Iraqi Kurds are raging mad at the ban of the Kurdish flag in Diyala.
Iran's Ahdiminijihadist has followed the lead of its dictator, the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khameneni in pretending they weren't involved in an assassination attempt of the Saudi Ambassador in the US.
Israel has released the names of 477 Hamas terrorists to be released in the first batch of over 1000 to be exchanged for 1 Israeli hostage, giving citizens 48 hours to contest.
Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah is undergoing back surgery, again.
Libyan rebels are still unable to take the last strongholds of the country, as allegations of looting mount.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Sunday Iranians are civilized and do not need to resort to assassination.
The highest-ranking U.S. Senator on intelligence matters, Diane Feinstein, told Fox News Sunday that U.S. authorities have collected ample evidence showing the involvement of Iran's elite Quds force in the plot.
She added there is “no question” that the Quds force is responsible for plotting several violent terrorist operations.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Saturday U.S. claims that Tehran supported an alleged assassination plot are absurd. The supreme leader accused the U.S. of making “unfounded” accusations against “a few Iranians in America” as part of an effort to isolate Iran.
Hundreds of Iraqi Kurds have protested in a disputed Iraqi city against an order banning Kurdish flags in official buildings.
Kurdish protesters in the city of Khanaqin waved Kurdish flags, screamed anti-government slogans and chanted “Khanaqin is Kurdish.”
The city, 140 kilometers north of Baghdad, is in Diyala province. The area is part of territory claimed by both Kurds in the north and Iraq's central government in Baghdad. The province falls under Baghdad's control but contains a large number of Kurds who prefer to align their city with the autonomous Kurdish north.
Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Moussawi said raising the Kurdish flag in disputed territories is “constitutional violation” that could increase tensions. The town has not followed the banning, and Kurdish flags still fly on government buildings, shops and vehicles.
The flying of the Kurdish flag is an emotional issue, with some Kurds seeing the flag as a symbol against the regime of ousted Iraqi dictator, the late Saddam Hussein. Some Arabs, however, see the flag as an expansion of Kurdish influence.
Syria has benefitted from divisions within the Arab League which cannot decide on actions against the dictator in their midst.
The Arab League says it will bring together Syria's government and opposition groups in an attempt to end the country's ongoing violence.
The league's secretary general said the group aims to launch the dialogue within 15 days. He spoke Sunday after an emergency meeting of Arab foreign ministers in Cairo. Qatari Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani echoed the call for a national dialogue.
Deep divisions among the 22-nation pan-Arab body prevented passage of a proposal from a bloc of six Gulf nations to suspend Syria's membership in the group.
The Arab League suspended Libya earlier this year after former leader Moammar Gadhafi launched a bloody clamp down on anti-government protesters. The group later reinstated Libya under the North African nation's new leadership.
Saudi Arabia and some other Gulf states already have pulled their ambassadors from Damascus to protest the government's deadly crackdown on opposition to President Bashar al-Assad.
Alsio Sunday, Syrian activists say security forces in the east have opened fire on mourners attending the funeral of an activist with the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, as government forces continued arrests near the capital, Damascus.
The Britain-based observatory said Sunday that government forces in the eastern Syrian city of Deir el-Zour fired live bullets as about 7,000 mourners took to the streets for the funeral of Ziad al-Obeidi. The 42-year-old activist had been in hiding for the two months and was killed Saturday by security forces who had been hunting him.
Activists say government forces also carried out raids against dissent near the capital, Damascus. They say forces in Zabadani, some 50 kilometers from the capital, set up roadblocks and searched door-to-door, arresting at least 25 people.
Rights groups say security forces also arrested 19 people in the Damascus suburb of Dumeir Sunday.
The United Nations says the violence in Syria has killed more than 3,000 people since anti-government protests began earlier this year.
Syrian authorities have blamed much of the violence on gunmen or “terrorist” groups.
On Saturday, President Assad appointed a 29-member committee to draft a new constitution. The move appears to be a step by Mr. Assad to address the growing international condemnation he has faced for the crackdown on dissent.
Libyan revolutionary fighters say they have entered the southern city of Bani Walid, where they encountered heavy resistance from forces loyal to former leader Moammar Gadhafi.
Officials from Libya's National Transitional Council Sunday said its troops were in the town center, but the report could not be verified. Earlier in the day, NTC forces launched a new assault on the desert city, 170 kilometers southeast of Tripoli.
Bani Walid is surrounded by provisional government fighters, but their commanders pulled them back last week after suffering heavy loses. The city and Mr. Gadhafi's hometown of Sirte are the only two remaining bastions in Libya still resisting NTC rule.
In Sirte, returning residents are accusing provisional government forces of demolishing and looting homes, shops and public buildings to take revenge on the strategic coastal city's support for Mr. Gadhafi.
Trucks could be seen carting off tractors, industrial generators and heavy machinery on the road to nearby Misrata, which was under siege by loyalist forces for months and saw some of the fiercest fighting of the war.
Smaller pickups were loaded with rugs, freezers, refrigerators, furniture and other household goods, apparently taken by civilians and fighters to be used in their homes or resold.
Several Sirte residents said the looting has made them bitter toward the revolution that ended Mr. Gadhafi's 42-year rule. They found nearly every house and building either damaged by a rocket or mortar, burned out or riddled with bullets.
The looting is a sign that reconciliation and unity may be difficult to achieve in Libya's post-Gadhafi era.
NTC officials have said Sirte's capture would allow them to declare the country liberated. Battles still rage in a small area of the city where pro-Gadhafi loyalists are hemmed in.
Also Sunday, Libyans using bulldozers began to demolish the walls around Mr. Gadhafi's main Tripoli complex. NTC fighters overran the sprawling Bab al-Aziziyah compound in August. Many Gadhafi opponents see the walled encampment, which covers six square kilometers, as a glaring symbol of the former leader's autocratic rule.
Mr. Gadhafi's whereabouts still are unknown. The International Criminal Court at The Hague has issued a warrant for his arrest on charges of crimes against humanity.
The interim government is leading the country until democratic elections are held
Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah has been hospitalized in the capital, Riyadh, to undergo back surgery following two similar operations last year in the United States.
The Saudi state news agency said the king arrived at the King Abdulaziz Medical City earlier Sunday. The procedure, announced last week, will tighten a slackening ligament around his third vertebra.
The health of the ruler of the world's leading oil exporter is closely followed, given his age and the concentration of power among Saudi Arabia's ruling royal family. The king is thought to be in his late 80s.
King Abdullah was absent for three months late in 2010 while he underwent treatment in New York for a herniated disc that caused blood to accumulate around his spine. That surgery and a second, follow-up procedure were declared successful.
During the king's stay in the U.S. and his convalescence in Morocco, his brother – Crown Prince Sultan – was in charge of governing the kingdom.
Israel has published the official list of the 477 Palestinian prisoners to be exchanged Tuesday in the first phase of a deal for the release of an Israeli soldier. Gilad Shalit was captured by Hamas gunmen in a 2006 cross-border raid into the Gaza Strip.
Israel published the list Sunday on its prison service website. Israeli citizens have 48 hours to lodge any legal appeals against the deal.
On Saturday, Israeli President Shimon Peres began the process of reviewing hundreds of Palestinian prisoner files.
Under the exchange deal, 1,027 Palestinians will be freed in two stages in return for Shalit, who will be released to Egyptian custody and then handed over to Israel.
The remaining 550 inmates will be freed over a two-month period. Palestinian prisoners include some responsible for deadly attacks on Israelis.
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