In the backyard of a charming old house on the road leading to Bikfaya, an old man is sitting on a chair, sipping his coffee, and reading a bookmark-spiked tome entitled "What is Culture?" At 93, Phares Zoghbi enjoys a

Egypt’s Foreign Ministry this week lashed out at Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) leader MP Walid Jumblatt following the latter’s criticism of Egypt for hosting Israeli leaders to a ceremony to mark the anniversary of the Revolution of July 23. In

Lebanese Christian leaders are undertaking a significant political reconciliation, moved by a budding regional atmosphere of engagement, a push from Syria and the inescapable domestic electoral fate of a national unity cabinet, a number of analysts told The Daily Star

Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Butros Sfeir reiterated Wednesday Bkirki’s support for reconciliation efforts among various Christian factions and welcomed a possible meeting with Marada Movement leader MP Sleiman Franjieh. He said Bkirki’s doors were open to all, including Franjieh.

The Shiite Amal Movement published on Wednesday the political document of its 12th convention in the hope of strengthening constructive political dialogue. Amal held its 12th convention under the title, "Martyrdom and Victory Convention-July 2006," earlier this month to discuss

Israel’s Deputy Prime Minister Silvan Shalom on Wednesday accused the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) of being the principal backer of Hizbullah after the group’s closest allies, Syria and Iran. In an interview published in the pan-Arab newspaper Al-Hayat, Shalom said

Lebanese politicians have agreed on the shape of a new coalition cabinet and will complete the allocation of ministerial portfolios within days, both Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and Premier designate Saad Hariri said Wednesday. Hariri aims to form a coalition

Troops struggled to crush an Islamist sect in northern Nigeria on Wednesday where fighting raged for a fourth day running, leaving around 300 people dead and forcing thousands from homes. Police sources said that fighting was concentrated in Maiduguri city,

A car bomb exploded outside a Civil Guard barracks in the northern Spanish city of Burgos on Wednesday, wounding 46 people, including children, in an attack authorities blamed on Basque separatist rebels ETA. The blast at around 4 a.m. ripped

South African municipal workers downed tools for a third day Wednesday as union leaders readied to mull a revised wage offer, with fresh anti-poverty protests erupting in poor towns. Workers prepared new marches through major cities, and residents of one

Nearly 10,000 Uighurs involved in deadly riots in China’s northwestern Xinjiang region went missing in one night, exiled Uighur activist Rebiya Kadeer said Wednesday, calling for an international investigation. Kadeer’s visit to Tokyo was condemned by China. The vice foreign

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah group threatened on Wednesday to arrest members of Hamas if the Islamist movement banned Fatah delegates in the Gaza Strip from attending a congress in the Occupied West Bank. Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip,

A Sudanese woman facing 40 lashes for wearing trousers in public made her first appearance in a court packed with supporters on Wednesday, in what her lawyer described as a test case in Sudan’s decency laws. There were chaotic scenes

Isabelle Caillol, an activist with the Turkish branch of the human-rights advocacy group Helsinki Citizens Assembly, sent a mass email to pro-migrant activists in Greece in May seeking help in finding the family of Abbas Khavari, a 14-year-old Afghan refugee

Ministers from the 10 African countries on the Nile river agreed Tuesday to delay the drafting of a new water sharing agreement for six months, a process that has been hampered by Egypt’s refusal to reduce its share of the

In the four months since hawkish Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu came to power, West Bank Palestinians have enjoyed an economic recovery and Israel has experienced a period of relative calm. That progress is the backdrop for a fresh round of

Two more British hostages held in Iraq have been killed by their captors, meaning four of a group of five Britons seized in May 2007 are now dead, an Iraqi official confirmed on Wednesday, "Four of the hostages are dead,"

Israel will allow a one-time transfer of cement into Gaza for the first time since its war in the Hamas-ruled enclave and amid a US peace push in the region, officials said Wednesday. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Tuesday wrapped up his tour of Latin American with a stop in Colombia, vowing greater future involvement by his country across South America. "We think that today Israel must be more and more active

A small group of Somalis granted asylum by the United Arab Emirates are suspected of supporting piracy in the lawless Horn of Africa nation of Somalia, a senior UN envoy said. UN special envoy to Somalia, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, told Reuters