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CAIRO — The Arab League warned Sunday that Israel has reached a “red line” after fresh clashes in Jerusalem, urging international pressure to stop what it branded “violations” in the holy city. Clashes around the flashpoint Temple Mount and the al-Aqsa Mosque compound — the third holiest site in Islam and Judaism’s holiest — prompted Israel on Thursday to close the site for a day. The Temple Mount and adjacent neighborhoods have seen months of violence, with the mosque compound a rallying point for Palestinian resistance to perceived Jewish attempts to take control of it...

It hasn't made much noise worldwide, but Iran's rapidly deteriorating relationships with several African countries is huge news across the continent. On February 16, the Nigerian Federal High Court in Lagos began the prosecution of an alleged member of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), Azim Aghajani, and a Nigerian associate, Usman Abbas Jega. They are accused of arms smuggling. This video link is in Arabic, but is very self-explanatory. It is of the opening day of the court proceedings.The story is a classic, just one of many on the Dark Continent nowadays: In late October 2010, Nigerian intelligence officials...

Three more Ethiopians killed by Saudi police. The killing of Ethiopians continues in Saudi Arabia Three more Ethiopians killed in Saudi Arabia Three more Ethiopians have been killed in Saudi Arabia. Thousands of Ethiopians are leaving the middle east country after scores have been killed in the past few days. Hundreds more injured and women are being raped in front of their families. It is astounding and mind boggling the international community is so silent about this shameful actions of the Saudis. "The act of killing innocent civilians is uncalled for, we condemn that," Foreign Ministry spokesman Dina Mufti told...

Syria will be suspended from the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation on Wednesday for its violent suppression of a 17-month uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, a diplomat said on Monday ahead of an emergency OIC summit in Mecca. "The resolution regarding the suspension of the Syrian membership in the OIC is not facing obstacles ... It will be approved," said the diplomat, speaking on the sidelines of a preliminary foreign ministers meeting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. He said the decision was likely to be formally announced at the end of the second day of the summit, which was called by Saudi...

The Arab League voted to suspend SyriaÂ’s membership at its meeting on Saturday and said it would impose economic and political sanctions against the regime of Bashar al-Assad as well as call for the withdrawal of Arab ambassadors from Damascus. The Arab foreign ministers meeting at the LeagueÂ’s headquarters in Cairo also called on the Syrian army to cease its involvement in the killing of civilians and invited the Syrian opposition for transition talks. Opponents of Assad were hoping that the Arab League would suspend SyriaÂ’s membership after Assad pressed ahead with a military crackdown on the unrest despite an...

France-Comoros relations boosted, as countries reach pact -- The Consular section of the Embassy of France in Moroni will resume normal operations on Monday, following the agreement reached Friday between France and the Comoros. In a statement, the Embassy of France to the Union of Comoros said it 'welcomes the balanced agreement that was signed with the Comoran authorities, to put an end to a period of tension which is detrimental to both countries and their populations'. 'France confirms its determination to meet commitments in this agreement and has no doubt that the Comoran authorities will also be intent on...

Recent events in Tunisia, Lebanon and Egypt spell a dangerous new trend in the region. There have been major developments in Tunisia, Lebanon and Egypt, each of which is of tremendous importance. In Tunisia, a popular uprising fueled by unemployment, economic suffering and long-term discontent has overthrown the dictator, but not necessarily the dictatorship. In 55 years of independence, the country has been governed by two dictators, the current one being Zine al-Abedin Ben Ali, who has been president for 23 years and was a key power in the regime even before that. Is this going to spread? Does it...

SAN'A, Yemen — A passenger jet from Yemen with 153 people on board crashed in the Indian Ocean early Tuesday as it tried to land during heavy wind on the island nation of Comoros, a Yemeni aviation official said. A Comoros police official said one toddler has been rescued alive from the sea. Bodies were spotted floating in the ocean and the police official said three had been recovered so far

MORONI (Reuters) – An airliner with 150 people on board belonging to Yemeni state carrier Yemenia crashed in the Indian Ocean archipelago of Comoros Tuesday, a senior government official said. "We don't know if there are any survivors among the 150 people on the plane," Comoros vice-president Idi Nadhoim told Reuters from the airport at the main island's capital Moroni. Nadhoim said the accident happened in the early hours of Tuesday, but could not give any more details. "There is a crash, there is a crash in the sea," said an unnamed official who answered the phone in the Yemenia...

Yemeni airliner crashes in Indian Ocean 150 people reportedly on board; fate unknown BREAKING NEWS o MORONI, Comoros - An airliner belonging to Yemeni state carrier Yemenia Air crashed in the Comoros archipelago in the Indian Ocean with 150 people on board, a senior government official said Tuesday. "We don't know if there are any survivors among the 150 people on the plane," a senior government official told Reuters.

