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A four-star US Air Force general has warned of a conflict with China as early as 2025--most likely over Taiwan--and urged his commanders to push their units to achieve maximum operational battle readiness this year. In an internal memorandum that first emerged on social media on Friday, and was later confirmed as genuine by the Pentagon, the head of the Air Force Mobility Command, General Mike Minihan, said the main goal should be to deter "and if required, defeat" China. "I hope I am wrong. My gut tells me we will fight in 2025," Minihan said. Laying out his reasoning,...

Al Arabiya English Benjamin Netanyahu is preparing to become the Prime Minister of Israel for the third time. He has until December 21 to form a government before taking office. In a wide-ranging interview with a group of print and television journalists at Al Arabiya, Mr. Netanyahu discussed Israel’s relations with Arab states, the US alliance structure in the Middle East, unrest in Iran, Israel’s new hard-right government, the future of the US-brokered maritime border agreement with Lebanon, and the Russia-Ukraine war. Mr. Netanyahu reiterated the paramount importance of normalization with Saudi Arabia, which would be a “quantum leap” toward...

For the first time in public history, Iranian officials admit to facilitating the 9/11 terrorist attacks by aiding Al Qaeda operatives traveling to the United States to carry out the attacks. Mohammad-Javad Larijani, an international affairs assistant in the Iran’s judiciary, admitted in an interview broadcasted on Iranian state TV on May 30 that Iranian intelligence officials facilitated the terrorists’ travel to the U.S. “Our government agreed not to stamp the passports of some of them because they were on transit flights for two hours, and they were resuming their flights without having their passports stamped. However their movements were...

Iranian officials, in a first, have admitted to facilitating the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the U.S. by secretly aiding the free travel of al Qaeda operatives who eventually went on to fly commercial airliners into the Twin Towers in New York City, according to new remarks from a senior Iranian official. Mohammad-Javad Larijani, an international affairs assistant in the Iran's judiciary, disclosed in Farsi-language remarks broadcast on Iran's state-controlled television that Iranian intelligence officials secretly helped provide the al Qaeda attackers with passage and gave them refuge in the Islamic Republic, according to an English translation published by Al Arabiya....

A Muslim Indian man who was hacked to death a day before his flight back to Saudi Arabia, reportedly saw his death coming, local daily Indian Express reported. After converting to Islam in Riyadh, Anil Kumar - who then took on the name Faisal – saw a Muslim cleric at Kodinji in Kerala’s Malappuram district that suggested to Faisal to seek protection from the community. Faisal, 30, turned down the suggestion, saying, “After embracing Islam, I have entrusted everything to Allah (God). If they want to kill me, let them’’. Faisal, who belonged to an upper-caste Hindu Nair family, was...

A deal has been reached between Israeli and Palestinian negotiators to extend US-brokered peace talks, according to Middle Eastern news outlet Al-Arabiya. As part of the deal, Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard is to be freed from his 27-year detention in the US while the contentious fourth set of Palestinian prisoners are to be released.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry expressed “deep concern” on Saturday over the “bloodshed and violence” in Egypt that has killed and injured scores, saying the country faced a “pivotal moment,” Al Arabiya reported. Kerry, in a statement following calls with Egyptian and European officials, also urged an “independent and impartial inquiry” into the events of the past 24 hours and urged all of the Egypt’s leaders to act to “help their country take a step back from the brink.” At least 65 people were killed during clashes in Cairo early Saturday, Egypt’s Health Ministry said, after violence erupted at...

My Fox Boston identified the Saudi ‘person of interest’ as Abdul Rahman Ali Alharbi. Al Arabiya’s Arabic site has posted photos of this individual, one in Saudi garb and the other in Western garb on what resembles a college campus. Note: While this is the individual in the hospital, there is no evidence yet that he is connected to the bombing. Stay tuned…

Transcript - The Doha Debates Dec 12, 2011 – Khaled Almæena, [Editor-at-large of Arab News, the first English language newspaper in Saudi Arabia. He travels and speaks widely and is a regular contributor to regional and international publications]... Well, all Arab media is biased, unfortunately. But what we can do is use other means. And there is an alternative media across the Arab world which young people are using. Because nobody takes seriously a media that ignores the aspiration of 80 percent of the people - which would be biased. http://www.thedohadebates.com/debates/item/?d=114&s=8&mode=transcript

Saudi hacker dies of asthma attack A Saudi hacker known just as "Cyber Terrorist" died in Riyadh after suffering an apparent acute asthma attack caused by the dust storm that hit the Saudi capital last week, UAE’s al- Bayan newspaper reported on Saturday. The 28-year-old hacker was known for penetrating the most well protected sites including Microsoft, Kaspersky, Milworm, besides the server of another hacker known as the king of hackers Kevin Mitnick. In addition to numerous Jewish sites, banks and major companies, he was also able to hack into the site of the Danish cartoonists who drew caricatures...

