It’s not your mother’s Readers Digest anymore, or maybe it still is. Thanks to Interested. Ayaan Hirsi Ali risks her life to fight for oppressed women in her adopted country””and in Britain, too When Somali-born Dutch MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali took part in a television programme about Islamic Sharia law in 2003, she ended up […]

From the Christian Science Monitor: PARIS — Hardly had the fires died down in the Paris suburbs, as the November rioting by immigrant youths petered out, than the flames of another conflict fed by France’s colonial past began to sweep through the political landscape here. This time they are metaphorical. But the passionate debate under […]

From AP: KABUL, Afghanistan “” President Hamid Karzai invited Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar to contact his government to seek reconciliation, but he said Sunday he did not expect the fugitive to come out of hiding. “We would like all the Afghans, Taliban or non-Taliban, whoever they are, if they want to come back to […]

From Reuters: AMMAN – The Canadian and Australian embassy in Jordan shut their doors to the public on Sunday because of an undisclosed security threat a day after Britain closed its embassy in Amman for the same reason, diplomats said. “The two embassies closed until further notice due to the security situation. It’s possibly related […]

From The Australian: A FRENCH engineer kidnapped by insurgents five weeks ago in Baghdad has been freed, French and Iraqi officials said overnight. Bernard Planche, 52, was released Saturday near a checkpoint set up by US and Iraqi security forces to the west of the Iraqi capital, an Iraqi security source said. “The kidnappers were […]

From AP: TEHRAN, Iran Iran announced on Sunday that inspectors from the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency were in the country and preparing to remove seals from nuclear research facilities no later than Monday, allowing Tehran to move forward with its vow to resume nuclear fuel research. “Iran is ready to resume the research activities after […]

From the New Duranty Times: BAGHDAD, Iraq – American officials are talking with local Iraqi insurgent leaders to exploit a rift that has opened between homegrown insurgents and radical groups like Al Qaeda, and to draw the local leaders into the political process, according to a Western diplomat, an Iraqi political leader and an Iraqi […]

From AP: VATICAN CITY “” Pope Benedict XVI warned Sunday that terrorism, nihilism and “fanatic fundamentalism” threatened world peace and called for individuals, governments and institutions to work together to combat them. Benedict made the appeal during a Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica to mark New Year’s Day, which the Catholic Church celebrates annually as […]

From Reuters: GAZA – Masked gunmen kidnapped an Italian activist in the Gaza Strip on Sunday and police tried to negotiate for his release. The kidnapping was a blow to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas only a few hours after he had vowed to end an upsurge of hostage taking and unrest that threatened to derail […]

From the Chicago Sun-Times: BAGHDAD, Iraq– Twelve car bombs exploded around Iraq on Sunday, including eight in Baghdad that detonated within a three-hour window, as insurgents continued their attacks in the new year. The bombs injured at least 20 people but killed no one, police said… In Baghdad, the first car bomb exploded at about […]