Netanyahu’s late decision to add the Islamic Ibrahimi Mosque in Al-Khalil (Hebron) and Bilal Mosque in Bethlehem to the so-called “Israeli list of national heritage sites” seems to be re-igniting the spark of religious war between Jewish-Israelis on one side and the Moslem-Palestinians and the Islamic World on the other side. 

Iraq’s election results will confirm, but not bestow power
 
Polls have closed in Iraq as I start to write this column early Sunday morning, Pacific Time in the US.  As many as 10 million Iraqis are estimated to have cast their vote, showing their indomitable character – threats and all, adding to the vote of yet another 600,000 expatriates and refugees abroad, as well as the nation’s military, which had already done so this past week amid turmoil orchestrated by Iraq’s branch of Al Qaeda. 

And its effects on language, health, politics, and the environment

Nearly 24 years later, Chernobyl is still a dirty place, a dirty word.

Chernobyl has almost surely killed hundreds of thousands of people, perhaps already it is more than a million.  And over time, it will kill many more.  In fact, many estimates are that the vast majority who will be killed or harmed by Chernobyl were not even born at the time of the accident.

Dear Canada. Way to go, you hosers. Did yourself proud and put on one heck of an Olympics. Congratulations for providing an incredible seventeen days of thrills and spills on the ice and snow and in the slush and fog. That was a winter games for the ages, except for that excruciatingly obvious lack of winter thing. As it turns out, Washington DC might have been a better host city, but who knew? Although, a quick call to Al Gore might have been worth the international toll call charges.

SOME WEEKS ago, Mehmet Ali Agca, the Turk who tried to kill Pope John Paul II in Rome, was released after serving 28 years in prison.

Nigerian authorities say they have arrested scores of people in connection with attacks near the central city of Jos that left more than 200 people dead.

The Iraq war drama, "The Hurt Locker", has won Best Picture and five other prizes at the Academy Awards, its haul including best director for Kathryn Bigelow.

The US president has criticised health insurance companies in the country for raising their premiums and denying coverage to the critically ill.

China has said that it is up to the US to mend diplomatic ties strained over Washington's sale of arms to Taiwan and a recent meeting between President Barack Obama and the Dalai Lama.

Police in Australia have charged a part-time taxi driver with the manslaughter of an Indian boy whose body was found on grassland close to Melbourne's main airport.

Thousands of troops from the US and South Korea have begun 10 days of joint military exercises, despite threats of reprisals from North Korea which has denounced the annual drill as a rehearsal for invasion.

The US defence secretary has cautioned against over-optimism in Afghanistan, despite recent gains on the battlefield for international forces there, warning of more "dark days" ahead.

A bomb has gone off outside a buliding housing a federal investigative agency in Pakistan's city of Lahore, killing at least 11 people and wounding about 60 others, police and government officials said.

Pakistani security officials are saying that news of the arrest of an al-Qaeda spokesman wanted in the United States for treason may not be true.

Nine alleged members of an al-Qaeda cell suspected of planning "terrorist" attacks and recruiting Islamist fighters have gone on trial in Brussels.

A leading European human rights official has said banning the full Islamic veil would not liberate oppressed women and could backfire.

The US vice-president has embarked on a five-day trip to the Middle East, the highest-level visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories yet by the current US administration.

The Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) has endorsed US-mediated talks with Israel, after George Mitchell, the US envoy, met the Israeli prime minister to discuss getting those indirect negotiations started.

Iran's defence minister has announced a new production line of short-range cruise missiles which he says are highly accurate and capable of evading radar.

At least 3,000 protesters, including Israelis and Palestinians, have rallied in an Arab quarter of east Jerusalem to protest the eviction of Palestinians from their homes there in favor of Jewish settlers.

More than 60 per cent of Iraqis voted in parliamentary elections despite numerous attempts to disrupt the vote, officials have said.

Israel has given the green light for the building of 112 new homes in a Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank despite a partial moratorium on such construction.

The Jordanian government has borrowed $100 million from the Jordan Islamic Bank, following the successful performance of Islamic banking during the latest global financial crisis.