Archives for February, 2014

A woman walks past the site of a bomb attack in Balad Ruz, in northeastern Iraq, January 3, 2014. A suicide bomber driving a car packed with explosives killed at least 12 people who had gathered to buy and sell cars in Iraq on Thursday, local officials said. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, which took place near the car markets in the town of Balad Ruz, in northeastern Iraq, injuring another 25 people. REUTERS/Mohammed Adnan (IRAQ - Tags: CIVIL UNREST) - RTX170P9

Iraq’s battle against extremists spreads outside of Anbar

Although the Iraqi government launched a military operation in Anbar in December 2013 aimed at eradicating terrorism, it seems the protracted clashes have resulted in terrorist groups expanding their scope to other provinces.

Fatah faction leader Mohammed Dahlan addresses the media during a news conference in the West Bank city of Ramallah January 15, 2006. Israel's cabinet on Sunday approved voting in Arab East Jerusalem in a January 25 Palestinian parliamentary election but said it would ban the militant Hamas group from listing its candidates on ballots there. REUTERS/Loay Abu Haykel - RTR1BTKM

Fatah leadership rejects Dahlan's comeback bid

Fatah infighting between rival camps of President Mahmoud Abbas and Mohammed Dahlan is continuing to escalate as Dahlan seeks to revive his political career.

Immigrants sit with bare feet and bloodied hands after scaling a border fence to enter the Spanish enclave Melilla from neighboring Morocco, February 24, 2014. Over one hundred immigrants successfully entered Melilla according to a statement Spain's Interior Ministry. Spain has two enclaves in the north African country, Ceuta and Mellila, and migrants regularly try to reach them either by swimming along the coast or climbing the triple fences that separate them from Morocco. REUTERS/Jesus Blasco de Avella

Sub-Saharan African migrants invisible in Morocco

Moroccan government reforms have failed to end the suffering, racism and abuse endured by sub-Saharan African migrants.

Israeli soldiers stand next to a Palestinian man they detained during clashes with stone-throwing protesters at a weekly demonstration against the West Bank Jewish settlement of Beit El, in Jalazoun refugee camp, near Ramallah February 14, 2014. REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman (WEST BANK - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTX18TLF

Palestinians receive little in Israeli-proposed land-swap deal

Land swaps reportedly proposed by Israel leave Palestinians with the short end of the stick.

U.S. President Barack Obama is pictured on-screen speaking at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) policy conference in Washington March 4, 2012. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR2YU77

AIPAC sets 'guidelines' for Iran nuclear deal

AIPAC, the American Israel Political Action Committee, makes the case for congressional pressure on Iran.

A picture taken on February 3, 2014 shows low-income Iranians lining up to receive food supplies in southern Tehran. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani faced harsh criticism from conservatives today over what they say is a poorly implemented scheme to distribute food to low-income families in the sanctions-hit Islamic republic. The programme aims to hand out packages of frozen chicken, rice, vegetable oil, cheese and eggs to poor families ahead of Iranian New Year celebrations in mid-March. AFP PHOTO/ISNA/DA

Decoding Iran’s 'resistance economy'

Iran’s economic plan is to build domestic capacity to reduce Iran’s vulnerabilities to sanctions and external shocks.

A demonstrator hold pictures of Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen (R), during a protest against Turkey's ruling AK Party (AKP), demanding the resignation of Erdogan, in Istanbul December 30, 2013. Erdogan swore on Sunday he would survive a corruption crisis circling his cabinet, saying those seeking his overthrow would fail just like mass anti-government protests last summer. Gulen denies involvement in stirring up the graft case, but he regularly censures Erdogan, a

Another sensational scandal rocks Turkey

Pro-government dailies are reporting a massive wiretapping scandal.

Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan greets his supporters as he arrives at a meeting at the Turkish parliament in Ankara February 18, 2014. REUTERS/Umit Bektas (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS) - RTX1916P

Does Erdogan control Turkish media?

Turkey’s press freedom record is poor, but assertions that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan controls Turkish media are an exaggeration, because 65% of Turkish newspapers remain in the opposition camp.

