al-Jazeera

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Al-Jazeera Anchors Quit Over Makeup and Hair

Women say editor made offensive remarks

(Newser) - Five female broadcast news anchors at al-Jazeera have walked out after complaining that they were harassed by a senior editor who complained about their make-up and their failure to cover their hair. The women—three from Lebanon, one from Syria, and one from Tunisia—say they were the targets of...

Bin Laden Claims Detroit Bomb Attempt

Al-Qaeda leader vows new attacks, may be trying to re-assert importance

(Newser) - Osama bin Laden claimed responsibility for the attempt to bomb a Detroit-bound airliner on Christmas in a new audio message released today that threatened more attacks on the United States. The message suggests the al-Qaeda leader wants to appear in direct command of the terrorist group's many affiliates when some...

Nevada Gambler Conned CIA With al-Qaeda Claims

Agents swallowed claim man could decode hidden messages

(Newser) - A Nevada software developer with a serious gambling problem fooled the CIA and the Bush White House into believing he had the key to al-Qaeda codes. Dennis Montgomery convinced agents that news network al-Jazeera was broadcasting hidden message on terror targets within the US that only he could decode, investigative...

Onetime Gitmo Detainee Now a Top al-Jazeera Reporter

Al-Hajj finds niche in human rights beat

(Newser) - Sami al-Hajj was a cameraman when US forces captured him in 2001, but now, a year after his release from Guantanamo Bay, he’s mostly seen in front of a camera, as al-Jazeera’s special reporter on human rights. “I wanted to talk for seven years, to make up...

Gitmo Detainee Calls al-Jazeera, Alleges Abuse

Prisoner, captured at 14, says he was beaten, tear-gassed

(Newser) - Prisoner abuse at Guantanamo Bay hasn’t gotten any better since Barack Obama took office, one detainee told al-Jazeera yesterday after using newly granted phone privileges to call the Middle Eastern news network. Mohammed al Gharani says he’s been abused “almost every day” since Obama’s term began,...

Turks, Saudis Foil Obama Assassination Attempt

(Newser) - Turkish police have arrested a Syrian man who planned to try to assassinate President Obama, CBS News reports today. The Turks moved on the man, who appears to have been impersonating an Al-Jazeera correspondent, based on information from Saudi intelligence services. The plot was to be carried out in Istanbul,...

PLO Leader Killed in Lebanon Roadside Blast

(Newser) - Top PLO official Kamal Medhat and at least three of his bodyguards were killed by a roadside bomb near a refugee camp in southern Lebanon today, security officials tell al-Jazeera. Television footage showed Medhat’s car being blasted into a large crater. A Fatah spokesman said Medhat had been “...

Quiet Qatar Plays Key Mideast Peacemaker Role

Iconoclastic emirate works to calm conflicts

(Newser) - Qatar has managed the amazing diplomatic feat of staying friendly with just about everybody in the Middle East, the New York Times writes. The tiny, oil-rich emirate, which somehow maintains close ties with Iran while also hosting an American airbase, is rapidly becoming the region's mediator. Its diplomats recently pulled...

Newsman Freed From Gitmo After 6 Years

Al-Jazeera cameraman held for 6 years

(Newser) - A cameraman was released yesterday from the US prison camp at Guantanamo Bay after being held without charges for 6 years. Al-Jazeera's Sami al-Hajj, who has been on a hunger strike, was immediately taken to a hospital in Khartoum. "I've been dreaming of this moment," said the Sudanese...

Libyan Town Exports Grim Crop: Suicide Bombers

Reporter travels to Darnah to uncover insurgents' motives

(Newser) - American intelligence has long known that the bulk of foreign combatants waging jihad in Iraq are Saudi nationals, but Libya is a close second, with much higher per capita representation. Documents found in Sinjar, Iraq, showed 112 fighters in a group of 606 were Libyan, and 52 came from Darnah,...

Army Finds Remains of Soldier Captured in 2004

Ominous video showed Matt Maupin surrounded by masked men

(Newser) - The remains of an Ohio soldier who was captured in Iraq four years ago have been found, reports the Cincinnati Enquirer. DNA tests identified the remains as Matt Maupin, 20, an Army general told the young soldier's parents. Maupin had been listed as missing in Iraq since his fuel convoy...

Bin Laden: 'Fire and Iron' Can Free Gaza

In new tape, al-Qaeda pushes continued violence against US in Iraq

(Newser) - Osama bin Laden calls followers to arms to stop the blockade on Gaza in a tape broadcast today on Al-Jazeera. Israel did not take the Palestinian territory "by negotiations and dialogue but with fire and iron. And this is the way to get it back," he said, adding...

Qatar Navigates Persian Gulf Minefield

Geography forces balancing act; gas wealth make it a player

(Newser) - The challenges of being Qatar, a peninsular nation bordering Saudi Arabia in the Persian Gulf, could be a hint of the diplomatic discourse to come, Bloomberg reports. The emirate cannily attends to the demands of its Saudi and Iranian neighbors, and it hosts US military forces; it also has learned...

British Hostage Appears on Arab Television

One of 5 missing since May asks for prisoner exchange

(Newser) - One of the five British men kidnapped in Baghdad eight months ago appeared on Arab television last night, begging Prime Minister Gordon Brown to free nine Iraqi prisoners in exchange for the Britons. “Release their people so that we can go home. It’s as simple as that,"...

US Should Tune In to Al Jazeera
US Should Tune In to Al Jazeera
Nov 12, 2007 9:56 PM CST

US Should Tune In to Al Jazeera

English-language network affords a close-up view of our own loss of influence

(Newser) - Year-old Al Jazeera English is only in a handful of US markets—a fact that “amounts to self-destructive blindness,” says the Times’ Roger Cohen. By not watching the channel Donald Rumsfeld called “vicious, inaccurate, and inexcusable,” we damage our chances in the war of ideas—because...

Qaeda Backers Enraged by Al Jazeera's Osama Excerpts

Critics also seek praise from scolding leader

(Newser) - Supporters of Al Qaeda have attacked Arab broadcaster Al Jazeera for selectively airing critical remarks by Osama bin Laden this week in which he blasts Iraqi insurgent groups for being too splintered. Critics called for the broadcaster to air the entire tape, which also includes praise for the groups.

Dubai Tower is World's Tallest
Dubai Tower is World's Tallest
Jul 21, 2007 3:59 PM CDT

Dubai Tower is World's Tallest

$1B skyscraper at 1,680 feet; final height will be over 2,200 with 160 floors and 56 elevators

(Newser) - An unfinished skyscraper in Dubai is now scraping the sky at 1,680 feet, surpassing Tawain's Taipei 101 as the world's tallest building. The Burj Dubai, which began construction in September 2004, will cost $1B and consist of more than 160 floors and 56 elevators when completed in 2008.

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