Marijuana is not kosher for Passover, Israel’s pot-friendly Green Leaf Party says, advising Jews who observe the holiday’s special dietary laws to take a break from smoking the weed. The Party, which has made several unsuccessful attempts to win election… Read moreIsraeli pot-heads: cannabis kosher —but not for Passover
The construction of a Georgia’s second “NATO standard” military base less than 20 miles from Tskhinvali, the capital of breakaway South Ossetia, is being protested by separatist leaders. Ossetian leaders charge that construction of the base near Gori is a… Read moreGeorgia preparing attack on South Ossetia?
Militant activity in Pakistan is rapidly spreading from peripheral areas such as the Afghan border zone to the Punjabi heartland. A suicide bomber blew himself up near an army camp in Kharian, 85 miles southeast of the capital Islamabad March… Read morePakistan: militant activity spreads to center
Iran’s embassy in London has stated that the British sailors captured last week were 0.5 km inside Iranian waters when they were taken by the Revolutionary Guard. British officials insist that their sailors were 1.7 miles within Iraqi waters. The… Read moreIran and UK debate cartography
Hundreds of insurgents armed with rocket launchers, artillery and machine guns are clashing with Ethiopian troops in Mogadishu. Ethiopian tanks patrol the streets, and the southern part of Mogadishu has become a no-go zone. BBC reports that Ethiopian helicopter gunships… Read moreSomalia: civilians under fire in Mogadishu
A one thousand year-old Armenian church on the island of Akdamar in Lake Van has been renovated and now reopened by Turkish authorities. Though Armenia and Turkey do not maintain regular diplomatic relations, a delegation of Armenian architects and government… Read moreTurkey: historic Armenian church re-opens in peace gesture
In a move calculated to win more support in the Arab world, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia described the American occupation in Iraq as “illegal” and urged the leaders gathered at the ongoing Arab League summit to unite in order… Read moreAngst on Iraq at Arab League summit
Yemeni forces shot down a foreign drone flying over the south of the Arab country, government officials said March 28, and local media reported that the aircraft was Iranian. “Yes, a drone was brought down,” a government official told Reuters…. Read moreIranian drone shot down in Yemen?
Terrifying reports are mounting of imminent US aggression against Iran, and we have been hearing for months ominous rumblings that Israel will actually strike first. Our March issue featured an interview with Bina Darabzand, a leader of Iran’s embattled left… Read moreUS aggression against Iran: one reader writes
A package of amendments to Egypt’s constitution was overwhelmingly approved in a nationwide referendum March 27—but with only 27% turn-out due to a popular boycott. The country’s leading rights group, the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights, put the figure even… Read moreEgypt: boycott, irregularites mar “reform” vote
Masked men on a motorcycle opened fire on an army vehicle in the Bajaur region of Pakistan’s Tribal Areas March 26, killing five members of the military’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), including a major and an assistant director. Bajaur, one of… Read morePakistan: no peace in Tribal Areas
Gunmen rampaged through the Sunni and Turkmen district of al-Wihda in the northwestern Iraqi town of Tal Afar overnight, killing about 50 residents, apparently in reprisal for bombings in a Shi’ite area. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has ordered an inquiry… Read moreIraq: more sectarian massacres
