Report: Nearly $900 Million in Cash Smuggled Out of Afghanistan
Hemera/Thinkstock(KABUL, Afghanistan) — Afghan politicians and bankers helped smuggle hundreds of millions of dollars from Kabul Bank out of the country, according to a new report released Wednesday. Almost $900 million were funneled into the ha…
Protests Swell in Response to President Morsi’s Power Grab
AFP/GettyImages(CAIRO) — Waves of protesters poured into Cairo’s Tahrir Square Tuesday to protest the far-reaching constitutional declaration made by President Mohammed Morsi last week that has essentially granted him unchecked power.The new dec…
Andrew W.K. Nixed By State Dept. as Cultural Ambassador
State Department photo/ Public Domain(WASHINGTON) — Singer, rocker, free-form motivational speaker, and general party dude Andrew W.K. caused a stir in the music world by claiming the U.S. State Department had made him a cultural ambassador to the Mid…
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak to Leave Politics
Tara Todras-Whitehill-Pool/Getty Images(TEL AVIV, Israel) — In a surprise announcement, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said on Monday he’ll be leaving politics for good once a new government is formed following the January elections.Barak is one …
Israeli Spokesman Labels Pic of Mud-Smeared Face ‘Obama Style’
Lieutenant Sacha Dratwa/Facebook(CAIRO) — One of the Israeli military’s most visible spokesmen is under fire for a photo he posted on his Facebook page captioned “Obama style” in which his face is smeared with mud.Sacha Dratwa posted…
Israel Successfully Tests New Missile Defense System
iStockphoto/Thinkstock(JERUSALEM) — Israel’s defense ministry announced on Sunday that it has successfully tested a new missile defense system called David’s Sling. Israel already employs its Iron Dome short-range defense system to interce…
Egyptians Protest Against President Morsi’s Power Grab
AFP/Getty Images(CAIRO) — President Hosni Mubarak, ousted in a popular uprising, is currently serving a life sentence. Egypt’s first democratically elected leader is now Islamist President Mohammed Morsi. Just last week Morsi was credited with l…
Cease-Fire Holds Between Israel and Hamas
ABBAS MOMANI/AFP/Getty Images(GAZA CITY, Gaza) — With a tenuous cease-fire in place and no rocket fire between Israel and Hamas for the first time in more than a week, Palestinians have begun to clean up rubble and damage inflicted by Israeli missiles…
Suicide Bombers Attack US Base in Kabul
iStockphoto/Thinkstock(KABUL, Afghanistan) — Two men wearing suicide vests blew themselves up near a U.S. base in the Afghan capital of Kabul early Wednesday, killing two Afghan guards. The Taliban has claimed responsibility.According to police offici…
Top Israeli Official’s Facebook, Twitter Accounts Hacked
iStockphoto/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — A group of pro-Palestinian hackers apparently managed to hack the social networking accounts of Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Silvan Shalom and has promised to release a trove of the top official’s private emai…
Israeli Bus Explodes in Tel Aviv as Diplomats Work Toward Truce
MAJDI FATHI/AFP/Getty ImagesUPDATE: Israel and Hamas have agreed to a ceasefire, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced Wednesday.(TEL AVIV, Israel) — A bomb ripped through an Israeli bus near the nation’s military headquarters in Tel Aviv Wedne…
Hamas Leader Dares Israel to Deploy Ground Troops
GIANLUIGI GUERCIA/AFP/Getty Images(GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip) — Hamas leader Khaled Meshal is calling Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bluff, a move that could backfire on the Palestinian enclave of Gaza straining to survive an onslaught of Isr…
Hillary Clinton to Travel to Middle East Amid Gaza Crisis
Alex Wong/Getty ImagesUPDATE: A ceasefire in the Middle East is expected to be announced later Tuesday at a press conference in Cairo, Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum tells ABC News.
(PHNOM PENH, Cambodia) — President Obama dispatched Secretary of State…
Phone Call Tells Gazans to Get Out; Missiles Hit Minutes Later
MAJDI FATHI/AFP/Getty Images(JABALIYA, Gaza) — Anger boiled over in Gaza on Monday as the death toll passed 100 and the civilian casualties mounted. Volleys of Palestinian militant rockets flew into Israel as Israeli drones buzzed endlessly overhead a…
Israeli Air Strike Kills Top Islamic Jihad Commander
MAJDI FATHI/AFP/Getty Images(GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip) — An Israeli strike on a Gaza City high-rise Monday has killed one of the top militant leaders of Islamic Jihad, the Palestinian militant group said.The second strike in two days on the downtown Gaza…
Rising Palestinian Death Toll Spurs Calls for Ceasefire in Gaza
Ilia Yefimovich/Getty Images(GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip) — Mourners on Monday buried the 11 victims of an Israeli air strike Sunday, the single deadliest incident since the escalation between Hamas and Israel began last Wednesday.Among the dead were nine m…
Obama:`We Are Fully Supportive of Israel’s Right to Defend Itself’
(BANGKOK, Thailand) — President Obama today fully backed Israel’s right to defend itself and warned that the escalating violence in the Middle East threatens the prospect for a lasting peace process.Speaking at a joint press conference with Thai…
Israel’s Iron Dome Has Intercepted More Than 150 Rockets
(JERUSALEM) — Israel said that it will install a fifth “Iron Dome” battery before the end of the year, adding another installation to the country’s missile defense system, which has proven itself this week, intercepting more than 150 rockets fired fro…
Israel Targets Hamas Headquarters
MARCO LONGARI/AFP/Getty Images(GAZA CITY, Gaza) — In the early hours of Saturday morning, Israel’s Air Force reduced the headquarters of the militant group Hamas to rubble. It was one of several Hamas buildings and homes targeted, part of Israel’s con…
Train Crash Kills Almost 50 Children on a Bus in Egypt
iStockPhoto/Thinkstock(CAIRO) — On Saturday, almost 50 children were killed when a train crashed into a bus on its way to kindergarten school.The barriers were reportedly open when a bus full of 60 young children, ranging from the ages four to six, cr…