Israel to discuss military draft reform proposal
JERUSALEM (AP) — An official Israeli committee on Thursday handed the government its proposal for ending a contentious system that grants Jewish ultra-Orthodox seminary students automatic exemptions from military service, setting the stage for what could become the first major conflict in the new Israeli coalition government.
Clashes in Lebanon feed fear of Syria spillover
BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanese supporters and opponents of Syrian President Bashar Assad fired heavy machine guns and lobbed mortar shells at each other Thursday in some of the worst fighting in the port city of Tripoli in years.
Israel says Iran unaffected by world pressure
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s prime minister says a new report by the U.N. atomic agency shows that international pressure is having no effect on halting Iran’s suspect nuclear program.
AP PHOTOS: Egypt’s languishing Islamic antiquities
CAIRO (AP) — Cairo, the Arab world’s most populated city, is often referred to as an open-air museum of Islamic antiquities and the city of 1,000 minarets.
Iran’s Rafsanjani blasts clerics, says report
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Banned from upcoming elections, Iran’s former president has leveled harsh criticism at the Islamic Republic’s clerical rulers, saying they are doing a poor job running the country, an Iranian pro-reform website reported late on Wednesday.
US, Israel raise hopes for Mideast peace restart
JERUSALEM (AP) — The United States and Israel raised hopes Thursday for a restart of the Middle East peace process, despite little tangible progress so far from U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s two-month-old effort to get Israelis and Palestinians back to the negotiating table.
Gunmen kill 7 Iraqi soldiers in central Iraq
BAGHDAD (AP) — Gunmen killed at least seven soldiers in central Iraq on Thursday, officials said, in the latest episode of violence to hit the country in a particularly bloody month.
AP Interview: Syria conflict uproots Palestinians
DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Syria’s fighting has uprooted more than half of the country’s 530,000 Palestinians — descendants of refugees from a Mideast conflict half a century ago — and their situation is becoming increasingly desperate, the head of a U.N. aid agency said Thursday.
Report: Rafsanjani blasts Iran’s rulers
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Former Iranian president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani has blasted the Islamic Republic’s clerical rulers, declaring it impossible for them to do a worse job running the country, an Iranian pro-reform website reported Wednesday.
5 dead in Lebanon clash of Assad foes, backers
BEIRUT (AP) — Opponents and supporters of Syrian President Bashar Assad traded heavy machine gun fire and mortar shells in the Lebanese port city of Tripoli, leaving five people dead in what was described as some of the heaviest fighting there in years, officials said Thursday.
Iran denies its drone entered Bahrain’s airspace
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — An Iranian semi-official news agency reports the country is denying that an unmanned drone violated the airspace of Bahrain, the strategic Gulf kingdom that hosts the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet.
Gunmen kill 4 Iraqi soldiers north of Baghdad
BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi officials say gunmen have shot dead four soldiers at an army checkpoint north of Baghdad.
Syria opposition welcomes support for Assad ouster
BEIRUT (AP) — A spokesman says Syria’s main opposition bloc welcomes renewed calls by its foreign supporters that Syrian President Bashar Assad give up power at the start of any political transition aimed at ending the country’s civil war.
2011 jail breaks become political issue in Egypt
CAIRO (AP) — It was one of the most perplexing events of Egypt’s revolution: orchestrated attacks on prisons around the country that broke out more than 20,000 inmates while police were tied down with the massive popular protests that swept autocrat Hosni Mubarak from power.
Submerged structure stumps Israeli archaeologists
TIBERIAS, Israel (AP) — The massive circular structure appears to be an archaeologists dream: a recently discovered antiquity that could reveal secrets of ancient life in the Middle East and is just waiting to be excavated.
Kerry: US, allies ready to step up aid to rebels
AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — The U.S. and several key allies looked again Wednesday for a strategy to end Syria’s civil war, their united efforts unable at the moment to stem the Assad regime’s military gains and Washington still unwilling to join those providing the rebels with lethal military aid.
Egypt leader claims victory in captives’ release
CAIRO (AP) — The safe release Wednesday of seven conscripts kidnapped by suspected militants in Sinai brought a victory for Egypt’s Islamist president after months of criticism that his government is mismanaging the country.
Kerry: US, allies, ready to step up aid rebels
AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — The U.S. and several key allies looked again Wednesday for a strategy to end Syria’s civil war, their united efforts unable at the moment to stem the Assad regime’s military gains and Washington still unwilling to join those providing the rebels with lethal military aid.
Palestinians have little faith in Kerry effort
RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — Palestinians believe the U.S. effort to restart peace talks is doomed, and they’re preparing instead to resume their campaign of seeking membership in key international organizations as soon as next month, officials told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
Global, local issues for Iran in upcoming election
Main domestic and international issues facing Iran ahead of its June 14 presidential election:
Iran’s Ahmadinejad looks to outsider options
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — By now, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is well-accustomed to enduring blows from Iran’s ruling clerics as his reputation fell from favored son to political outcast. But their intended parting shot — barring his chief aid from the presidential race — may be just the opening act in Ahmadinejad’s reinvention as a self-styled opposition force.
Israeli air force chief warns of Syrian attacks
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s air force chief warned Wednesday that tensions with Syria could escalate into a “surprise war” and that Israel needs to be ready.
Syrian opposition urges rebels to join key battle
BEIRUT (AP) — Syria’s main opposition alliance on Wednesday urged fighters from around the country to reinforce a rebel-held town under attack by President Bashar Assad’s troops and their allies from the Lebanese militant Hezbollah group.
Bahrain opposition group snubs crisis talks
MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) — Bahrain’s main Shiite opposition group says it will temporarily boycott talks aimed at easing the Gulf nation’s more than two-year unrest because of increased crackdowns by security forces.
