly for their consistent record of failure. They have, for a start, failed to make their people free: six Arab countries have an outright ban on political parties and the rest...

It's not easy living in an Arab state. Egyptians stay away from government hospitals; illiteracy among women in some countries can top 50 percent A new United Nations report presents a bleak and sometimes scary picture of a citizen's life in the Arab countries. One out of every five people in the region lives on less than $2 a day; the illiteracy rates are very high; and, for the most part, public health services cannot be relied on at all.

RIYADH/LONDON (Reuters) - Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner will seek to reassure Gulf Arab states this week that U.S. dollar assets they hold in large quantities remain a strong investment. A recent decline in Saudi foreign assets shows the purchase of U.S. treasuries by Washington's Gulf allies, five having currencies pegged to the dollar, at levels seen in the past decades should no longer be taken for granted. Geithner, offering assurances on the United States' ability to pull out of recession, is combining a visit to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, the Arab world's largest and second-largest economies, with...

CAIRO — The rancorous dispute over Iran’s presidential election could turn into a win-win for Arab leaders aligned with Washington who in the past have complained bitterly that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was destabilizing the region and meddling in Arab affairs, political analysts and former officials around the region said. The good-news thinking goes like this: With Mr. Ahmadinejad remaining in office, there is less chance of substantially improved relations between Tehran and Washington, something America’s Arab allies feared would undermine their interests. At the same time, the electoral conflict may have weakened Iran’s leadership at home and abroad, forcing it...

Bahraini royal mourned him publicly, young Lebanese held a candlelight tribute, Egyptian musicians hailed him as an inspiration. Beyond his global reach, Michael Jackson held a special place in the Muslim world, as one of the first major Western entertainers to break through cultural barriers in the 1980s. Some made a connection with the pop icon because of rumors, never substantiated, that he had converted to Islam. Others embraced him as one of their own after he sought refuge in the Gulf emirate of Bahrain in 2005, following a bruising trial on child molestation charges in the U.S. "God have...

"CAIRO – A Bahraini royal mourned him publicly, young Lebanese held a candlelight tribute, Egyptian musicians hailed him as an inspiration." "Beyond his global reach, Michael Jackson held a special place in the Muslim world, as one of the first major Western entertainers to break through cultural barriers in the 1980s." ""Religion is a big part of identity in this part of the world, and the idea he became Muslim boosted his popularity," said Egyptian cultural critic Tarek el-Shinnawi."

Arab states are watching intently as Iran's political convulsions continue, seeking clues to how the unfolding crisis will affect the strategic picture in the Middle East, especially the key issue of the Islamic republic's nuclear ambitions. In a region where democratic politics are the exception, there is nervousness about the implications of people power on the streets of Tehran. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is deeply unpopular – but mass protests worry all autocrats. Recently emerging from their own political upheavals, savvy Lebanese see much of themselves in the people politics unfolding in Tehran. "It reminds me of our protests," said Haitham Chamas,...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama will visit Saudi Arabia on June 3 for talks on Iran's nuclear program and Washington's renewed push for a Middle East peace plan, the White House said on Tuesday. Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter, is a staunch U.S. ally in the region and has been a key player in the drive for a solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, which Obama has declared a top foreign policy priority. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Obama would meet Saudi King Abdullah and would also discuss terrorism. The visit comes at a time when...

Washington - As President Obama prepares for the highly anticipated speech he will deliver to the Muslim world from Cairo in early June, new polling from Arab countries suggests he has his work cut out for him. Only a small percentage of Arabs appear to have been won over by Barack Obama. There has been some slight improvement in US standing during the past year, based in part on the departure of President Bush and in part on Obama's policies, such as announcing a withdrawal from Iraq and a desire to shutter the Guantánamo detention facility. But one new poll...

Obama more popular than U.S. among Arabs: survey Sun May 10, 2009 7:02pm EDT By Paul Eckert WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's popularity in leading Arab countries far outstrips that of the United States, suggesting he could be able to boost goodwill in the region toward his country, a survey showed on Sunday. Obama, set to give a major speech to the Muslim world in Egypt next month, "currently enjoys widespread optimism among citizens of that region that he will have a positive effect on their own country, the Middle East, the United States and indeed the world," the...

Fascism in the Arab world (part 9) Very deeply dyed in black: Sir Oswald Mosley and the resurrection of British ...‎ - Page 47by Graham Macklin - History - 2007 - 205 pages   Some British fascists were also eager to fight the Jews in Palestine, a development noticed after Jamal Nasir of the Arab Office addressed a group of fascists in Hampstead, as a result of which the 43 Group learned  that some were visiting the Arab League Office in Eaton Square, London in order to join the Arab Legion' with the express intention of 'killing Jews... Azzam Pasha,...

US President Barack Obama's efforts in Turkey to repair the relationship between Washington and Muslims won praise in the Arab world on Tuesday, more than seven years after the 9/11 attacks. "This is a first important step towards lessening tensions that have existed in recent years between the Muslim world on the one side and the United States and the West on the other," Egypt's Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit said. He said Obama's initiative had put the two sides "on the path towards rebuilding bridges of trust between the US and the world's more than one billion Muslims." In...

Saudi and Egyptian Executioners Discuss Their Lives and Profession in Debate on Capital Punishment in the Arab World Following are excerpts from a TV debate on the death penalty in the Arab world, with the participation of two Saudi state executioners, an Egyptian hangman, the head of the Lebanese Association for Human Rights, an Amnesty International representative, and an Egyptian MP. The debate aired on Abu Dhabi TV on January 28, 2009.

Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden accused moderate Arab leaders of plotting with the West against Muslims and urged his followers to prepare for jihad, in a recording aired by Al Jazeera television. "It is clear that some Arab leaders have plotted with the Zionist-crusader coalition against our [Muslim] people, these [Arab countries] the United States calls the moderate states," bin Laden said, without naming any of the leaders. Excerpt: read more at link