There are 17997 articles

  • Lebanon presidency deadlock eases

    The commander of Lebanon's army has emerged as the candidate most likely to be agreed as the country's new president, officials say. Parliamentarians from both the ruling majority and the opposition, which is led by the Shia Muslim party Hezbollah, said on Wednesday that General Michel Suleiman was being discussed as a compromise candidate. "Both.. More

  • Many detained for Saudi attack plot

    Saudi Arabia has arrested 208 people it says were plotting assassinations and an attack on a logistical oil facility, in one of the biggest such operations in the kingdom. General Mansur al-Turki, an interior ministry spokesman, said on Wednesday that the suspects were comprised of six cells. He said: "One of the cells was plotting to attack an auxiliary.. More

  • Musharraf steps down as army chief

    Pervez Musharraf, the Pakistani president, has stepped down as army chief, ending eight years of divisive military rule as he prepares to be sworn in as a civilian leader. He handed over control of the army and its nuclear arsenal to his deputy - the country's former intelligence chief - general Ashfaq Kiyani, at a ceremony in Rawalpindi. The move.. More

  • Rioting spreads in France

    Rioting has broken out for a third night in France, with violence spreading from the troubled suburbs of Paris to the southern city of Toulouse. The authorities deployed 1,000 police officers on Tuesday night but struggled to contain rioting youths who have hurled petrol bombs, bricks and shot at officers as well as burned cars and buildings. Faced.. More

  • Middle East peace deal 'by 2008'

    Israeli and Palestinian leaders have agreed to re-start negotiations to reach a comprehensive peace deal by the end of 2008. Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, said Ehud Olmert and Mahmoud Abbas would begin formal talks at the White House on Wednesday and urged the international community to meet its obligations to achieve peace. "The focus.. More

  • Hamas says 'Annapolis doomed'

    Thousands of Hamas supporters have flocked to central Gaza City for a rally to reject the Middle East conference due to take place in the US city of Annapolis. In a speech on Tuesday Ismail Haniya, the leader of Hamas, sent a defiant message to the conference saying it is "doomed to failure". Thousands of demonstrators poured into a central square.. More

  • Bush says 'time right for talks'

    Opening the Middle East conference in Annapolis, George Bush has announced a joint agreement among Israeli and Palestinian leaders to reach a peace pact by the end of 2008. Negotiations would begin within weeks to establish "a democratic Palestinian state that will live side by side with Israel in peace and security", he said on Tuesday. "Today, Palestinian.. More

  • US fire kills Iraq bus passengers

    Up to four Iraqi civilians are reported to have died in Baghdad when US troops fired at a minibus taking them to work. The US military in Iraq said its forces opened fire at the vehicle "after the driver failed to heed a warning shot". A US military statement said the road the minibus was travelling on, in the Shaab area of north-east Baghdad, was.. More

  • 'Hundreds dead' in Chad fighting

    Chad's army says it has killed several hundred rebels in fierce fighting near the eastern border, which shattered a month-long ceasefire. The claims have not been independently verified but a rebel leader said 17 of his men were dead, along with 100 government soldiers. The clashes were near the border with Sudan's Darfur region, in an area where.. More

  • Deaths in Kabul suicide bombing

    Two people have been killed and several wounded after a suicide bomber struck a US military convoy in the Afghan capital, police have said. An Afghan civilian and a security guard died in Tuesday's car bombing near a defence ministry building in central Kabul, a senior police official said. Three white armoured vehicles, used by foreign forces and.. More

  • Iraq deal eyes long US presence

    A deal setting the foundations for what could be a long-term presence of US troops in Iraq has been signed by the US president and Iraq's prime minister. George Bush and Nouri al-Maliki signed a "declaration of principles" on Monday that will guide talks next year on reaching agreements covering a long-term relationship between the two states. "The.. More

  • Musharraf to quit army 'in days'

    President Pervez Musharraf will stand down as head of the Pakistani army on Wednesday, his spokesman Rashid Qureshi has told the BBC. The spokesman told the BBC President Musharraf would then be sworn in for another term in office on Thursday. President Musharraf has been under intense international and domestic pressure to give up his military.. More

  • Hamas dismisses Middle East talks

    The Islamist movement, Hamas, has said Palestinians will not be bound by any decisions taken at this week's US-backed Middle East peace conference. Ismail Haniya, a leader of the group that is not attending the talks, said discussions would be "fruitless". Some 40 countries and organisations have been invited to the conference on Tuesday in Annapolis,.. More

  • Darfur peace strategy 'failing'

    Living conditions in Darfur are declining and violence is mutating according to the latest report from a Brussels-based think-tank. The International Crisis Group (ICG) urged African and UN officials to devise more proactive ways to bring peace to the western region of Sudan. "The Darfur conflict has changed radically in the past year and not for.. More

  • Final bid for Kosovo compromise

    Last-ditch talks on the future of Kosovo, currently part of Serbia, are set to begin in the town of Baden close to the capital of Austria, Vienna. Talks will be attended by diplomats from the European Union, the United States and Russia together with delegations from Belgrade and Pristina. They will attempt to break the deadlock over the long-term.. More