(CNSNews.com) – Writing in the London based Al-Sharq Al-Awsat newspaper, Abdul Rahman Al-Rashid, general manager of Dubai-based Al-Arabiya TV, said that a nuclear Iran would seek to dominate the Gulf States in the Middle East and said he supported a military attack against Iran before it produces nuclear weapons. Al-Rashid was writing in support of statements made by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Ambassador to the United States Youssef Al-Otaiba, indicating approval for a U.S. attack on Iran. The U.A.E. deputy foreign minister, Tareq Al-Haidan, later said that the ambassador’s comments "were taken out of context.”

Times Square Is Evacuated in Bomb Scare The scene at Times Square on Saturday night after police found a suspicious package inside a Pathfinder on West 45th Street. RAY RIVERA and KARIN HENRY May 1, 2010 A bomb in Times Square led to the evacuation of thousands of tourists and theatergoers from the area on a warm and busy Saturday evening, the police said. There was no explosion. “It appears to be a car bomb left in a Pathfinder between Seventh and Eighth,” said Deputy Commissioner Paul J. Browne, the Police Department’s chief spokesman. The device, he said, contained “explosive...

The show is called "Death Making" in Arabic, hardly the way Al Qaeda probably wants itself described. But that is how the powerful pan-Arabic satellite channel Al Arabiya casts the terror organization and its foot soldiers in its popular television program. Hosted by female correspondent Rima Salha, the Dubai-based show is heading into its third year on Al Arabiya and aims to influence how the Arab world views Al Qaeda. "As we know, there are lots of Muslims who are brainwashed so they believe in terrorism but there are also big sections of Muslims who sympathize with terrorists," says Salha....

DiCaprio To Convert to Judaism To Marry Bar: Arab World Says To Hell With Him Israeli journalist, Guy Bechor, writes on the Israeli website gplanet (Hebrew language) that the Arab world is going crazy over reports that Leonardo DiCaprio is converting to Judaism in order to marry Sports Illustrated cover girl, Bar Rafieli, an Israeli. The report appeared on Al-Arabiya website and, according to Bechor, is quite vicious. Apparently, Leo is a hero in the Arab world (everyone loved Titanic) but that the combination of his relationship with the Jewish beauty, and his conversion, should it happen) instantly transforms him...

Is Obama a Muslim? You Decide. Why was Obama's first interview given to Al-Arabiya, a Saudi owned Arab news network? In the following interview, Obama stated, “I have Muslims in my own family. I have lived in Muslim countries. …..And America’s a country of Muslims, Jews, Christians, and nonbelievers. …….And my job is to communicate to the American people that the Muslim world is filled with extraordinary people who simply want to live their lives and see their children live better lives.”

Sunday, February 8, 2009 Obama's vanity shines through By SALIM MANSUR 7th February 2009 President Barack Hussein Obama's first major international interview, given to Al-Arabiya, the Middle East television network, did not come as a surprise. Nor was it a surprise that the new occupant of the White House, displaying his rhetorical skills, attempted to placate the Arab streets and Arab leaders by indicating the Obama administration will restore "respect and partnership that America had with the Muslim world as recently as 20 or 30 years ago." It is only a leader as vain as Obama, surrounded by a sycophantic...

A Middle East expert says President Barack Obama show ed weakness during a recent interview on an Arab television network. "The mistake that President Obama [made] is not only going on Al-Arabiya, but talking in a way that made the United States look bad by saying to them that America needs to listen instead of always dictating," says Gabriel. The former broadcast journalist says that sends the "wrong message" to terrorists -- an element she contends truly hates America "no matter how nice we try to appear." "This sends a message to the radical Islamists...that America is weak, [that] America...

Muslim leaders have praised President Barack Obama for his "marked departure" from the foreign policy of his predecessor, George W. Bush, but criticised US support of Israel. In his first interview with Arab television since taking office, Mr Obama told the Muslim world that "Americans are not your enemy" and renewed his pledge to be open to a dialogue with Iran. Muslim leaders praised his calls for peace, but criticised what they saw as his lack of support for Gaza. Omar Abdullah, the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, said Mr Obama's comments to Dubai-based Al Arabiya represented a "significant"...

America's diplomacy of freedom is officially over. "To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect," President Barack Obama said in his inaugural. But in truth, the new way forward is a return to realpolitik and business as usual in America's encounter with that Greater Middle East. As the president told Al-Arabiya television Monday, he wants a return to "the same respect and partnership that America had with the Muslim world as recently as 20 or 30 years ago." Associated Press/Al-Arabiya Barack Obama is interviewed by Al-Arabiya television on Monday. Say what...

I am glad Obama confounds the radical and hostile Islamic world, if it is in fact true that he does. But we are witnessing a delicate balancing act in which he seems to be saying to us “I am best representing you by distancing myself from you and your past”. Again, that may well work, but also in time may prove not to be what Americans thought they were voting for. So a final Neanderthal thought: some of us would like our President in calm, polite and diplomatic tones to emphasize the past positive Middle East work of his predecessor...