There are 17997 articles

  • New Iran guards chief appointed

    Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has unexpectedly replaced the commander of the elite Islamic Revolution Guards Corps. The new chief, Gen Mohammad Ali Jafari, commanded the Revolutionary Guards ground forces for 13 years. His predecessor, Gen Yahya Rahim Safavi, has been appointed a special military adviser to Ayatollah Khamenei. The.. More

  • Muslims protest Indonesian nuclear plant

    Dozens of Muslim clerics have issued an edict against the construction of Indonesia's first nuclear power plant on seismically charged Java island, saying the potential dangers far outweighed the benefits. The scholars from the country's largest Islamic organization, Nahdlatul Ulama, acknowledged the plant, which is scheduled to be built in 2010 and.. More

  • British troops quit Basra city

    British troops are pulling out of their last base in southern Iraq's Basra city and expect to hand over all security responsibilities for Basra province to Iraqi forces by the autumn. Sunday's withdrawal paves the way for about 500 soldiers to leave Iraq in the autumn and is seen as a step towards a full withdrawal of British forces from Iraq. Britain's.. More

  • Russia 'won't bargain on Kosovo'

    Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has warned that Moscow will not give in to pressure over "red line" issues such as missile defence and Kosovo. Lavrov said Russia could not remain passive in the face of any threat to its national security. "Such issues include for example the US plans to set up bases in Eastern Europe for a global missile.. More

  • Lebanon army 'in control' of camp

    Lebanon's army says it has taken full control of a Palestinian refugee camp where its troops have been battling Islamist militants since May. Officials say 37 Fatah al-Islam gunmen were killed in fighting that erupted when the remaining militants tried to break out of the Nahr al-Bared camp. Troops fired celebratory shots to signal the end of the.. More

  • Iran 'reaches key nuclear goal'

    Iran has met a key target for its nuclear program and now has 3,000 centrifuges enriching uranium, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said. Mr Ahmadinejad said Iran would continue its drive in spite of UN sanctions. Enriched uranium can be used for power stations but also for nuclear bombs. The West has accused Iran of trying to develop weapons -.. More

  • Abbas makes election law changes

    Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has announced changes in the election law which could boost his Fatah party against rivals Hamas. Under the new law, Palestinians will vote solely for party lists, while voting by district will be eliminated. Hamas, which took control of the Gaza Strip after fighting with Fatah in June, described the.. More

  • Violence at Gaza border rally

    One protester has died and another seven were injured when members of the Hamas Executive Force fired into the air in an attempt to control a rally of the group's supporters on the Egyptian border. Tens of thousands of Hamas loyalists, many waving flags, had gathered on Saturday at the Rafah border crossing to demand it be reopened. The border, Gaza's.. More

  • Bhutto vows early Pakistan return

    Former Pakistani PM Benazir Bhutto says she will return to the country "very soon", despite having reached no power-sharing deal with the government. Ms Bhutto had been in talks to become PM again, with beleaguered Gen Pervez Musharraf stepping down as army chief but seeking a new term as president. Ms Bhutto said she would announce the date of.. More

  • Taliban: 'No ransom paid by Seoul'

    The Taliban has denied a claim by one of its own commanders that the group received $20m from Seoul to free 19 South Korean missionaries it was holding. One Taliban commander earlier told the Reuters news agency the cash had been received and would be used to "purchase arms, get our communication network renewed and buy vehicles for carrying out.. More

  • UK army chief criticises US on Iraq

    General Sir Mike Jackson, the head of the British army during the invasion of Iraq, has criticized the United States and in particular Donald Rumsfeld for the way the country was handled after the invasion. He described the approach taken by Rumsfeld, the former US defense secretary, as "intellectually bankrupt". In an interview with the UK's Daily.. More

  • Car bomb rocks Afghan Nato airport

    One Afghan soldier was killed and several wounded after a suicide car bomb exploded outside a Nato military airport in Kabul, officials said. The blast took place near a group of Afghan soldiers after apparently failing to explode during a head-on collision with a German military vehicle, one Afghan soldier said. Ali Shah Paktiawa, a Kabul police.. More

  • Brown and Sarkozy warn Sudan

    Gordon Brown and Nicolas Sarkozy have joined forces to warn Sudan that it faces sanctions if it attempts to block Western efforts to end the conflict in Darfur. In a joint editorial in the UK-based Times newspaper, the British prime minister and the French president urged international powers to intensify their action on the troubled territory. The.. More

  • Hamas cracks down on Fatah protest

    Hamas security forces have forcefully dispersed hundreds of Fatah supporters in the Gaza Strip, firing in the air and beating demonstrators and reporters, according to witnesses. At least ten people, including two French journalists, were reported injured in the clashes on Friday. Nour Odeh, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Gaza, said: "Hundreds of.. More

  • Gul approves pro-EU Turkey cabinet

    Turkey's new president has approved a cabinet with a mix of AK party and secular members aimed at pushing stalled political and economic changes necessary to win entry to the EU. Abdullah Gul, whose background in political Islam had angered the country's secularists, has insisted that he will maintain Turkey's separation of religion and state. The.. More