http://www.alarabiya.net/rss/en_meast.xml Updated every 5 minute of every day - FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY en-us Fri, 12 Mar 2010 21:35:01 Asia/Riyadh(AST) Copyright: 2010, Alarabiya News Channel. http://www.alarabiya.net/rss/en_meast.xml http://www.alarabiya.net/files/gfx/img/alarabiya.gif http://www.alarabiya.net Saudi Arabia denied on Friday that its officials had discussed with U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates putting pressure on China to back a new round of sanctions on Iran over its nuclear ambitions. An "official source" quoted by the official SPA news agency said reportshttp://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2010/03/12/102878.htmlAl ArabiyaThu, 11 Mar 2010 21:00:00 GMTEgyptian police on Friday arrested nearly 50 members of the opposition Muslim Brotherhood who were staging anti-Israel demonstrations, a security official said. They were rounded up after weekly prayers as they demonstrated against Israeli plans to build Jewish settlements in Arabhttp://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2010/03/12/102876.htmlAl ArabiyaThu, 11 Mar 2010 21:00:00 GMTMore than 100,000 people have been forced to flee their homes across Somalia since the start of the year amid "relentless and indiscriminate" fighting, the U.N. refugee agency said Friday. The office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) warned that morehttp://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2010/03/12/102859.htmlAl ArabiyaThu, 11 Mar 2010 21:00:00 GMTAl Arabiya news channel reported on Friday that Yemeni police confiscated broadcasting equipment from their Sanaa offices due to their coverage of the country’s unrest in the south. A government official claimed that Al Arabiya did not have proper authorization for the equipment in ahttp://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2010/03/12/102834.htmlAl ArabiyaThu, 11 Mar 2010 21:00:00 GMTIraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki took a slender lead over his rivals on Friday, preliminary results from the country's general election showed, as opposition blocs alleged blatant fraud. Maliki faces a strong challenge from former premier Iyad Allawi, whose secular Iraqiyahttp://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2010/03/12/102817.htmlAl ArabiyaThu, 11 Mar 2010 21:00:00 GMTIsraeli forces sealed off the West Bank and massed riot squads around Jerusalem's Old City and Arab neighborhoods during Muslim weekly prayers on Friday, facing down Palestinian anger over Jewish settlement expansion. After a week in which visiting U.S. Vice President Joe Bidenhttp://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2010/03/12/102815.htmlAl ArabiyaThu, 11 Mar 2010 21:00:00 GMTA total of 50,000 new homes for Jewish settlers in mainly Arab east Jerusalem are in various stages of planning, according to a report published on Thursday by an Israeli anti-settlement group. Plans for 20,000 apartments are in advanced stages of approval, while plans for thehttp://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2010/03/12/102862.htmlAl ArabiyaThu, 11 Mar 2010 21:00:00 GMTThe death toll from two days of fighting in Somalia's capital between government forces and al-Shabaab rebels has risen to 54, ambulance services said on Thursday as clashes subsided with both sides claiming successes. The government urged residents to vacate the areas where fightinghttp://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2010/03/11/102787.htmlAl ArabiyaWed, 10 Mar 2010 21:00:00 GMTSaudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have signaled a "willingness" to press China to support tough new sanctions on Iran, United States Defense Secretary Robert Gates said here Thursday. "I have the sense that there's a willingness" by the Saudis andhttp://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2010/03/11/102783.htmlAl ArabiyaWed, 10 Mar 2010 21:00:00 GMTThe United States said on Thursday it believed indirect Mideast peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians were still on, saying it had no confirmation that the Palestinians had decided to drop out. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley cast doubt over comments by Arab League chiefhttp://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2010/03/11/102776.htmlAl ArabiyaWed, 10 Mar 2010 21:00:00 GMTYemeni forces launched an attack on Thursday to recapture a government building occupied by separatists in the south of the country, setting off a gunfight, a local official and witnesses said. Three protesters were shot dead as security forces tried to quash a separatist demonstration inhttp://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2010/03/11/102773.htmlAl ArabiyaWed, 10 Mar 2010 21:00:00 GMTThe European Union says it will send 130 observers to make sure Sudan's general elections in April are free and fair. EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said Thursday the April 11-18 vote will be "an important milestone" in bringing lasting peace to a country wracked byhttp://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2010/03/11/102771.htmlAl ArabiyaWed, 10 Mar 2010 21:00:00 GMTA donor conference for Darfur this month is intended to raise $2 billion for infrastructure, health, water and other projects in the war-ravaged Sudanese region, the Egyptian hosts said on Thursday. Projects being proposed at the one-day development and reconstruction conference on March 21http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2010/03/11/102762.htmlAl ArabiyaWed, 10 Mar 2010 21:00:00 GMTDubai's Police Chief ordered foreign spies operating in the Gulf emirate to leave within a week or risk being hunted down by security forces, according to press reports on Thursday. "They (foreign spies) better leave or they will face extreme measures," Police chief Dahi Khalfanhttp://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2010/03/11/102731.htmlAl ArabiyaWed, 10 Mar 2010 21:00:00 GMTPaul Martin, a British freelance journalist arrested by Hamas in the Gaza Strip last month and held on suspicion of espionage for Israel, was released on Thursday, his lawyer and a Palestinian official said. Martin was detained on Feb. 14 while in Hamas-run Gaza to give evidence in a court case.http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2010/03/11/102730.htmlAl ArabiyaWed, 10 Mar 2010 21:00:00 GMTIraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki was in a tight contest to keep his job as he vied with ex-premier Iyad Allawi, initial election results from four of the country's 18 provinces showed Thursday. Four days after the election, Maliki and Allawi, both Shiite, have emergedhttp://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2010/03/11/102718.htmlAl ArabiyaWed, 10 Mar 2010 21:00:00 GMTIsrael found itself under increasing international pressure on Thursday over its decision to build new Jewish settlements just as U.S. Vice President Joe Biden was visiting Jerusalem to promote the talks. The Israeli decision prompted Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas to cancelhttp://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2010/03/11/102715.htmlAl ArabiyaWed, 10 Mar 2010 21:00:00 GMTU.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates flew into Riyadh on Wednesday for talks expected to focus on Iran's nuclear program and Washington's push for tough sanctions against Tehran. Gates was due to meet King Abdullah as the Obama administration kept up a concerted effort to rallyhttp://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2010/03/10/102665.htmlAl ArabiyaTue, 09 Mar 2010 21:00:00 GMTEgyptian religious leader Sheikh Mohammed Sayyed Tantawi, the grand sheikh of al-Azhar, has died of a heart attack during a visit to Saudi Arabia, Egypt's official MENA news agency reported on Wednesday. Tantawi, 81, was in Riyadh to attend the King Faisal awards ceremony, it said.http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2010/03/10/102645.htmlAl ArabiyaTue, 09 Mar 2010 21:00:00 GMTSaudi King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz presented Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan with one of the country's most prestigious prizes on Tuesday for his 'service to Islam'. Erdogan earned the King Faisal International Prize for having "rendered outstandinghttp://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2010/03/10/102644.htmlAl ArabiyaTue, 09 Mar 2010 21:00:00 GMT