Tag: Middle East
High-ranking Syrian general defects as opposition group meets in Paris
Brig. Gen. Manaf Tiass became the highest-ranking military official to defect from Syria when news spread that he was on his way to Paris Friday. Is his departure a sign of what's to come as President Bashar Assad continues his violent crackdown on dissent? ...
Palestinians prepared to launch investigation into what really killed Yasser Arafat
Palestinian leaders gave their OK to a plan to exhume the body of Yasser Arafat and determine whether his death was not by natural causes, but was instead poisoned by radiation. That's based on startling possibilities raised in an Al Jazeera investigation....
Israeli company says its developed medical marijuana strain that won't get you high
Israel has had legal medical marijuana for about 10 years. But a recent development stands to potentially change the market, with an Israeli company saying it has developed a THC-free strain of cannabis. THC is the ingredient in marijuana that produces the "high."...
Human rights group highlights system of torture in Syria
An international human rights organization this week released a report that it says documents a series of detention and torture facilities setup around Syria by the country's government. The report is based on hundreds of interviews with Syrians who were victims of the government program....
Egypt's new president creates foreign policy dilemma for President Obama
Egypt's newly elected president, Mohamed Morsi, may present new challenges for President Obama. The Obama Administration has voiced support for Morsi, but political experts say a power struggle may lead it to back the Egyptian military....
Turkey emerges as model of oppression as crackdown on free expression grows
More than 100 journalists sit behind bars in Turkish prisions, the most of any country in the world. As the country's government continues to stifle dissent, experts worry that what they once considered a model of Middle East democracy is turning into a model of oppression....
Election results delay, rumors of Mubarak's death roil Egyptian society
Egypt was supposed to find out who would be its next president Thursday. Now it's delayed indefinitely while "improprieties" in the voting are investigated. Meanwhile, the country's former president was reported dead. But he wasn't. All of this has Egyptians seeing conspiracies at every turn....
Turks suspicious after a dead 'Israeli' bird found in a field
Turkish media took a conspiratorial turn recently after a bird was found in a field, dead, with a metal band around its leg. The band said "Israel Tel Aviv," which immediately raised suspicions that the bird was on an espionage mission. Of course it wasn't, but it's not the first time banded animals aroused suspicion of nefarious intentions....
Reports: Former Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak hospitalized, gravely ill
Hosni Mubarak, whose 30 year reign as Egypt's autocratic ruler came to an end last year, was reported to be clinically dead by Egypt's official news agency, but security officials insist he is actually unconcious and on life support, his heart having stopped beating and failing to respond to defibrillation....
As votes are counted, Egypt's military says political handover will go on as scheduled
Egypt is once more facing a political crisis. Its parliament was dissolved and its military rulers have assumed more power for themselves. But a democratically elected president should be named by Thursday. It's expected to be Mohamed Morsi, but how much power he'll have remains to be seen....
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