Women should benefit from the calls for proportional representation in government and form the majority in the next cabinet, a leading businesswoman said on Friday. Leila Karami, the head of the Lebanese Businesswomen’s Association, issued a statement calling on Prime

The cabinet’s formation process stalled on Friday on the issue of distributing ministerial portfolios among leading political groups, following an agreement on a 15-10-5 formula to represent the parliamentary majority, the minority and the president. While Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri

Marada Movement leader Suleiman Franjieh stressed Friday that Lebanon’s Christians were "tired of disagreements" but hinted that a long-awaited reconciliation with the Lebanese Forces would not be "immediate," due to the feelings of the rank-and-file. Franjieh made the comments at

Army Commander Jean Kahwaji was the lunch guest of the Maronite patriarch Friday, on the eve of Army Day. Kahwaji arrived by military helicopter in Diman, the summer residence of Patriarch Nasrallah Butros Sfeir in the north, for talks with

A marathon day of talks and field visits in Lebanon by Turkey’s foreign minister stressed regional security and his country’s commitment to peacekeeping efforts in the south. Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said his visit to Beirut was part of Ankara’s

The United Nations said Friday the number of civilians killed in conflict in Afghanistan has jumped 24 percent so far this year, with bombings by insurgents and airstrikes by international forces the biggest single killers. In a grim assessment of

A Myanmar court Friday postponed its verdict in the internationally condemned trial of Aung San Suu Kyi until August 11, adding to uncertainty over the ruling junta’s plans for the democracy icon. Lawyers for the Nobel laureate said the judges

Spain’s security forces were on maximum alert Friday for the 50th anniversary of the armed Basque group ETA, blamed for bombings that killed two police officers and injured scores of people this week. ETA was founded on July 31, 1959,

Nigerian forces have shot dead an Islamist leader captured after an uprising that led to hundreds of deaths, with one police officer saying he pleaded for mercy before he was gunned down. A senior police official said that authorities killed

An Al-Qaeda leader and three troops have been killed in clashes between security forces and militants in restive eastern Yemen in overnight clashes, officials and a tribal source told various press agencies on Friday. Al-Qaeda operatives on Thursday ambushed an

Canadian authorities will launch an investigation into the role of spy agencies in the detention and alleged torture of a Canadian-Sudanese citizen in Khartoum, his lawyer said on Thursday. Abousfian Abdelrazik returned to Canada in late June after spending six

Zionist blood libel!" blare hundreds of posters pasted on walls lining the streets of occupied Jerusalem’s reclusive Jewish ultra-Orthodox neighborhood of Mea Shearim. In occupied Jerusalem, on the front lines of the Middle East conflict, tensions not only run high

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has accused Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez of cooperating with "radical branches" of Islam and of anti-Semitism, according to media reports Thursday in Colombia. "I will not speak about intelligence specifics, but we have enough to

Pirates holding a Turkish bulk carrier off Somalia have shot and wounded one of the sailors, a Turkish newspaper quoted relatives as saying Friday.The mother of one of the 23 crew said her son told them about the incident in

The new Moroccan family law was designed to give women equal rights in the family. But five years after its introduction, Moroccan women leaders say opposition to the law from politicians and within the judicial system persists, and the new

An Israeli government report released Thursday claimed "incessant" Hamas rocket attacks forced Israel to hit Gaza hard earlier this year, countering war-crimes charges but acknowledging that over a dozen criminal inquiries were under way. The 160-page report was called the

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is due to meet Kurdish President Masoud Barzani next week, a rare encounter between two leaders whose standoff over territory, power and oil threatens renewed bloodshed in Iraq. The meeting is likely the first between

Syrian authorities have charged a leading human rights lawyer of making statements that "weaken national morale" after he led calls for the release of political prisoners, rights defenders said on Friday. Mohannad al-Hussani, who has been overseeing defense of Syria’s

Thousands of children in the Gaza Strip on Thursday sought to break the world record for kite flying in a rare moment of respite from the war-battered enclave’s daily life. More than 6,000 boys and girls gathered on a sandy

A raid by Iraqi security forces on a camp of Iranian dissidents is widely seen as a sign that Iraqi authorities are establishing their independence as the US occupation winds down and tilting instead toward Iran. There are unconfirmed reports