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Dr. Zahi Hawass, one of the most famous Egyptologists and the former Egyptian Minister of State for Antiquities Affairs, has criticized Netflix for its controversial decision to cast Cleopatra with a black actress in an upcoming docuseries. The new Netflix series, dubbed “Queen Cleopatra”, which is produced and narrated by the American actress Jada Pinkett Smith, has sparked fierce debate over the misrepresentation of history and representation in TV and media. Hawass, who is Egypt’s most recognizable archaeologist, decried the decision by Netflix to portray Cleopatra as being of black descent, pointing out that the historical figure “was Greek”. Zahi...

BOSTON (AP) - Prosecutors have asked a judge to halt citizenship proceedings for a businessman who headed an Islamic charity so the FBI can continue investigating whether he lied about his ties to organizations that include one linked to Osama bin Laden. U.S. Attorney Michael J. Sullivan asked to postpone Emadeddin Z. Muntasser's naturalization hearing scheduled for Thursday. The judge did not immediately rule on the request and gave Muntasser until Wednesday to respond. Muntasser, whose citizenship application has been in the pipeline more than two years, is "the subject of a pending federal criminal investigation regarding statements he made...

Hunter Biden reportedly demanded a $2 million retainer plus “success fees” to unlock Libyan assets frozen by the Obama-Biden administration, according to newly discovered emails obtained by Business Insider. Though President Joe Biden has claimed ignorance about Hunter’s family business schemes, the emails suggest otherwise. “The first email, dated January 28, 2015, was sent from Sam Jauhari, a Democratic donor with businesses in the Persian Gulf, who was helping spearhead the Libya project,” Business Insider reported Thursday. “It was addressed to Sheikh Mohammed al-Rahbani, another Obama campaign donor involved in the proposal. In the email, Jauhari is frank about what...

An American man was among the three victims stabbed to death in a park in the English town of Reading that is being treated as a terror attack, the U.S. ambassador to Britain confirmed Monday. Ambassador Woody Johnson offered his “deepest condolences'' to the families of those killed in the attack on June 20. A 25-year-old man who is believed to be the lone attacker is in custody but officials said the motive for the carnage was unclear. “Our thoughts are with all those affected,'' Johnson said. “We condemn the attack absolutely and have offered our assistance to British law...

The man held on suspicion of killing three people at a park in Reading was known to MI5, security sources say. Khairi Saadallah, 25, from the town, was arrested on Saturday and police say they are not looking for anyone else over the terror incident. Sources told the BBC he is originally from Libya and came to the attention of MI5 in 2019. One victim has been named as teacher James Furlong - described by his family as "a wonderful man". Paying tribute to Mr Furlong, 36, head of history, government and politics at The Holt School in Wokingham, his...

Three people are dead in a stabbing incident in the English town of Reading on Saturday that is not being investigated as a terrorist attack, the Thames Valley Police said. Three people were killed in the incident and another three sustained serious injuries, police said. A 25-year-old man from Reading was detained at the scene on suspicion of murder and police said they are not searching for another suspect. Police asked that members of the public not to post images or videos of the incident on social media, but instead to report these to the police. Police also said there...

Seagram’s liquor heiress Clare Bronfman wept in court Friday as family members signed on to pay her whopping $100 million bond, so she can stay out of jail while awaiting trial for her role in an upstate sex-slave cult. Dressed in a black long-sleeved shirt and baggy slacks, a blubbering Bronfman, 39, wiped tears from under her glasses as Brooklyn federal court Judge Nicholas Garaufis reminded her mom and brother in law that they’re there to keep her honest. “I think she knows the responsibility as well,” said Basit Igtet, a Libyan entrepreneur who is married to Bronfman’s sister, Sara....

An Afriqiyah Airways A320 with around 120 people on board has just landed in Malta after it was hijacked. Prime Minister Joseph Muscat tweeted he is informed of a potential hijack situation of an internal Libyan flight diverted to Malta. Security and emergency operations were standing by. According to reports received by Times of Malta, the plane was on an internal flight from Sebha to Tripoli in Libya. A total of 111 passengers and a crew of seven are on board. The reports indicated that one hijacker is on board. He is claiming to be in possession of a hand...

PREWAR INTELLIGENCE WASHINGTON, July 30 - A senior leader of Al Qaeda who was captured in Pakistan several months after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks was the main source for intelligence, since discredited, that Iraq had provided training in chemical and biological weapons to members of the organization, according to American intelligence officials. Intelligence officials say the detainee, Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, a member of Osama bin Laden's inner circle, recanted the claims sometime last year, but not before they had become the basis of statements by President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and others...

Three Libyan soldiers who were convicted of sexual assaulting women while stationed at an army base are seeking asylum in the UK, police have said. Khaled El Azibi, Naji El Maarfi and Mohammed Abdalsalam carried out the attacks while stationed at Bassingbourn barracks last October. Cambridge police said the men had been released from prison and transferred to secure immigration units, according to the BBC. The grounds on which the men are claiming asylum have not been revealed.

