There are 17997 articles

  • Israel to release 450 prisoners

    The government of Israel has approved the release of 450 Palestinian detainees in a move announced just before talks with Palestinian leaders. A senior Israeli official said it was a goodwill gesture ahead of a Middle East peace conference in the US next week. Israeli premier Ehud Olmert reiterated a pledge to freeze new settlements in the occupied.. More

  • Opec urged to end use of dollar

    Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, has called on Opec members to stop pricing oil in "worthless" US dollars. "They get our oil and give us a worthless piece of paper," he told reporters at the close of a two day meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries in Saudi Arabia. The fall in the value of the dollar has weakened.. More

  • Six die in Nigeria voting clashes

    Police in Nigeria say six people have been killed in clashes linked to local governmental elections in the northern state of Kano. Kano police commissioner Mohammed Aminu Yesafu said his officers had arrested dozens of people and recovered weapons including guns and machetes. Violence erupted between government supporters and opposition party members.. More

  • Ex-Khmer Rouge president arrested

    The former president of the Khmer Rouge has been arrested by armed Cambodian police, becoming the fifth member of the former regime to be brought before a United Nations-backed genocide tribunal. Khieu Samphan was detained on Monday, days after he was admitted to hospital in the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh. At the time reports said he was being.. More

  • Bangladesh: 10,000 feared dead

    Up to 10,000 people are feared to have died in Bangladesh's worst cyclone in more than a decade. "Based on our experience ... and reports from the scene I would guess the death toll may be as high as 10,000," Mohammad Abdur Rob, the chairman of the Bangladeshi Red Crescent Society, said. Relief workers are working on Monday to get aid to millions.. More

  • Iran eyes nuclear options abroad

    Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is to discuss with Arab nations a plan to enrich uranium outside the region in a neutral country such as Switzerland. He made the announcement in an interview for Dow Jones Newswires in Saudi Arabia where he is attending a petroleum exporters' summit. Gulf Arab states recently proposed setting up a consortium.. More

  • US tells Musharraf to step back

    A senior US envoy has urged Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf to lift emergency rule and free opponents ahead of elections due in January. "Emergency rule is not compatible with free, fair and credible elections," said John Negroponte, a day after meeting the Pakistani leader. Gen Musharraf imposed emergency rule two weeks ago following growing.. More

  • Turkish police halt Kurdish rally

    Ten people have been arrested as Turkish police used warning shots and tear gas to break up a rally by a Kurdish party that authorities are trying to ban. Police broke up demonstrators chanting slogans in favour of Abdullah Ocalan, the jailed leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), Turkey's NTV news channel reported. As many as 2,000 demonstrators.. More

  • Ex-Kosovo fighter claims victory

    Hashim Thaci, Kosovo's opposition Democratic Party (PDK) leader, has claimed victory in parliamentary elections, making him the man most likely to lead the province to independence from Serbia. Hours after polls shut, partial results pointed to a narrow majority that will leave Thaci looking for coalition partners in order to form a government. His.. More

  • Bangladesh storm toll passes 2,000

    More than 2,000 people have been killed and millions made homeless after Bandladesh was hit by its worst cyclone in a decade. Rescue workers are struggling to reach hundreds of thousands of people who have been trapped for three days without food or water, officials told Al Jazeera on Sunday. "We are expecting that thousands of dead bodies may be.. More

  • Bangladesh aid effort gathers pace

    Aid workers are struggling to reach hundreds of thousands of survivors from a powerful cyclone that ripped through southern and central Bangladesh. At least 667 people are reported to have died during the storm, a toll that is expected to rise. The cyclone has destroyed or damaged tens of thousands of homes. But access to some of the worst affected.. More

  • Mixed reactions to UN Iran report

    The UN nuclear watchdog says Iran has made some progress in revealing the extent of its nuclear program but is still defying UN demands that it suspend uranium enrichment. Iran said Thursday's report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) vindicated its assertions that it was not seeking to build an atomic weapon. Saeed Jalili, its chief.. More

  • Kosovans vote in local elections

    Kosovo is holding local elections as tension over the future status of the province continues. Nato's 16,000-strong KFOR troops were bolstered by reinforcements ahead of the election, in which 1.5 million people are eligible to cast their vote. Ethnic Albanians, supported by the United States, want independence but Serbia, backed by Russia,.. More

  • US seeks end to Pakistan crisis

    US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte - who is in Pakistan - has spoken on the telephone to opposition leader Benazir Bhutto. He told her "moderate forces" should work together to get Pakistan back to democracy, the State Department said. The conversation took place after Ms Bhutto was freed from house arrest. The former PM renewed her.. More

  • US Senate blocks Iraq funds bill

    Republicans in the US Senate have blocked a Democratic proposal to tie a $50bn (£24bn) Iraq war funding bill to a timetable for troop withdrawal. The 53-45 vote was not enough to advance the bill, which passed in the House of Representatives on Wednesday. President George W Bush has asked Congress for extra emergency funding for operations in Iraq.. More