December, 2005

• 27 December

  Maronite Church leader urges president to consider his position

  BEIRUT (AP) — The head of the influential Maronite Catholic Church has publicly urged Lebanon’s president to consider his position, saying he prayed that Emile Lahoud will take a decision that would reassure the nation. In a Christmas Day sermon on Sunday, Patriarch Cardinal Nasrallah Sfeir came closer

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• 27 December

  Saudi dissident returns home after more than two years in self-exile

  CAIRO (AP) — A US-educated Saudi dissident, who was part of a media campaign against the kingdom’s rulers during two years in self-exile in London, returned to Jeddah, saying he regretted those activities and admitting he had been wrong, Saudi newspapers reported Monday.

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• 27 December

  Libya quashes death sentences in AIDS trial

  TRIPOLI (AFP) — Libya’s supreme court on Sunday ordered a retrial for five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor sentenced to death for their alleged role in infecting hundreds of Libyan children with HIV. The decision overturned death sentences that would have been carried out by firing squad and gave …

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• 27 December

  Nineteen Iraqis killed in attacks

  BAGHDAD (AFP) — Nineteen Iraqis, including eight policemen, died in insurgent attacks in and around Baghdad on Monday as two Shiite politicians were gunned down and a provincial governor escaped an assassination bid.

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• 25 December

  Egypt Brotherhood says Holocaust myth

  CAIRO (AP) — The leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s main Islamic opposition group, said Thursday that the Nazi Holocaust was a myth and slammed Western governments for criticising disclaimers of the Jewish genocide. The comments by Mohammed Mahdi Akef — made on the heels of his group’s strong showing …

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• 21 December

  Iran uncompromising on eve of crucial nuke talks

  TEHRAN (AFP) — Iran has spelled out clearly it will not back away from its bid to conduct sensitive nuclear fuel work, limiting the chance for a compromise at a key meeting on Wednesday with Britain, France and Germany.

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• 21 December

  Chad says kills 300 rebels, destroys bases in Sudan

  EL-GENEINA (Reuters) — Chad’s army said on Monday its forces had killed about 300 rebels after they launched a failed offensive on a border town in one of the worst attacks in an escalating conflict. Chad’s foreign minister said the troops then chased the rebels into Sudan and destroyed their …

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• 21 December

  Trial to resume with more anti-Saddam testimony

  BAGHDAD (AFP) — The trial of deposed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein resumes on Wednesday with further testimony from witnesses detailing abuses they suffered at the hands of the former Iraqi regime. The trial of Saddam and seven associates for perpetrating the massacre of Shiite villagers of Dujail in 1982 was …

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• 21 December

  Lebanon speaker seeks to broker political dialogue

  BEIRUT (AFP) — Lebanon’s powerful pro-Syrian Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri was engaged on Tuesday in talks with anti-Damascus forces in a bid to save the fragile coalition government after a boycott by Shiite ministers.

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• 21 December

  Iraq’s Kurds keep options open

  ERBIL — Iraqi Kurds have become disenchanted with their conservative Shiite allies in the outgoing national government and are keeping all options open on how best to broker power in the new administration.

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