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95 detained for 'link' to Karachi bombings

2010-02-09T02:38:00Z

Pakistani security forces have reportedly arrested the suspects behind the recent twin bombings in Karachi that left more than 30 people dead and scores injured.

The Pakistan Rangers, a paramilitary group, said in a statement that the security forces had placed 95 people in custody after raids on Karachi-based residences, hotels and guesthouses, a Press TV correspondent reported late Monday.

Americans give Obama 'F' for handling economy

2010-02-09T02:52:00Z

US President Barack Obama's approval rating has dropped to the lowest level since his inauguration for the way he has steered the country's trouble-ridden economy through the financial crisis.

Only 36 percent of the Americans approve of the commander-in-chief's economic management and 32 percent approve of his efforts to contain the runaway federal red-ink budget, a Gallup Poll said on Monday reporting on the results of a study conducted by the opinion survey group.

'Middle East will determine fate of the world'

2010-02-08T22:25:00Z

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says the Middle East is the region that "will determine the fate of the world."

"The Zionist regime and its allies are on the losing side, and the free nations' resistance is empowered," Ahmadinejad said in Tehran on Monday during a meeting with Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine Secretary General Ramadan Abdullah Shallah.

Palestinians considering indirect talks with Israel

2010-02-08T19:07:00Z

Palestinians say they would consider a US offer to hold indirect peace talks with Israel if the talks are focused on the issue of the borders.

Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki said on Monday that the Palestinian Authority needed more information from Washington, along with support from Arab states, before making a commitment to the US offer on the peace talks, Reuters reported.

Israeli forces raid West Bank camp

2010-02-08T08:57:00Z

Israeli forces have raided a Palestinian refugee camp in the West Bank, arresting at least 40 people.

The arrests on Monday at the Shuafat camp in annexed east Jerusalem were part of an operation that Israeli police said was aimed at "putting order" in the area.

Americans killed in Pakistan 'working with CIA'

2010-02-08T19:22:00Z

The Americans killed in last week's bomb attack in Pakistan were US agents that had been working closely with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), an official says.

Dozens of teenage girls were caught up in the blast, outside their secondary school last week. The incident left eight people, including three American soldiers dead.

Straw denies ignoring legal advice against Iraq war

2010-02-08T19:33:00Z

Reappeared before Britain's inquiry into the Iraq war, former foreign secretary, Jack Straw, has rejected claims that he ignored advice that the UK did not have enough legal backing to invade Iraq in 2003.

Straw, the current Justice Secretary, was summoned to the inquiry on Monday after his senior legal adviser at the time of the Iraq war, Sir Michael Wood, told the inquiry Straw had ignored his warnings.

Palestinians to seek justice at ICC

2010-02-08T18:01:00Z

The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) said Monday that the Palestinians will provide the court with more legal arguments over Israel's war crimes in the Gaza Strip.

Luis Moreno-Ocampo said Palestinian Authority officials "will be back in March with more legal arguments, so we are letting them come here before making any decision…It is a very complex decision," Reuters reported.

Blackwater mercenaries not welcome in Pakistan

2010-02-08T15:45:00Z

Pakistani political party Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam condemns the presence of American mercenaries in Pakistan, after US Defense Secretary Robert Gates confirmed last month that private security firms were operating in the country.

Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Chief Maulana Fazal-Ur-Rehman said Monday that approximately 9,000 agents working for the US-based security firm Xe Services LLC (formerly known as Blackwater) are operating in Pakistan.

Israel arrests Australian woman in West Bank

2010-02-08T11:25:00Z

An Australian woman, who was arrested in the West Bank, is being held in an Israeli jail, says her attorney.

Twenty-two-year-old Bridgette Chappell's Israeli lawyer Omer Shatz told ABC on Monday that she was arrested in a pre-dawn raid on her home.

Israeli police raid East Jerusalem Al-Quds

2010-02-08T09:58:00Z

The Israeli police have launched a massive raid on a Palestinian refugee camp in annexed East Jerusalem.

Dozens of Israeli police forces in jeeps raided the densely-populated Shuafat camp in the north of occupied East Jerusalem and arrested 11 people in what the police said was an operation aimed at "putting order" in the area, witnesses and police sources said.

Iran: 20% uranium enrichment not against NPT

2010-02-08T08:34:00Z

After Iran announced its decision to start enriching uranium to a 20 percent level, Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman said the process does not contradict the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

"Iran has the right to enrich uranium to a level of 20 percent. The peaceful aspect of the enriched uranium is not in contradiction with the NPT," Ramin Mehman-Parast told the Iranian Labor News Agency.

