Middle East

KEREM SHALOM CROSSING, ISRAEL -- Israel's first steps toward easing its blockade of the Gaza Strip were welcomed Wednesday by the U.S. special envoy to the Middle East as he visited this crossing where goods are transferred to the Palestinian territory.



Middle East - Tony Blair - Israel - Gaza - Warfare and Conflict

Broaching a sensitive subject, President Obama assured the visiting king of Saudi Arabia on Tuesday that he remains committed to closing the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, a continuing source of friction between their governments.


White House - President - United States - Government - Executive Branch

The White House said Tuesday that it does not expect the arrests of 11 accused members of a Russian espionage ring to affect relations between Washington and Moscow, shrugging off Russian denunciations of the busts as a throwback to the Cold War.


Russia - United States - Espionage - Government - Intelligence

TEHRAN -- Iran is ready to retaliate if its vessels are searched and will postpone nuclear talks with major powers until late August in response to new international sanctions , President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Monday.


Iran - Nuclear weapon - Nuclear - Middle East - United Nations Security Council

Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren denied Sunday that he had told Israeli diplomats a "tectonic rift" was emerging between the United States and Israel -- incendiary words first reported in the Israeli press and then repeated in media outlets around the globe.


United States - Israel - Middle East - Warfare and Conflict - Israel-Palestine

TAIWAN Tens of thousands of opposition supporters chanted anti-communist slogans as they marched in Taiwan's capital, Taipei, on Saturday to protest a planned trade agreement with China that they say will undermine the island's self-rule and harm its economy.



Education - Digestion - Volkswagen - Thing - Recreation

GAZA STRIP Israeli aircraft struck targets in the Gaza Strip on Friday, killing two Palestinians, in the first such attack since a deadly naval raid on a humanitarian aid flotilla heading for the territory last month.


History - Middle East - Warfare and Conflict - Israel-Palestine - South Korea

CHINA Chinese officials announced Thursday that they have broken up a cell of Islamic separatists from the restive northwestern Xinjiang region who they said represented the "main terrorist threats" facing the country.



Volkswagen - Thing - Recreation - Makes and Models - Autos

JERUSALEM -- Israel's president and elder statesman, Shimon Peres, urged the United States and other world powers this week to engage with Hamas in order to persuade the Islamist group to renounce violence and prepare for peace with Israel.


President of Israel - Middle East - Israel - Shimon Peres - Warfare and Conflict