"But Saad al-Badah, the head of a Saudi government department responsible for foreign workers, told state television Tuesday night that Ariyawathi's allegations were baseless and amounted to blackmail. "The whole story is baseless," said al-Badah. "It is nothing but blackmail by Sri Lankan labor firms," he said...."
There is a case that both sides are lying, to some extent. If they were in the USA instead of Saudi Arabia and Sri Lanka, we would know the truth, at least two versions of it.....<< MORE >>

"Bahrain's authorities charged an opposition activist with seeking to overthrow the government, his lawyer said. Abdul Jalil Al Singace, the head of the human rights section of the opposition Haq movement, potentially faces the death penalty, lawyer Mohammad Al Tajer said.....Human Rights Watch has urged Bahraini authorities to immediately look into allegations of torture made by four Shiite activists in detention since mid-August......"<< MORE >>

"sraeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak suggested parts of Jerusalem could be handed over to the Palestinians, in an interview published on Wednesday on the eve of new Middle East peace talks. West Jerusalem and 12 Jewish "neighbourhoods" -- settlements in Arab east Jerusalem....'<< MORE >>

"Gamal Mubarak, son of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, will accompany his father to this week's Washington peace summit in what may be the clearest sign yet that he is being groomed for the succession. Gamal has long been...."<< MORE >>

"Austrian-Jewish Holocaust survivor, Simon Wiesenthal, who became well-known for dedicating his life pursuing Nazi war criminals and documenting their crimes, was in fact an agent of the Israeli spy agency, Mossad, a new book released on Thursday revealed....."
As for joining the Mossad: wouldn’t you, if you were Jewish, after World War II?....<< MORE >>

"he Shiites, in detention since mid-2009, have been charged with "forming a group trying to spread Shiite ideology that harms the Islamic religion." "Continuing the 'revolving door' policy with detainees proves the amendments to the emergency law are an illusion," the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights...."
The court orders their release but the regime refuses. Nice legal system, what we used to call a watermelon legal system......<< MORE >>

"It returned to Muslim control in the 13th Century, but was abandoned after a bloody assault by Israeli forces on the surrounding village of Kawkab al-Hawa in 1948. By contrast, Belvoir Castle was a Royalist stronghold in the English Civil War....'<< MORE >>

"Mr Obama, who set Middle East peace as one of his top foreign policy goals when he assumed office in 2009, will make his first visit as president to Israel and the West Bank to persuade both sides to agree to concessions for the sake of peace....'
Israel is Bush country now, it is Cheney country now. Ironically, it is John Hagee country as well. Extra extra security will be in order.....<< MORE >>

""I am saying that I think it is wholly unacceptable for Iran to have a nuclear weapons capability and I think we have got to be prepared to confront them, if necessary militarily," he said in extracts pre-released by the BBC from an interview...."
Mr. Blair is now urging another war, one that is almost certainly impossible to be won. His call to war will further please his benefactors, but it is likely that his goal is even more sinister and self-serving.... ... << MORE >>

"Hilton denied that the purse was hers but said other items in it, including asthma medication, credit cards and $1,300 in cash, were hers, according to a police report. Hilton was arrested with her boyfriend, Las Vegas nightclub operator Cy Waits, who was driving the black SUV stopped by police at 11:22 p.m...."
Even he, the Oracle of Fox, wouldn’t be allowed to enter the hotel and powder his nose or whatever it is he usually powders.....<< MORE >>

"The five died in the deportation centre in the southern Red Sea port of Jizan of “asphyxiation due to overcrowding,” according to a local police official, the newspaper said……Saudi officials could not be reached on the report, but it came during an intensified roundup...."<< MORE >>

"The Thai woman's Bahraini husband earlier filed a case at the police station complaining his wife had committed adultery with the Bahraini, according to court documents. The defendants confessed to having sex, but the BDF employee said that he did not know the woman was married....."<< MORE >>

"It is nothing new for the Iranian regime to lambast the West in robust terms. But these various diatribes raised eyebrows at home and abroad because crudity rarely features in Iran’s political discourse. Analysts say that while Mr Ahmadinejad’s earthy rhetoric against the West upsets educated Iranians...."<< MORE >>

"Now it is proven that the lobbying of former female lawmakers in parliament was successful and that the reformist [members of parliament] are still influential, even if they are no longer in parliament," Mozhgan Faraji, an Iranian journalist covering the debates on the floor of parliament, told Babylon & Beyond...."<< MORE >>

>b>"Ramin Mehmanparast responded on media report of official comment on Armenian genocide and Turkish protest. ‘’ the news did not reflect the comments accurately and we have not change our position on this matter.’’ Previously Iran’s Cultural Heritage and Tourism Vice President Hamid Baghaei refuted the statement...."<< MORE >>