Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s handpicked successor, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, in addition to several reformist candidates including former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, have been left off the list of approved presidential candidates by Iran’s Guardian Council for the June election. Read more here.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee has adopted a new package of sanctions against Iran to further discourage the Islamic Republic from using its nuclear research to build nuclear weapons. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee praised the the Nuclear Iran Prevention Act (H.R. 850) and urged the House to pass the measure. Read more here.
Under Egypt’s new Islamist-led government, blasphemy (insulting Islam) cases against Egypt’s Coptic Christian community have been on the rise. The trial of Dimyana Abdel-Nour, a Coptic Christian teacher in Luxor, has gained media attention. Three of her students, aged 10, said that Abdel-Nour said former Coptic Christian Pope Shenouda was better than the Prophet Mohammed. [...]
The International Atomic Energy Agency says Iran has taken a significant step toward building a reactor that Western experts say could provide a second path to producing material for a nuclear bomb. Read more here.
By ANAV SILVERMAN Tazpit News Agency In early May, Turkish Airlines hosted an unusual group of passengers flying from Israel to Istanbul. A special group of wildlife animals from Israel’s Ramat Gan Safari and the Jerusalem Biblical Zoo were flown to Turkey on May 7. Turkish zookeepers located at the Izmir Metropolitan Municipality Natural Life [...]
It is increasingly difficult for Iranians to access popular websites like Google, Facebook, and YouTube to find information about the elections outside of state-run and semi-official news outlets. Read more here.
In a 15-to-3 vote Tuesday, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee passed legislation that would provide Syrian rebels with “limited lethal and non-lethal assistance” as well as military training for certain groups. Read more here.
The request to formally add Hezbollah’s military wing to the EU’s list of terror groups was initiated by the United Kingdom and will be discussed in early June, several European Union (EU) diplomats told AFP. Read more here.
Israeli troops shot at a target across the Syrian frontier on Tuesday in response to gunfire that struck its forces in the Golan Heights, the Israeli military said. A statement said a military vehicle was damaged by shots fired from Syria but that there were no injuries. It said that soldiers “returned precise fire.” Read [...]
Rep. Christopher Van Hollen of Maryland, ranking Democrat on the House Budget Committee, is warning of what he calls the “unintended consequences” of US military intervention in Syria, including providing arms to rebel forces. In an nterview with Al-Monitor, Van Hollen praisesthe current initiative by US Secretary of State John Kerry to organize an international conference on [...]