Middle East
Sunday, 21 April 2013 19:30
28
ISTANBUL: US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Sunday he had asked Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to delay a visit to the Gaza Strip planned for next month, as he pushes for improved Israeli-Turkish ties."We have expressed to the prime minister that it would be better to delay," Kerry told reporters in Istanbul, urging Erdogan to wait for the "right conditions"."We thought the timing is really critical," Kerry added without elaborating.Erdogan announced last week he planned to visit the impoverished Palestinian territory at the end of next month after a key trip to Washington on May 16.Erdogan, a staunch advocate of the Palestinian cause, had earlier planned to visit Gaza this month to help the process of lifting an Israeli embargo.That trip was also reportedly delayed after a warning from Washington, which last month brokered a rapprochement between Turkey and Israel.Israel in March apologised for the deaths ...
ERUSALEM: Israel's cabinet on Sunday approved a plan to revert to annual budgets starting in 2015 from two-year budgets of recent years. Finance Minister Yair Lapid earlier this month opted to scrap dual-year budgets, arguing that forecasting is more accurate over a shorter time frame. Israel enacted two-year budgets in 2009-2010 and 2011-2012.Because of a general election held in January, a budget for 2013 has not yet been passed. As a result, the ministry is ...
DUBAI: GEMS Education, a United Arab Emirates-based education company, has raised a 2 billion dirham ($545 million) loan from local banks for new investments in schools in the region and for refinancing, a company statement said on Sunday.The loan, which is a mix of Islamic and conventional financing, was lead-managed by Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, Mashreq, Dubai Islamic Bank and Noor Islamic Bank."Recently we announced our intention to build ten new schools in the UAE ...
BEIRUT: Fierce battles raged on Saturday in flashpoint areas of Syria's central province of Homs near the Lebanese border, a watchdog said, adding that six shells fell across the border in Lebanon.One of the shells hit the town of Hermel in eastern Lebanon -- a stronghold of the Hezbollah -- the first time violence from Syria spilled over into the town, a Lebanese security source told AFP.Earlier troops loyal to President Bashar al-Assad's regime seized ...
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah has removed veteran deputy defence minister Prince Khaled bin Sultan from his post, state media reported on Saturday, latest move in a reshuffle among princes holding government jobs in the US-allied kingdom.Prince Khaled was head of the Saudi armed forces during the 1991 Gulf War but was passed over for the job of Defence Minister in 2011 after the death of his father, Crown Prince Sultan, who had held the ...
SANAA: Suspected al Qaeda militants shot dead a Yemeni intelligence officer overnight in Mukalla, capital of the southeastern Hadramawt province, a security official told AFP on Saturday.
"Al Qaeda gunmen on a motorbike opened fire on the officer Ibrahim Bameshel as we was on his way back home, killing him immediately," the official said, adding that the assailants had fled.
Al Qaeda militants were driven out of most of their strongholds in Yemen's south last June in ...
More Articles...
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