Bahrain claims Iranian drone found
MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) — Bahrain’s Interior Ministry says an Iranian drone has been found in the strategic Gulf kingdom that hosts the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet.
Iran’s Ahmadinejad denounces election decision
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Wednesday that a decision by election overseers to disqualify his top aide from next month’s presidential race is an act of “oppression” and that he will take the case to the country’s supreme leader.
Iraqi premier orders army shake-up after attacks
BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq’s prime minister has ordered a shake-up of his military command after a weeklong spike of militant attacks that has killed nearly 300 people, by far the highest toll since the U.S. withdrew its forces in late 2011, an official said Wednesday.
Iraqi PM orders army shakeup after deadly attacks
BAGHDAD (AP) — An Iraqi government spokesman says Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has ordered changes in senior ranks of the military in the wake of bloody attacks that have killed dozens of people in the past few days.
7 Egyptian security men kidnapped in Sinai freed
CAIRO (AP) — Six Egyptian policemen and a border guard kidnapped by suspected militants in the volatile Sinai Peninsula last week were freed by their captors Wednesday after successful mediation, the country’s military spokesman said.
“A second later the gun was drawn in my face.”
Young objector challenges Israeli army
JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli military has jailed a young man for six months for refusing to serve because of his opposition to Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, focusing attention on the longstanding conflict between the country’s universal military service and divided political beliefs.
Egypt: 7 security men kidnapped in Sinai freed
CAIRO (AP) — Six Egyptian policemen and a border guard kidnapped by suspected militants in the Sinai Peninsula last week were freed by their captors Wednesday after successful mediation in the volatile region, the country’s military spokesman said.
Egypt TV: 7 security men kidnapped in Sinai freed
CAIRO (AP) — Egyptian state TV says six policemen and a border guard kidnapped by suspected militants in the Sinai Peninsula last week have been freed.
Egypt troops in Sinai sweep mistakenly hit funeral
CAIRO (AP) — Egyptian troops and police mistakenly fired on a Bedouin funeral in the Sinai Peninsula on Tuesday, security officials said, in the opening salvo of a sweep searching for security personnel kidnapped by suspected militants.
Saudi executes 5 Yemenis, displays bodies
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Saudi Arabia on Tuesday executed five Yemenis convicted of crimes and displayed their bodies in public as a deterrent for future criminals, the government said.
Deadliest attacks in Iraq since US troop pullout
BAGHDAD (AP) — Here is a look at the deadliest attacks in Iraq since the withdrawal of U.S. troops on Dec. 18, 2011:
Top figures barred from Iran’s June ballot
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran’s election overseers removed potential wild-card candidates from the presidential race Tuesday, blocking a top aide of outgoing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and a former president who revived hopes of reformers.
Car bomb, other attacks kill 20 in Iraq
BAGHDAD (AP) — A car bomb exploded as Sunni worshippers were leaving a mosque after evening prayers Tuesday in Baghdad, the deadliest in a string of attacks that killed at least 20 people nationwide in a week of the most sustained sectarian violence in the country since U.S. troops withdrew more than a year ago.
Iran candidate list for presidential race
The eight candidates approved Tuesday for Iran’s June 14 presidential election to replace Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who cannot run again because of term limits.
More attacks across Iraq kill 13 people
BAGHDAD (AP) — New attacks in Iraq killed 13 people and wounded dozens on Tuesday, officials said, after a bloody day that claimed more than 100 lives across the country.
Syria opposition signals tough line on peace talks
BEIRUT (AP) — Despite recent rebel setbacks in Syria’s civil war, the main opposition bloc signaled a tough line Tuesday on attending possible peace talks with President Bashar Assad’s regime.
Egyptian troops mistakenly fire on a Sinai funeral
CAIRO (AP) — Egyptian troops and police mistakenly fired on a Bedouin funeral in the Sinai Peninsula on Tuesday, security officials said, in the opening salvo of a sweep searching for security personnel kidnapped by suspected militants.
2 Moroccans tried for homosexuality get 4 months
RABAT, Morocco (AP) — A Moroccan court has convicted two men of homosexuality and public indecency, and sentenced each to four months in prison, in the latest case against gays in this North African nation.
Palestinian group: Ruler rights abuses increasing
RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — A Palestinian report shows human rights abuses by the rival governments in the West Bank and Gaza are on the rise.
Israeli peace negotiator: Stalemate bad for Israel
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s chief peace negotiator said Tuesday that the current stalemate with the Palestinians is harmful for Israel, days before U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is expected to arrive in Israel for his latest push to restart long-dormant talks.
Israel warns Syria against attacks on Golan
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli and Syrian troops exchanged fire across their tense cease-fire line in the Golan Heights on Tuesday, prompting an Israeli threat that Syria’s leader will “bear the consequences” of further escalation and raising new concerns that the civil war there could explode into a region-wide conflict.
Top figures may be barred from Iran’s June ballot
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran’s election process slipped into a tense holding pattern Tuesday amid speculation that candidates blocked from the ballot include a top aide of outgoing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and a former president who revived hopes of reformers.
Syrian, Hezbollah troops fight rebels in key town
BEIRUT (AP) — Backed by elite troops of Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group, Syrian government forces fought rebels in a strategic opposition-held Syrian town near the Lebanese border for the third straight day Tuesday.
Saudi Arabia says arrests 10 from Iranian spy ring
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — A Saudi official says police have detained 10 more members of an alleged Iranian spy ring — eight Saudis, one Lebanese and one Turkish national.
Clashes between Egypt troops and gunmen in Sinai
CAIRO (AP) — Egyptian security officials say police and military forces have clashed with armed tribesmen in a north Sinai village by the border with Israel, leaving one gunman dead.