Jordan executes killers of U.S. envoy Two with ties to al Qaeda hanged for 2002 assassination (CNN) -- The Jordanian government Saturday executed two al Qaeda-linked terrorists convicted in the 2002 assassination of a U.S. diplomat, according to Jordan's Petra news agency. Salem Sa'ed Salem bin Suweid, a Libyan national, and Yasser Fathi Ibraheem, a Jordanian, were hanged at the Siwaqa Correctional and Rehabilitation Center for the killing of U.S. diplomat Laurence Foley.

Kuwait City, 5 Feb. (AKI) - The US air raid that killed al-Qaeda leader Abu Layth al-Libi in Pakistan is reported to have also killed three other leaders from the terrorist network. According to the Kuwaiti daily, al-Watan, two Kuwaitis and a Libyan also died in the missile attack conducted by a Predator aircraft on January 25 in Mir Ali, in North Waziristan on the border of Afghanistan. The daily said the attack was aimed at what was believed to have been an al-Qaeda summit meeting. Abu Obeida Tawari al-Obeidi and Abu Adel al-Kuwaiti were reportedly there with al-Libi.Abu Adel...

WASHINGTON — A senior State Department official is confirming the death of one U.S. citizen in Tuesday's attack on a Libyan hotel. The official isn't providing any further details. Libyan officials said four foreigners and five guards were killed Tuesday after gunmen stormed a luxury hotel in the Libyan capital of Tripoli. The ensuring standoff ended when two assailants set off a grenade that killed them, officials said. The attack on the Corinthia Hotel, which sits along the Mediterranean Sea, started in the morning hours and included a car bombing, said Essam al-Naas, a spokesman for a Tripoli security agency.

White House press secretary Jay Carney said that they’re leaving the investigation of an American teacher shot in Benghazi up to the Libyans. The Libya Herald reported that chemistry teacher Ronnie Smith, 33, was running on Dubai Street in Benghazi’s Digadosta district when he was shot multiple times. According to witnesses, Smith was approached by a black SUV that “drove up to him and retreated several times before shots were fired from the vehicle.” Smith had lived in Benghazi for 13 months with his wife and their 2-year old while teaching at Benghazi International School. His wife had flown back

Really, what could possibly go wrong? "U.S. to Train Libyan Military, Including Islamists," by Bill Gertz for the Washington Free Beacon, November 16 (thanks to Kenneth): Simi Valley, Calif. — The U.S. military is preparing to conduct military and special operations training for Libya’s military and the training will risk including Islamist terrorists among the trainees, according to the commander of the U.S. Special Operations Command. Adm. William McRaven, the commander who helped lead the covert raid to kill al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, said in a brief interview Saturday that the counterterrorism training operation has not begun. “We’re...

ALGIERS (Reuters) - Algerian troops have discovered a huge cache of weapons near the border with Libya, including surface-to-air missiles, rockets and landmines, an Algerian security source said on Thursday. "It is an arsenal of war," the Algerian source, who asked not to be named, told Reuters. Algeria and Libya's other neighbors are worried about a dangerous spillover from growing turmoil in that country as Tripoli's fragile central government struggles to contain militias and Islamist militants operating in its lawless southern desert. The source said the weapons found in Illizi in southern Algeria likely belonged to militants. They included 100...

The village of Maaloula has been taken over by Syrian rebels associated with al Qaeda, who have stormed the Christian center and offered local Christians a choice: conversion or death. .. The village is located just 25 miles from Damascus, and sites within the village are dedicated as United Nations world heritage sites. Residents still speak Aramaic, the language of Jesus. The rebels who took over the city are associated with the al Nusra Front, an al Qaeda-associated Islamist group. Villagers reported foreign dialects ranging from Tunisian to Libyan, from Moroccan to Chechen.

Where did those arms come from? "U.S.-approved arms for Libyan rebels went to jihadis" -- Jihad Watch, December 5, 2012 "UN Warns Libyan Weapons Spreading to Gaza, Syria," by Chana Ya'ar for Israel National News, April 10 (thanks to Voice of the Copts): A United Nations panel says weaponry from Libya is spreading across North Africa to Gaza and Syria “at an alarming rate.” The five-expert committee said in a 94-page report sent Tuesday to the U.N. Security Council that illegal transfers of arms from Libya to armed groups and terrorists have been proven. The arms trafficking violations involved more...

Libyan Islamists detained 48 Egyptian Christians in Benghazi last week, torturing them and using acid to burn off tattoos of the cross, according to family members. The Christians, who are peddlers, were arrested by Islamist Salafists in Benghazi, who said they had Christian icons at their marketplace stalls ... Benghazi residents have expressed outrage at the hardcore Salafists, who are believed to have been behind the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. Consulate that killed four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens. Repression of Christians living in Libya is on the rise ... Kamel’s uncle, Khalaf Naguib Salib, said the Copts...

A former leader of an armed Islamic group in Libya, Numan Bin Uthman, has written a letter to al-Qaeda second in command Ayman al-Zawahiri telling him that Jihadi groups in Arab countries have failed and that the strategy of using nonconventional WMD to deter an invasion of Afghanistan was a misguided and failed strategy. The letter needs to be understood in the context of the fact that the microbiologist that Ayman Zawahiri and Mohammed Atef used to infiltrate US biodefense, Ali Al-Timimi, had a stern warning not to invade Iraq hand-delivered to every member of Congress on October 6, 2002...