Kuwait condemned for deporting expats for traffic offences

The National - Monday 20th May, 2013

newspaper cited yesterday a senior interior ministry official as saying that as many as 1,258 foreigners have been deported for traffic violations since a crackdown began about a month ago. Foreign residents caught driving without a licence, using their cars to carry paying passengers, jumping a red light for a second time, or breaking the speed limit by more than 40kph, can be deported without ...

‘Glades’ star Jordan Wall to appear at fundraiser talks season 4

Miami Herald - Monday 20th May, 2013

Jordan Wall, is making the rounds Monday. The actor, who plays Daniel Green, the resident nerd in the medical examiner’s office, will appear at an event for the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America 7-10 p.m. at Cafe Iguana in Pembroke Pines. Up for grabs will be an auctioned walk-on role ...

‘Band-Aid on A Bullet Wound’ Jordan ‘Campus Violence’ Plan

Mideast Posts - Monday 20th May, 2013

reportedly proposed a plan to "stomp out" violence in university campus. The plan consists of the following steps in the SHORT TERM: 1) "...making changes to the admission system and criterion that universities in Jordan currently use, saying that the high percentage of students enrolling in higher education courses in their governorates may have led to the increase of ...

Ajloun Castle in Jordan

China.org.cn - Sunday 19th May, 2013

Tourists visit the Ajloun Castle, some 73 km north of the capital Amman of Jordan on May 19, 2013. Ajloun Castle, better known as Qal'at Ar-Rabad, was built by one of Saladin's generals in 1184 AD to control the iron mines of Ajloun, and to deter the Franks from invading the ...

Arab League organises emergency Syria meeting

albawaba - Sunday 19th May, 2013

The flag of the Syrian opposition is shown at the seat of the delegation representing Syria at the Arab League summit in Doha in March. Image courtesy of The Daily ...

Egypt’s NGO Funding Crackdown

Human Rights Watch - Sunday 19th May, 2013

Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are essential to democracy and a key way for people of all political views to band together to influence public debate. But once more, the Egyptian government is threatening to restrict NGOs that receive foreign funds. Exercised about criticism from some of these groups, the ruling party is pushing a bill that would empower the government to decide which ...

10 policemen killed in attack in western Iraq

Global Times - Sunday 19th May, 2013

Unidentified gunmen attacked a police station in western Iraq on Sunday evening and killed ten policemen in the deadly clash, a police source said.The gunmen clashed with the policemen with various kinds of weapons in the town ofRawa, 260 km northwest of Baghdad, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.After the attack the gunmen fled to an unknown destination and the security forces ...

6 prisoners in Bahrain escape before being taken to court

Global Times - Sunday 19th May, 2013

Checkpoints were set up with police enforcement in some parts of Bahrain on Sunday after six men accused of murder and hurling Molotov at a police station escaped while they were being transferred to court.During the High Criminal Court hearing, police officers told the judges that the suspects escaped as they were being brought to the court.The police were still tracking down the suspects on ...

ISAF plane makes hard landing leaving no casualty

Global Times - Sunday 19th May, 2013

A plane with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) made hard landing in Logar province 60 km south of Kabul on Sunday, a statement of the alliance released here said."An International Security Assistance Force C-130 had a hard landing in Logar province, Afghanistan today," the statement added.The statement without providing more details stressed that, " There ...

1 killed 4 wounded in fresh clashes between rival Lebanese

Global Times - Sunday 19th May, 2013

At least one people was killed and four others were wounded Sunday in clashes that erupted between the rival Tripoli neighborhoods of Sunnis Bab al-Tabbaneh and Alawites Jabal Mohsen.The clashes broke out following media reports about the Syrian army's launching an offensive on the Qusayr neighborhood of Homs with the help of the Shiite Hezbollah Lebanese group.According to the state-run ...

Assad Hezbollah forces advance into Qusair

The Daily Star - Sunday 19th May, 2013

Hezbollah fighters have reportedly advanced into the main square of besieged Qusair, with fierce battles continuing overnight Monday for control of the strategic city near the Lebanese border. At least 40 people were killed, activist organizations said, in battles that saw forces loyal to ...

Gunmen abduct father of Syria deputy FM official

The Daily Star - Sunday 19th May, 2013

Faisal Mekdad Saturday, apparently in reprisal for the arrest of one of their relatives, according to a government source and an activist. "Today armed men abducted Mr. Mekdad’s father from his home in the village of Ghossom," in the southern province of Deraa, the government source said on condition of anonymity. "They beat him up in front of his family then took him ...

