Nearly 400 prisoners will be put to death across China while the world's elite athletes compete for Olympic glory in Beijing, a leading human rights organisation warns today. Amnesty International disclosed that China used capital punishment far more than any
When Pushpa Kamal Dahal was a schoolteacher in the mountains of Nepal he was nicknamed "Lotus Flower" as a result of his soft and gentle manners. Not surprisingly, when he gave up teaching to lead a rebel army he adopted
Saddam Hussein enjoyed fishing, although not always in a particularly relaxed fashion - he would sometimes order grenades to be lobbed into the water if the fish were not biting. The catch would then be served to guests who would
A British journalist kidnapped in Basra was freed after two months in captivity when Iraqi security forces raided the building where he was being held.
An Iraqi man seriously injured when he was accidentally shot by a British soldier has been awarded £2m compensation by the Government in a move which could pave the way for similar claims.
Lebanese families fighting to learn the fate of hundreds of their relatives thought to be held in Syria have been encouraged by the unexpected release of a prisoner after 16 years in Syrian detention. "Milad Barakat, a Lebanese, arrived in
The Lebanese Association for School Safety Awareness (LASSA) urged parents and school administrators on Monday to promote road safety measures for students. The LASSA statement came after a major school-bus accident lead to the death of Kafaat School student John
Professor Alex Boraine, former deputy chairman of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, said over the weekend that Lebanon can learn lessons from his country post-Apartheid reconciliation process, during a conference in Beirut organized by UMAM Documentation and Research.
The Italian commander of the western sector of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), General Paolo Rugero, presented educational equipment to a technical institute for students with special needs in the Tyre region of Burj al-Shemali on Monday, as
Lebanon is the safest country in the world," Tourism Minister Joseph Sarkis told a news conference here Monday as he urged Arab states to lift restrictions and travel warnings placed on Lebanon. Sarkis announced that he will soon tour the
It began as a rumor. Circumstances being what they are, it was impossible to attend Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker's performance of her 2002 dance piece "Once," Friday evening's opening-night performance of Home Works IV at the Masrah al-Madina. Reports from
The Olympic torch got a rare protest-free outing on Monday after it arrived in the conservative Gulf sultanate of Oman for the sole Middle East leg of its journey to Beijing. The torch was greeted in the capital Muscat on
The Lebanese government sent a letter on Monday to the United Nations' Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) defending the detention of four former security chiefs on suspicion of involvement in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime
Resigned Health Minister Mohammad Jawad Khalifeh said on Monday that Speaker Nabih Berri's Arab tour does not contradict meetings he held with Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa over the Arab initiative to end Lebanon's long-running political crisis. "Berri suggested
Fatah's commander in Lebanon, Brigadier General Sultan Abu al-Aynayn, stressed Monday that the Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon would not serve as a source of instability while dismissing fears of a repeat of last year's clashes between camp-based Islamists and
Democratic Gathering bloc leader and Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) MP Walid Jumblatt said Monday that the March 14 Forces' victory in the elections of the Order of Architects and Engineers was "worthless because the coalition's representatives practiced a policy of
Israeli soldiers made a brief incursion into Lebanon near the occupied Shebaa Farms over the weekend, the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) said on Monday. "A group of five Israeli soldiers on Sunday evening entered 150 meters inside the area of
Speaker Nabih Berri continued his efforts to revive Arab mediation in Lebanon's political crisis on Monday, but with the next parliamentary session to elect a president scheduled for a week from today, no breakthroughs look to be in the offing.
France distributed a new draft copy over the weekend of a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) presidential statement on UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's report on the implementation of UNSC Resolution 1701, which has raised council members' reservations on the