EDITORS' NOTE: Reuters and other foreign media are subject to Iranian restrictions on leaving the office to report, film or take pictures in Tehran.
A man looks at newspapers at a news stand in Tehran March 4, 2012. Hardliners allied with Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei maintained their lead in the country's parliamentary vote, with partial results on Sunday showing supporters of the president trailing behind. REUTERS/Raheb Homavandi (IRAN - Tags: POLITICS ELECTIONS) - RTR2YTIX

Press freedom in Iran improves slightly under Rouhani

While Reporters Without Borders' World Press Freedom Index continues to give Iran a dismal rating, and Iran’s press is nowhere close to free, many journalists believe that conditions have improved somewhat under President Hassan Rouhani.

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Tim Kaine (D-VA) does a series of interviews at the site of his election-night party during the U.S. presidential election in Richmond, Virginia November 6, 2012. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS ELECTIONS USA PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION) - RTR3A32N

Kaine: Israel stance 'no, no, no' on Iran enrichment

After meeting with Israeli Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel, Sen. Tim Kaine (D -Virginia) said the only deal on Iran's nuclear program Israel would accept would have to eliminate every element of the Islamic Republic's nuclear program.

Lebanon's Prime Minister Tammam Salam speaks at the presidential palace in Baabda, near Beirut February 15, 2014. Lebanon announced a new government on Saturday, breaking a 10-month political deadlock during which spillover violence from neighbouring Syria worsened internal instability. Parliament designated Sunni lawmaker Salam as prime minister in April 2013, but he had been unable to form a government for months due to rivalries between the Hezbollah-dominated March 8 bloc and the March 14 alliance, led

New Lebanese government must deal with terror

While the partnership between Hezbollah and the Future Movement in the new Lebanese government is good start, to be truly successful, they must directly address terrorism together.

Palestinian President Yasser Arafat attends a meeting in his headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah July, 19, 2004. [Palestinian President Yasser Arafat sought on Monday to defuse a leadership crisis triggered by unprecedented unrest in the Gaza Strip over corruption within his government and security forces.] - RTXMS1N

Jewish/Palestinian history without borders

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas should return to the statement made in 2004 by Palestinian Chairman Yasser Arafat, recognizing Israel as the Jewish state, while Israelis should recognize Palestine as the homeland of Palestinians.

Masked Sunni Muslims gunmen take up position with their weapons during clashes with Iraqi security forces outside the city of Falluja, 70 km (44 miles) west of Baghdad, February 23, 2014. Members of the extremist Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant are holed up inside Fallujah along with Sunni fighters angry at Prime Minister Nouri Maliki over what they say are policies which discriminate against Iraq's Sunni minority. The Iraqi government declared a ceasefire over the weekend but clashes flared periodica

Iraq's failing state institutions

The Iraqi government appoints state officials on the basis of politics rather than competence, something that has led to many state projects failing without anyone being held accountable.

Men work on the roof of a house under construction in the unauthorised Jewish settler outpost of Havat Gilad, south of the West Bank city of Nablus November 5, 2013. Israeli and Palestinian officials said on Tuesday the three-month-old peace talks pressed on them by Washington are going nowhere, painting a grim picture for a visit this week by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. Both sides have been airing their frustration over a lack of progress in the U.S.-brokered talks aimed at resolving core issues su

Meretz parliamentarian pushes bill to compensate Israeli settlers

In an interview with Al-Monitor, Knesset member Ilan Gilon says that most of the settlers were motivated by affordable housing, not ideology, and will agree to return to Israel if offered compensation.

An Iranian bride waits for her groom during a mass wedding ceremony at the country's grand hall in Iran's Interior ministry building in central Tehran August 19, 2007. More than 800 Iranian students will be getting married at the same time. REUTERS/Morteza Nikoubazl (IRAN) - RTR1SX4G

Proposed 'Ministry of Marriage and Divorce' sparks controversy

A new proposed ministry reveals a crisis of divorce in Iran and the inability of other ministries to address youth problems.

A supporter of Egypt's army chief Field Marshal Abdel Fattah al-Sisi rallies outside a police academy, where the trial of ousted Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi and members of the Muslim Brotherhood is due to take place, on the outskirts of Cairo, February 16, 2014. Mursi appeared in court on Sunday on charges of conspiring with foreign groups to commit terrorist acts in Egypt, in a further escalation of the crackdown against his Muslim Brotherhood. The poster, showing Mursi (C) and Muslim Brotherhood lead

Has political life in Egypt reached 'clinical death'?

While many new parties and alliances have formed in Egypt in the three years since President Hosni Mubarak’s ouster, they have achieved limited success due to a focus on temporary issues and a lack of strategic goals.