Categories: Editor’s Choice, Videos and Media, War and ConflictTags: airstrikes, Israel, SyriaStrong blasts hit the outskirts of Syria’s capital early on Sunday, with reports saying that they were results of Israeli airstrikes on a military research center and Damascus Airport.(Read more…) … Read More
‘Containing Iran’: Israel ‘in talks’ to join alliance with Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Turkey
The alliance would see Israel teaming up with Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Turkey and the United Arab Emirates to forge a Middle East ‘moderate crescent’ to contain, rather than confront, Iran, the Sunday Times reported, citing an unnamed Israeli official.According to the report, such an alliance would give Israel access to radar stations in Saudi Arabia and the UAE in exchange for its own early warning radar information and anti-ballistic missile defense systems, the source said.In addition to US-made Patriot anti-missile systems, Israel has deployed the Iron Dome all-weather defense system, although this system guards against rockets fired from distances of 4 to 70km away.The report suggested that Jordan would be protected by Israel’s Arrow long-range anti-missile batteries.“The plan is to start with information-sharing about Iran’s ballistic missiles,” said an Israeli official.The proposal, known by participating diplomats as ‘4+1’, is being brokered by the United States. If successful, it would represent a marked shift in Middle East policy at the White House, which in the past has said it is not interested in containing Iran, but rather preventing it from achieving nuclear weapon capability.Tehran denies it is attempting to build a nuclear weapon, saying that its nuclear research is aimed at creating new energy resources for its civilian sector.The prospects for the plan’s success, however, remain questionable as Israel does not maintain formal diplomatic relations with Riyadh or Abu Dhabi, while relations with Ankara have been rather strained for the last several years.Relations between Israel and Turkey sharply deteriorated following the 2010 Gaza flotilla raid, which left eight Turkish nationals dead after their ship attempted to break an Israeli-Egyptian blockade of the Gaza Strip.In March 2013, Israel apologized for the raid on the Turkish vessel, which observers say represents a step toward the normalization of relations between the two countries.The Sunni states of Saudi Arabia, UAE and Jordan, not to mention Israel and the United States, are all wary of Shiite Tehran gaining any strategic advantage in the region, a factor that may compel the Arab states and Israel to put aside their differences and join some sort of alliance. … Read More
U.S. citizen sentenced to 15 years hard labor in North Korea
North Korea has sentenced American citizen Kenneth Bae to 15 years’ forced labor for unspecified crimes against the regime.Bae, also known as Pae Jun Ho, is accused of attempting to “topple” North Korea, according to state-run media. He has supposedly admitted the charges.”The Supreme Court sentenced him to 15 years of compulsory labour for this crime,” North Korea’s official news agency announced Thursday.Bae, 44, was detained in the northeast city of Rason on Nov. 3 after entering North Korea on a tourist visa.According to reports, he is a Korean-American who runs a travel company and was in the country to lead a tour group. A devout Christian, he had made several previous trips to North Korea to do humanitarian work, friends told the Associated Press.Continue Reading… … Read More
Russian plane wasn’t targeted in Syrian airspace – state news agency
The plane entered Syrian airspace and left it without any incident, the source at SCAA told the agency.The pilot of the plane contacted the air traffic control tower in Damascus, as a standard procedure, but didn’t mention any unusual incident, the source insisted.As quoted by the Syrian media outlet, the source noted that the pilot only requested permission to rise from 34,000 to 36,000 feet as it was not considered to be something “out of the ordinary.”The official added that dozens of other civilian planes flew over Syria on Monday in addition to the four Russian planes, which “shows that Syrian airspace is completely safe for commercial flights,” as quoted by SANA.On Monday April 29 the Russian Interfax news agency cited “an informed source in Moscow,” which reported that a Russian passenger plane was attacked when flying over Syria. The Airbus A320 plane belonging to Nordwind Airlines, a Russian charter air carrier, was allegedly targeted en route from Egypt’s resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh to the city of Kazan, in Russia’s republic of Tatarstan.Interfax’s source added that the aircraft was allegedly attacked when it was flying at an altitude of 9,800 meters, after which the crew reported the incident to Syrian ground control, and the flight was allowed to gain altitude of nearly 1,000 meters more.The unnamed Syrian official at SCAA has denied that the incident was reported to the air traffic control, adding that Syrian radar systems “didn’t report anything to the contrary.” … Read More
Egyptian TV presenter arrested for slandering actress
Egyptian police arrested an Islamist television show host on Wednesday after a court sentenced him to a year in prison for slandering an actress, a police official said. Police stormed Abdullah Badr’s apartment early in the morning in the Nile Delta province of Sharqiya and took him into…
World economy isn’t growing fast enough to generate jobs for all the unemployed
The world economy is still not growing fast enough to generate jobs for tens of millions who have become unemployed but it is strengthening gradually, a top IMF official said Wednesday. While global growth is seen at 3.3 percent in 2013 and an even better four percent next year, this masks…