The Ahmadinejad-supporting media in Iran reported that on orders of the president, a plane is to be sent soon to the Comoros Islands to bring Comoros President Ahmad Abdallah Sambi to Tehran for a visit. Sambi previously visited Iran in June 2008.

NAIROBI: One of the FBI's most wanted al-Qaeda suspects has been sighted in the Somali capital of Mogadishu and could be operating inside Kenya, Kenya's security ministry said on Thursday. Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, a Comoros islander, is accused of being the mastermind behind both the 1998 bombing of the US embassy in Nairobi and last November's suicide bombing of an Israeli-owned hotel in the Kenyan resort of Mombasa. National Security Minister Chris Murungaru released his photograph on Wednesday night and said that security forces in the east African country had been put on high alert. "Given that this fellow has...

PARIS (AP) - French customs officers are inspecting a North Korean ship at an Indian Ocean island off the coast of Africa as part of U.N. sanctions prompted by the communist nation's nuclear test, but they found nothing illegal so far, officials said Thursday. It was the first time a country was known to have stopped a North Korean vessel under U.N. Security Council Resolution 1718 authorizing searches as part of the sanctions imposed on Pyongyang for its nuclear test. Since the resolution was passed Oct. 14, at least four other North Korean vessels have been stopped, but the countries...

MUTSAMUDU (Comoros) - Tanzanian troops mandated by the African Union (AU) entered Tuesday morning in the capital of Comorian island of Anjouan Mutsamudu, as part of the operation to overthrow the president of the island Mohamed Bacar , witnesses reported to the AFP. Tanzanian soldiers were visible in the city centre where they have not encountered any resistance from forces loyal to the authorities of Anjouan deemed illegal by the federal government and the AU. The arrival of soldiers from the AU has been greeted with cries of joy inhabitants of Mutsamudu, the witnesses said. The "Democracy in the...

Kenyan authorities say they have cracked the password on a laptop computer belonging to one of the most wanted Al Qaeda suspects in Africa. A report by the Kenyan newspaper, The Daily Nation, on its Web site Monday quoted anonymous "senior police sources" as saying that the computer "contained vital information on terrorism training and intelligence collection, including spying." The report gave no further details, but said the computer was seized from the wife of Faisal Abdullah Mohammed - indicted by federal prosecutors for his role in the Al Qaeda truck bombings of two US embassies in East Africa in...

MORONI (AFP) - A volcano overlooking the town of Moroni in the Comoros island group off East Africa started to erupt, creating a red cloud over its crater. But there was no immediate danger, said local police, who set up a special team to keep the situation under observation. "The eruption is confined to the crater and there is no lava flow," said an officer. But he warned: "There was no tremor before the eruption, and this is a cause for concern." The volcano, called Karthala, is 15 kilometres (nine miles) from Moroni, the Comoros capital situated on Grand Comoro,...

Comoros volcano eruption pollutes water NAIROBI (Reuters) - Water supplies to more than 100,000 people in the Indian Ocean Comoros islands have been contaminated by the eruption of one of the world's largest active volcanoes, the United Nations said on Tuesday. Mount Karthala sent clouds of ash and sparks flying late on Thursday, leaving the capital Moroni and other villages on the main island of Grande Comore covered in gray. "Concerns exist regarding the availability of potable water in the areas exposed to smoke and ashes," said a report from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs...

The article is linked above, with a link to a larger version of this image: Here are a couple of other images of Karthala (these may load slow; they're from the April 2005 eruption): Karthala apparently dominates Grand Comore like Haleakala dominates Maui:

UN inspectors in Iraq spent their working hours drinking vodka while ignoring a shadowy nocturnal fleet believed to be smuggling goods for Saddam Hussein, a former senior inspector told the US Senate yesterday. In a move that provoked fury from officials of the Swiss firm Cotecna, an Australian former inspector detailed a picture of incompetence, indifference and drunkeness among the men acting as the frontline for UN sanctions. Arthur Ventham, a former Australian army officer and customs officer, joined the operation in 2002 and worked at various sites in Iraq and neighbouring states. He said that at Iskendurun in eastern...

Greek Forces Find 680 Metric Tons of Explosives on Ship 48 minutes ago Add Top Stories - Reuters to My Yahoo! ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece said on Sunday its special forces found 680 tonnes of explosives on board a Comoros flagged ship owned by a Marshall Islands registered company named Alpha Shipping. Greece's Merchant Marine Ministry said it had transferred the vessel, which it identified as the Baltic Sky, to a western Greek commercial port for further checks after special forces boarded the ship and found the explosives. "After acting on confirmed information, special forces checked the ship carrying 680...