Boston Herald - Boston Herald

Kerry to Mideast to advance struggling Syria plan

Associated Press — Mon, 20 May 2013 19:54:58 -0400

WASHINGTON — Secretary of State John Kerry is headed back to the Middle East to press his case for peace talks between Syrian rebels and President Bashar Assad's regime amid increasing signs the new U.S. strategy to halt the war is being undermined by Russia.

Attacks kill 95 in Iraq, hint of Syrian spillover

Associated Press — Mon, 20 May 2013 17:25:36 -0400

BAGHDAD — Iraq's wave of bloodshed sharply escalated Monday with more than a dozen car bombings across the country, part of attacks that killed at least 95 people and brought echoes of past sectarian carnage and fears of a dangerous spillover from Syria's civil war next door.

Tunisian feminist arrested for alleged provocation

Associated Press — Mon, 20 May 2013 17:16:15 -0400

TUNIS, Tunisia — A Tunisian feminist who scandalized her country by posting topless photos of herself online has been arrested after allegedly sneaking into Tunisia's holiest city disguised in a veil, then trying to get undressed during a protest.

On Sunday, Amina Tyler — a 19-year-old member of the Ukrainian feminist group FEMEN, which uses nudity in its protests — passed through heavy security and checkpoints to enter the city of Kairouan, where police were preventing hardline conservative Islamists from holding an annual conference.

Deadliest attacks in Iraq since US troop pullout

Associated Press — Mon, 20 May 2013 16:15:52 -0400

BAGHDAD — Here is a look at the deadliest attacks in Iraq since the withdrawal of U.S. troops on Dec. 18, 2011:

— May 20, 2013: A wave of attacks, some at markets and rush hour crowds, hour killed at least 95 people in Shiite and Sunni areas.

— May 18, 2013: Shootings and bombings kill at least 16 people including an anti-terrorism police captain and his family.

— May 17, 2013: Bombs rip through Sunni areas in Baghdad and surrounding areas, killing at least 76 people.

Hezbollah pulled more deeply into Syria civil war

Associated Press — Mon, 20 May 2013 15:45:19 -0400

BEIRUT — Hezbollah was pulled more deeply into Syria's civil war as 28 guerrillas from the Lebanese Shiite militant group were killed and dozens more wounded while fighting rebels, Syria activists said Monday.

The intense battle drove rebels from large parts of the town of Qusair, part of a withering government offensive aimed at securing a strategic land corridor from Damascus to the Mediterranean coast.

Egypt: Security beefed up in Sinai after abduction

Associated Press — Mon, 20 May 2013 15:29:33 -0400

CAIRO — Dozens of Egyptian troops and armored vehicles moved into Sinai Monday as the government beefed up security in the volatile peninsula after the abduction of six policemen and a border guard by suspected Islamic militants.

The security deployment comes a day after the release of a video of the captives, blindfolded and with their hands tied behind their backs, pleading for President Mohammed Morsi and his defense minister to free them by granting the demands of the men who seized them last week.

Israel, Palestinians still arguing over epic image

Associated Press — Mon, 20 May 2013 15:01:52 -0400

JERUSALEM — A new Israeli report into the death of a Palestinian boy during a fierce gunbattle in the Gaza Strip more than a dozen years ago has reignited an emotional debate over who killed him — and how the incident has shaped perspectives of the Mideast conflict.

Israel says a French TV report in 2000 that claimed Israeli forces killed the boy is misleading, provides no evidence and is part of a smear campaign against the Jewish state. For Palestinians, the case remains a vivid symbol of Israeli oppression and of their own sense of victimhood.

Israel gunman shoots 4 dead at bank, kills self

Associated Press — Mon, 20 May 2013 14:32:52 -0400

JERUSALEM — A gunman stormed into a bank in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba Monday, killing four people in a gunfight and taking a hostage before killing himself, police said.

Police initially suspected a bungled bank robbery but later changed their assessment.

Algerian Islamist demands ill president appear

Associated Press — Mon, 20 May 2013 14:03:30 -0400

ALGIERS, Algeria — The head of Algeria's main Islamist political party has called for the country's ailing president to appear on television to dispel rumors over his health after a three week absence.

Abderrazzak Mukri, the leader of the Movement of Society for Peace, warned that if the president did not soon appear, it would require invoking constitutional powers allowing his removal for health reasons.

President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, 76, suffered a mini-stroke on April 27 and was rushed to a French military hospital where he has remained.

Jordan: Arab Spring clears way for press freedoms

Associated Press — Mon, 20 May 2013 12:50:12 -0400

AMMAN, Jordan — The Arab Spring uprisings that toppled four Arab leaders have forced Mideast governments to allow more freedom of expression and of the press, Jordan's prime minister said Monday, but critics charged that Jordan itself is not doing enough.

