French officials said on Wednesday they may never discover why an Air France aircraft crashed into the Atlantic killing 228 people and cautioned they might not even find the plane's black boxes on the ocean floor. Officials in Brazil said

President Barack Obama began his latest bid to repair ties with the Muslim world Wednesday by seeking the counsel of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, home to Islam's two holiest sites in Mecca and Medina. "The United States and Saudi

Israel is not planning to bomb Iran, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Wednesday, addressing speculation that it might launch a military operation to attempt to destroy the Islamic Republic's nuclear program. Israel, widely believed to be the Middle East's

Clashes Tuesday between security forces and demonstrators have left several casualties in a protest against house demolitions near Damascus, Syrian state news agency SANA said on Wednesday. The electronic newsletter Champress, which is close to the government and among the

Raising her palms in thanks, Sahra Abdi says an African Union (AU) force (AMISOM) in the Somali capital saved her daughter and mended her shattered knee. "May God reward AMISOM for treating us free of charge," she said, her child

The family of Hussein Khalifeh has all their television sets and cell phones on 24 hours per day waiting for updates on the missing Air France jet. Khalifeh, who hails from the southern town of Qnarit, was on a business

A new report assessing public perceptions of corruption has found that 36 percent of Lebanese respondents see domestic political parties as the most corrupt organizations in the country. The report, "Global Corruption Barometer 2009," was released on Wednesday by anti-corruption

Climate change poses potential threat to security that could lead to conflict in the Middle East, a report presented Tuesday at the American University of Beirut (AUB) by Oli Brown of the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) says. Brown

The American University of Beirut (AUB) announced Tuesday the candidates for four honorary doctorates to be awarded at a ceremony on campus, in Assembly Hall at noon on Commencement Day, June 27, 2009. This year's recipients are Kuwaiti Abdalatif Yousef

In a way, Iranian restaurateur Mohsen Misaqi notes, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has fulfilled the promise to put oil wealth on the table of every family that swept him to power four years ago. "There is more money," said the middle-aged

A little-known player in China's heavy machinery industry emerged from nowhere to agree to buy General Motor's Hummer brand, raising eyebrows among peers who question whether it can turn around the US auto maker. The tentative deal with privately-held Sichuan

Annual inflation in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) slowed to 1.9 percent in April and prices dropped between January and April led by a housing-price slump, the UAE's first-ever monthly inflation data showed on Wednesday. Inflation rates have decelerated quickly

Iran signed a contract with China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) on Wednesday on developing a part of the Islamic state's South Pars gas field, replacing France's Total, the official IRNA news agency said. The agreement for the development of phase

As if we needed more evidence of one of the most pernicious obstacles to development in our part of the world, Transparency International has been good enough to provide us with another snapshot. The Global Corruption Barometer, which was released

A win for Hizbullah and its allies in Lebanese parliamentary elections is unlikely to lead to major changes in economic policy by the next government, whose hands will be tied by the state's hefty public debt. Reducing the debt burden,

Egyptian researchers are using DNA tests to discover the lineage of pharaoh king Tutenkhamun, whose ancestry remains a mystery to Egyptologists, says antiquities capo Zahi Hawass. The young king, whose mummy was found by English archaeologist Howard Carter in 1922,

The ancient mystery shrouding Lalibela, Ethiopia's revered medieval rock-hewn churches, could be lifted by a group of French researchers given the go-ahead for the first comprehensive study of this world heritage site that, according to legend, was "built by angels."

Young people climbed up the old marble columns of the hall for a better look at the band. The audience - including muhajiba girls - danced around the gilded balconies to oriental, hip-hop and jazz moves. A jazz festival may

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (Hitachi GST) announced that it has agreed to acquire a substrate manufacturing facility located in Sarawak, Malaysia from Western Digital (WD). The facility currently produces aluminum substrates used in hard disk drives. WD originally acquired the

ArmInfo. Today, the maximum buying rates at commercial banks of Yerevan were 369,5 drams for 1 dollar, 521 drams for 1 EUR and 11,9 drams for 1 Russian ruble. The minimum selling rates stood at 371 drams for 1 dollar,