Free Republic

"The Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, exercising its sovereign rights guaranteed by the international law, and protecting national security from the dangers of terrorism and extremism, decided to sever diplomatic and consular relations with the State of Qatar," the statement read.

In a further indication of stirrings in the long-stagnant Israeli-Palestinian diplomatic process, Justice Minister Tzipi Livni met Thursday in Washington with US Secretary of State John Kerry, and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said for the second time in a week that he supports a public referendum on any agreement with the Palestinians. Yitzhak Molcho, Netanyahu’s envoy on the Palestinian issue, accompanied Livni to her meeting with Kerry, where they discussed the peace process as well as regional developments, particularly Syria. The meeting came three days after an Arab League delegation met with Kerry and US Vice President Joe Biden. Kerry...

BEIRUT, Lebanon, April 24 (UPI) -- Syria's top rebel commander is reportedly seeking Western support for taking over oil fields held by Islamist factions but the real conflict over Syria's energy resources is likely to be vast natural gas fields under the eastern Mediterranean. Whatever is under the seabed in Syrian waters remains undiscovered but in the wake of major strikes by Israel and Cyprus, and Lebanon supposedly sitting on similar prizes, it's a pretty good bet Syria has significant gas holdings. There seems little doubt that Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime will eventually be displaced as rebel forces, disunited...

The pro-terrorist Al-Jazeera International will debut early next year as a 24-hour English-language news network headquartered in the Middle East. And efforts to bring the network to the U.S. have been "very interesting and extremely encouraging," according to Commercial Director Lindsey Oliver. At launch the network will have a staff of "hundreds," said Oliver, a former director of CNBC Europe. The advertising-supported network will operate out of four broadcast centers – Washington, London, Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia - and Doha, Qatar, its headquarters. The international version of Al-Jazeera, which has been accused by Washington of having an anti-American, pro-terrorist bias,...

At both the 8AM and 9AM updates, NPR reported that Tajikistan has sent forces to Qutar and elsewhere in the Gulf region for training and "co-operative" exercises with the US. Since Tajikistan is a former Soviet republic and our ally in the Afgahan campaign, this should be taken with some interest... jriemer