Abdullah Ensour told a meeting of the Vienna-based International Press Institute, "The past few years have been very crucial to our region, because the Arab Spring has opened new horizons and created more demands" for wider freedoms of expression and the press.

Militiamen attack gas complex in western Libya

Associated Press — Mon, 20 May 2013 12:06:26 -0400

TRIPOLI, Libya — A Libyan gas company official says militiamen have attacked a natural gas complex in the country's west, injuring two guards and stealing weapons and military vehicles.

The official says the attack took place early Monday and targeted the Mellitah Oil and Gas complex near Zwara, about 110 kilometers (70 miles) from the capital, Tripoli. The complex is a joint venture between Libya's National Oil Corp. and Italy's largest energy company, Eni SpA. The militiamen fled the site briefly after seizing weapons and equipment from the guards.

Iran election overseers may bar former president

Associated Press — Mon, 20 May 2013 11:44:58 -0400

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran's election overseers said Monday they will bar candidates who are physically weak from running in next month's presidential election, a reference to a former leader seen as a threat to hard-liners.

Ex-president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani's entry in the race scrambled the equations because of his popularity, reputation and potential to draw voters away from conservatives.

Saudi women teachers demanding full time jobs

Associated Press — Mon, 20 May 2013 10:23:48 -0400

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — About 30 Saudi women teachers have demonstrated outside the kingdom's Education Ministry, demanding full time jobs.

An Associated Press reporter saw women holding posters Monday calling for full time contracts and benefits that include steady pay and retirement packages.

Some say they have been teaching part time in government schools for more than 10 years. The teachers have demonstrated in the past outside the ministry to press their demands.

Gunfire from Syria hits Israeli-controlled Golan

Associated Press — Mon, 20 May 2013 08:54:21 -0400

JERUSALEM — The Israeli military says gunfire from Syria has hit the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights overnight.

The military said on Monday that the gunfire did not cause any damage or injuries. The military says it believes the fire was accidental.

Israel has found itself in a difficult position as clashes from Syria's civil war rage near its frontier with the Golan Heights, a strategic plateau captured from Syria in the 1967 war.

Iran says producing new air defense missile

Associated Press — Mon, 20 May 2013 08:28:44 -0400

TEHRAN< Iran — Iran says it has started mass producing a new sophisticated air defense missile system capable of engaging low-altitude aircraft.

The Monday report by state TV quotes Defense Minister Gen. Ahmad Vahidi as saying the new system, dubbed Herz-9 or Talisman-9 in Farsi, is capable of operating at night.

He said the system was mobile and could automatically identify and target flying objects at "low altitude."

The TV showed the system, involving double missiles mounted on a truck.

Suspected US drone kills 2 in Yemen

Associated Press — Mon, 20 May 2013 07:20:14 -0400

SANAA, Yemen — Yemeni security and military officials say a suspected U.S. drone has killed two militants in a town in the center of the country.

The officials said the Monday attack targeted the two men as they were riding a motorbike outside Radda in Bayda province. The officials said the two men were suspected of belonging to al-Qaida, whose Yemeni branch Washington considers the terror group's most dangerous offshoot.

Syrian troops push into strategic rebel-held town

Associated Press — Sun, 19 May 2013 22:03:40 -0400

BEIRUT — Syrian troops pushed into a rebel-held town near the Lebanese border on Sunday, fighting house-to-house and bombing from the air as President Bashar Assad tried to strengthen his grip on a strategic strip of land running from the capital to the Mediterranean coast.

Video shows kidnapped Egyptian security officers

Associated Press — Sun, 19 May 2013 16:38:00 -0400

CAIRO — Seven men purported to be the members of Egypt's security forces kidnapped by suspected militants last week appeared in a video posted online Sunday and urged the government to secure their release by meeting their captors' demands.

Israeli seeks interim deal with Palestinians

Associated Press — Sun, 19 May 2013 14:31:18 -0400

JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's senior coalition partner says that reaching a final peace agreement with the Palestinians is unrealistic at the current time and the sides should instead pursue an interim arrangement.

Finance Minister Yair Lapid's assessment, delivered in a published interview Sunday just days before the arrival of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, throws a contentious idea into the mix as the U.S. searches for ways to restart peace talks.

Cairo airport baggage handlers end strike

Associated Press — Sun, 19 May 2013 13:38:37 -0400

CAIRO — Cairo airport officials say baggage handlers have resumed work after a strike that left passengers on 20 international flights from Europe and Arab countries waiting several hours for luggage.

Baggage handlers went on strike Saturday afternoon to demand stronger safety measures after a colleague died when a conveyer belt used to unload luggage fell on his head.