'Afghan war to claim more UK soldiers'

2010-02-08T09:15:00Z

The British government has warned the country to brace for more casualties, ahead of a major offensive against the Taliban in southern Afghanistan.

Thousands of troops from Britain, the United States and Afghanistan are preparing to launch 'Operation Moshtarak' ('Together') in Helmand province within days.

Netanyahu makes every anti-Iran effort in Russia

2010-02-08T08:17:00Z

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will visit Moscow to persuade the Kremlin into backing tougher sanctions against Iran days after media reports revealed Tel Aviv dispatched two warships to the Persian Gulf.

The three-day trip, planned weeks ago, will see Netanyahu making every effort in convincing Russian government officials to join the Western-led campaign for additional sanctions against Iran's enrichment activities.

Israel's probe of Gaza war crimes not impartial, HRW says

2010-02-08T01:26:00Z

Human Rights Watch (HRW) says Israel has failed to conduct a proper investigation of the alleged war crimes committed by its forces during the December 2008-January 2009 Gaza war.

On Sunday, Joe Stork, the deputy Middle East director for HRW, rejected Israeli claims that it has conducted credible and impartial investigations.

Egypt to seal sea border with Gaza

2010-02-07T18:56:00Z

Egypt is to close its sea border to the Gaza-bound supplies as it reinforces the restrictions against the passage of sustenance into the strip.

Cairo has ordered a port to be built at its maritime border with the Gaza Strip, a security official was quoted by AFP as saying. The security boats there would then "prevent all future attempts to smuggle Palestinian contraband," he added.

NY crime statistics doctored by police: survey

2010-02-07T13:54:00Z

A controversial report reveals that high-ranking officers at the New York Police Department (NYPD) have consistently manipulated crime statistics in a bid to show the city as safe and secure.

According to two criminologists, who recently launched a probe into the department, the intense pressure to secure annual crime reductions prompted NYPD bosses to make "ethically inappropriate" changes to complaints of crimes.

Abbas disappointed with Obama stance on peace

2010-02-07T09:59:00Z

Acting Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmoud Abbas has criticized the US administration for changing its stance on Israel's settlement activity.

In an interview with the German daily Der Spiegel, Mahmoud Abbas said President Barack Obama has adopted a different stance from what he promised at the beginning of his term last year.

Taliban reject Karzai's "reconciliation" offer

2010-02-07T08:31:00Z

Afghanistan's Taliban have rejected President Hamid Karzai's call for reconciliation talks as pointless, emphasizing on their goal for complete independence.

"This is not the first time that the Kabul regime and the invading countries want to throw dust into the eyes of the public of the world by announcing reconciliation in words and, in practice, make preparation for war," Afghan Taliban said in a Sunday statement.

Ahmadinejad orders 20% uranium enrichment

2010-02-07T08:55:00Z

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has tasked the country's atomic chief with enriching uranium to 20 percent, in order to meet the demands of the country's cancer patients.

Speaking at the exhibition of Laser Science and Technology Achievements in Tehran, the president called on Ali Akbar Salehi, to start the process.

Palin: US needs commander, not professor

2010-02-07T09:12:00Z

Former Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin has sharply criticized US President Barack Obama over his national security policies.

Speaking at a national convention of the "Tea Party" movement Saturday night, Palin slammed the first African American president of the US for his handling of the so-called war on terror.

Obama accuses GOP of not cooperating

2010-02-07T06:28:00Z

US President Barack Obama has accused Republicans of caring more about scoring political points than resolving the country's major issues.

Speaking at the Democratic National Committee winter meeting, the president admitted that "people are frustrated."

Power cut to about 50% of Gazans as fuel runs out

2010-02-07T01:01:00Z

One of the two generators of Gaza's only power plant has been shut down due to a shortage of fuel, cutting power to around 50 percent of the residents of the Gaza Strip.

The Gaza Energy Authority announced on Saturday that the remaining amount of fuel is enough to operate the other generator until Sunday morning.

Jumblatt vows solidarity with Syria against Israel

2010-02-06T16:15:00Z

The head of Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) Walid Jumblatt vows solidarity with Syria in the face of what he calls 'a frenzied Israeli attitude.'

"Amid the Israeli madness and radical threats, I tell the Syrian people and leadership that we are with you above all else," he said in a statement issued by the PSP and quoted by pan-Arab A-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper, the Lebanese portal Naharnet reported on Friday.

US defense chief doubts Iran nuclear deal

2010-02-06T15:02:00Z

Contradicting Iran's foreign minister on a deal to swap nuclear fuel, US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said Saturday he doubted an agreement was within reach.

"I don't have the sense we are close to an agreement," Gates told reporters in Ankara.