SHAFAQNA

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) G8 foreign ministers meeting in London have said they are "appalled" by the rising death toll of more than 70,000 in the Syrian conflict and urged all countries to boost contribution to a UN aid appeal for the country. But they have made no mention of supplying arms to the rebels as the opposition has demanded, saying only that there should be greater "humanitarian" assistance for those caught up in a conflict that is now in its third year.…

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) – Cairo: Egypt’s armed forces participated in forced disappearances, torture and killings across the country — including in Cairo’s Egyptian Museum — during the 2011 uprising, even as military leaders publicly declared their neutrality, according to a leaked presidential report on revolution-era crimes. The report, submitted to President Mohammad Mursi by his own hand-picked committee in January, has yet to be made public, but a chapter seen by the Guardian implicates the military in a…

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) – Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian says terrorists will soon meet defeat in Syria. Fars News Agency reported on Friday: “…The people of the world will soon witness the defeat of foreign intruders and terrorists in this important country of the axis of resistance against the Zionist regime of Israel.” He voiced regret at hasty foreign interventions which have led to further violence in Syria, saying to foreign intruders,…

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) -- Another Palestinian prisoner has died under mysterious circumstances in Israel’s Nafha Prison, Palestinian sources say. The prisoner, whose name has not been released, died in the Israeli prison in Be’er Sheva.  On Wednesday, Palestinians staged a sit-in in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.  The sit-in was held to raise awareness on the condition of Palestinian prisoners and hunger strikers such as Samer Issawi, who was arrested in July 2012 only months after being…

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) -- Qatar has agreed to buy bonds from Egypt worth $3bn over and above a previously announced aid package. The announcement by Hamad bin Jassim Al Thani, the Qatari prime minister, comes as Cairo holds difficult talks with the International Monetary Fund over a loan of $4.8bn as part of a financing programme to lift Egypt's economy out of crisis. "We have agreed to add Egypt government bonds worth $3bn," Hamad said at a joint press conference in Doha…

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) Israeli forces have carried out an incursion into eastern areas of Khan Yunis, located in the southern Gaza Strip. On Tuesday, Israeli forces reportedly entered the area with eight military tractors, jeeps, and four Merkava tanks. The incursion comes shortly after Tel Aviv closed Kerem Shalom, the only crossing of goods into the besieged Gaza Strip, and further restricted the movement of Palestinian people. “These measures are resulting in the depletion of stocks of essential…

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) – The killings of scores of Muslims by Buddhist mobs in a recent bout of sectarian violence in central Burma are leaving the sizable minority in a state of fear and panic. "At night-time nobody sleeps," Mohamed Irshad, a Muslim resident in Mingalar Taung Nyunt in the capital Yangon told Reuters while returning home from prayers at a mosque in the neighborhood. "We have a guard, because some time they might come to attack." Another…

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) At least two Afghan civilians have been killed in an attack by US-led forces on a bus in western Afghanistan, Press TV reports. Local officials say a third victim was also injured after US-led soldiers opened fire on the bus in Afghanistan’s western Herat Province on Wednesday.  Reports say the bus had been traveling behind a convoy of US-led forces before it was attacked by the soldiers. Officials say the death toll may rise.  Following the attack,…

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) – Thousands of people have staged a demonstration in the Yemeni capital, Sana’a, to renew calls for the trial of ousted dictator Ali Abdullah Saleh and his family. The protesters took to the streets of the capital on Monday, demanding that Saleh and members of his family stand trial for the crimes they committed during the country’s popular uprising. The demonstrators said that Saleh’s ouster from power was not enough and that he should be…

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) Syria will not accept a chemical weapons team, as proposed by UN chief Ban Ki-moon, to probe the alleged use of chemical weapons in the country's conflict, the foreign ministry has said. Ban has "suggested a supplementary mission allowing the mission to deploy throughout Syrian territory, which is contrary to the demand Syria made to the United Nations," a ministry official said on Monday, cited by state news agency SANA. "The Syrian news agency has…