Arab News Blog

Open Collections Program: Islamic Heritage Project – Home "Through the Islamic Heritage Project (IHP), Harvard University has cataloged, conserved, and digitized hundreds of Islamic manuscripts, maps, and published texts from Harvard’s renowned library and museum collections."
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Tribune.com, Bannu attack: Taliban release video of brazen jailbreak

"Footag­e shows guards deploy­ed to protec­t the jail offere­d no resist­ance."
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ABC News, Al-Qaeda releases English-language jihad manual, encourages attacks in the West, 16 May 2012 "Al-Qaeda’s English media affiliate, Al-Malahem Media, published a 16-page online English-language jihad manual on Wednesday entitled “Expectations Full,” which contains advice and instruction for Muslims who wish to wage holy war in the name of Islam."
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The Western media this afternoon is filled with tributes to Disco Queen Donna Summer, but music has lost another famous singer today: the Franco-Algerian singer Warda, or Warda al-Jaza’iriyya, though best known just as Warda, has died at age 72. Though born in France of a Lebanese mother and Algerian father, and beginning her career singing Algerian patriotic songs, she eventually achieved stardom in Egypt.

A few examples from YouTube:

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Yael Lerer at Jadaliyya has an intriguing post about the failure of Andalus Publishing, which sought to publish Arabic literature in Hebrew in Israel. The article is an interesting reflection on the  divisions within Israel today; even though significant numbers of Israeli Jews come from origins in the Arab world and there is, of course, a substantial Arab minority as well, interest in Arabic literature remains tiny and the translation efforts rare. It’s an interesting piece.

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“… To prevent the rivalry between Israel and Iran from escalating into armed conflict, the United States should continue to discourage an Israeli military strike while strengthening Israeli capabilities in preparation for a future in which Iran may have managed to acquire nuclear weapons. U.S. leaders should bolster security cooperation and intelligence sharing with Israel while maintaining pressure on Iran, thus weakening its capacity to project power and fueling the debate within Iran over nuclear weapons…”

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“… “Some activities conducted by the two Turkish General Consuls in Basra and Mosul … are far from their Consular duties and obligations stated in the Vienna Convention for Consular Relations of 1963,” the statement said, without elaborating.It said that the meeting took place on Tuesday but did not say what the diplomats were accused of.
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and his Iraqi counterpart Nuri al-Maliki have traded tit-for-tat criticisms and accusations several times this year….”

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(Reuters) – U.S. plans for a possible military strike on Iran are ready and the option is “fully available”, the U.S. ambassador to Israel said, days before Tehran resumes talks with world powers which suspect it of seeking to develop nuclear arms….
“It would be preferable to resolve this diplomatically and through the use of pressure than to use military force,” Ambassador Dan Shapiro said in remarks about Iran aired by Israel’s Army Radio on Thursday.
“But that doesn’t mean that option is not fully available – not just available, but it’s ready. The necessary planning has been done to ensure that it’s ready,” said Shapiro, who the radio station said had spoken on Tuesday……
New talks opened in Istanbul last month and resume on May 23 in Baghdad…..
In January, Shapiro told an Israeli newspaper the United States was “guaranteeing that the military option is ready and available to the president at the moment he decides to use it”.

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The head of Syria’s main opposition umbrella body, the Syrian National Council, says he will resign amid growing criticism and rifts within the group.
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A drone strike in eastern Yemen has killed two suspected al-Qaeda militants, a Yemeni security official says.
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