On Saturday, the Palestinian president delayed a vote amid disarray in his party. From the Christian Science Monitor: RAMALLAH, WEST BANK — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s decision over the weekend to postpone Palestinian parliamentary elections raised concern immediately about a confrontation with militant Hamas, poised to trounce Mr. Abbas’s ruling Fatah party in a vote […]
Qatar Rejects U.S. Rights Report
I Know Nothing! An update on this story, from Reuters. DOHA – Qatar insisted its laws prohibited human trafficking and said it was not aware of any such rights violations on Sunday after the Gulf state was criticized in a U.S. report. “These claims are totally unexpected and are something we disagree with completely,” a […]
Lebanon poll about Hezbollah
From SA: Bint Jbeil – As Hezbollah speeches and guerrilla songs blared from roving cars, the people of southern Lebanon voted on Sunday in parliamentary elections that the Shiite militant group sees as a referendum on its increasing political power and a response to what it calls American intervention in Lebanon. The guerrillas and their […]
Filipino Muslims poised for independence
From AP via the StarOnline, “Muslim Filipinos optimistic long quest for homeland nearing end,” with thanks to Fjordman. COTABATO, Philippines – They came by foot, some arriving days early – men taking time off from work and veiled women in long dresses with children in tow, lugging bottles of water and baskets of food under […]
Intel Shows Terror Suspects Living in Iran
From AP, with thanks to Terminator. WASHINGTON – Mounting evidence gathered over several years has U.S. and foreign intelligence agencies increasingly convinced that leading terror suspects have been living in Iran. Their existence in the Islamic republic poses an ongoing problem to top Bush administration officials, who have warned Middle Eastern countries against providing shelter […]
Kristof: A Policy of Rape
Echoing Robert Spencer’s excellent FP piece from last September, Nicholas D. Kristof writes in the New Duranty Times: All countries have rapes, of course. But here in the refugee shantytowns of Darfur, the horrific stories that young women whisper are not of random criminality but of a systematic campaign of rape to terrorize civilians and […]
U.S. Uncovers Vast Hide-Out of Iraqi Rebels
From the New Duranty Times: BAGHDAD, Iraq, June 4 – American marines have discovered an elaborate series of underground bunkers used recently by insurgents in central Iraq, with heavy weapons, a kitchen and fresh food, furnished living quarters, showers and even a working air-conditioner, the military said Saturday. The bunkers were built into an old […]
Norway: Doctors warn against child exam
A parliamentary majority for obligatory checks of all young girls to reveal instances of female circumcision has caused concern in medical circles. From Norway’s AftenPosten, with thanks to T. Norway’s parliament, the Storting, recently resolved to ask the government to introduce the mandatory examination of the genitalia of small children in order to overcome the […]
Britain to ask Arab world to help Africa
From Reuters: LONDON – Britain, seeking to salvage its planned debt relief deal for Africa ahead of next month’s rich nations’ summit, is to ask oil-rich Arab states to contribute more, the Observer newspaper said on Sunday. The current holder of the G7 presidency, Britain has declared 2005 a make-or-break year for Africa but its […]
Hanson: Our Strange War
Victor Davis Hanson writes in NRO, with thanks to TR. The three-year-plus war that began on September 11 is the strangest conflict in our history. It is not just that the first day saw the worst attack on American soil since our creation, or that we are publicly pledged to fighting a method “” “terror” […]