Riyadh strives to avoid Afghan-style blowback from conflict

The Daily Star - Sunday 19th May, 2013

RIYADH: Chastened by the experience of Afghanistan, where hundreds of Saudis fought before returning to sow terror at home, the kingdom is battling to avoid similar blowback from the conflict in Syria, analysts say.In recent months, Saudi officials have issued increasingly stern warnings against volunteers from the conservative Sunni Muslim kingdom heading off to fight alongside the mainly Sunni ...

Salafist protester killed in clashes with Tunisia security forces

The Daily Star - Sunday 19th May, 2013

Radical Islamist movement Ansar al-Shariah supporters clash with Tunisian police officers after Tunisia's Interior Ministry on Friday banned their annual conference supposed to be held in Kairouan, in Ettadhamen, near Tunis, Sunday May 19, 2013. Around 11,000 police officers and soldiers blocked an annual conference Sunday at Tunisia's main religious center by a radical Islamist ...

Saudi Arabian Airlines takes delivery of first-of-its-kind Boeing plane

eTN - Sunday 19th May, 2013

Boeing has delivered a 777-300ER extended range plane to Saudi Arabian Airlines (Saudia), marking the latest milestone in its longstanding relationship with the airline and the kingdom. The airplane, the first-of-its-type to be fitted with a three-class cabin configuration, was delivered to the airline at a ceremony in Washington. The airline currently has a backlog of 21 Boeing airplanes on ...

Egypt-Israel border blocked in support of kidnapped soldiers

Global Post - Sunday 19th May, 2013

Egyptian police climb the gates at the main Egyptian crossing point into the Gaza Strip on May 19, 2013. Egyptian police closed a commercial passage with Israel in support of colleagues who shut down a crossing with Gaza to protest the abduction of policemen, state media reported. (KHALED DESOUKI/AFP/Getty ...

How The Syria Debate Is Playing Out In The Middle East

NPR - Sunday 19th May, 2013

Copyright © 2013 NPR. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required. RACHEL MARTIN, HOST: That concern is reflected in the Arab media. Ramez Maluf, head of the Department of Journalism at Balamand University in Lebanon, has been tracking that reaction. He joined us from our bureau in Beirut. And I asked him how invested people in the ...

UAE tops Middle East with $10 billion in tourism receipts

eTN - Sunday 19th May, 2013

The UAE has topped the Middle East region for international tourism receipts in 2012, according to data released by the UN's World Tourism Organisation. The UAE was ranked 31st in global list with receipts of about $10bn, just ahead of Saudi Arabia which was placed 35th, with revenues of $7.4bn. Middle East tourism receipts totalled $46.7bn last year, the Arabian Business quoting UNWTO ...

Kerry heads to Middle East focus on Syria

MSNBC - Sunday 19th May, 2013

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will travel to the Middle East this week to meet with leaders in the area. It is expected that Syria will be a major point of discussion. Shibley Telhami of the Brookings Institute and journalist Rula Jebreal join MSNBC with ...

Tunisia PM links Ansar al-Sharia Islamists to terror

The Daily Star - Sunday 19th May, 2013

Ansar al-Sharia that fought street battles in the capital with security forces on Sunday of being "involved in terrorism". "Ansar al-Sharia is an illegal organisationit has ties to and is involved in terrorism," Larayedh told state television. The Islamists clashed earlier with security forces ...

Pertamina eyeing oil and gas acquisitions in Oman

AME Info - Sunday 19th May, 2013

Indonesia's PT Pertamina has said it is considering the acquisition of an oil and gas asset in Oman, as the energy firm seeks to boost production at home and overseas, Muscat Daily has reported. State-owned Pertamina is currently in talks with Omani officials for the takeover of an oil and gas asset, expecting to seal an agreement by year's end, said the firm's chief executive, ...

Bahrain slams claims about the non implementation of the BICI recommendations

Bahrain News Agency - Sunday 19th May, 2013

Manama, May 19 (BNA)--Bahrain's Attorney General slammed as untrue a newspaper report that claimed that recommendations by a fact-finding panel on freedom of expression had been ignored by the state's legal authorities. "The report by the local daily about the non-implementation of the recommendations by the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI) to drop the ...