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West Asia
8 candidates determined for June 14 Iranian presidential election
Iran’s election overseers removed potential wild-card candidates from the presidential race Tuesday, blocking a top aide of outgoing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and a former president who revived hopes of reformers. Their exclusion from the June 14 presidential ballot gives establishment-friendly candidates a clear path to succeed Ahmadinejad, who has lost…
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West Asia
200 orphan couples attend group wedding organized by Yemeni gov’t
Grooms in traditional wedding dresses hold their swords during a group wedding ceremony in Sanaa, Yemen, on May 20, 2013. A total of 200 couples attend a group wedding organized by the Yemeni government, all of whom are orphans growing up in government-run centers. <Xinhua/Mohammed Mohammed>
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West Asia
Lebanese mourners carry Hezbollah fighter’s coffin at funeral
Lebanese mourners carry the coffin of Hezbollah fighter Hassan Faisal Shuker, 18, who was killed in a battle against Syrian rebels in the Syrian town of Qusair, during his funeral procession in his hometown of Nabi Sheet in the eastern Bekaa valley, Lebanon, Monday May 20, 2013. Fierce street fighting…
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West Asia
Egypt-Gaza Strip border closed after 7 Egyptian policemen kidnapped
The mother of Egyptian border policeman Ahmed Abd el-Fadia, who was kidnapped last Thursday in northern Sinai, protests at the Rafah, Sinai, border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza strip, Sunday, May 19, 2013. Rafah, the main crossing point into the Gaza Strip, was closed by policemen Friday, barring people…
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West Asia
Tehran celebrates publishing of Ashraf Aboul-Yazid’s poems in Persian
Egyptian poet and novelist Ashraf Aboul-Yazid celebrated the publishing of his poems in Persian during Tehran International Book Fair. The ceremony started by reciting poems in Arabic, by the poet, and their equivalent in Persian, by the translator professor Nasrin Shakibi Mumtaz. The poet signed copies of his poems to…
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West Asia
Afghan boys play on remains of Soviet military vehicle in Kabul
Afghan boys play on the frame of a Soviet military vehicle on the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, May 12, 2013. In February, 1989, after more than nine years of fighting, the Soviet Union withdrew from Afghanistan leaving tanks and other military equipment behind in Afghanistan. The rusting carcases can…
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West Asia
Palestinians clash with Israeli security forces as they mark ‘Nakba Day’
Palestinians clash with Israeli security forces as they mark Nakba Day in Jerusalem, Wednesday, May 15, 2013. Palestinians annually mark the “nakba,” or “catastrophe” the term they use to describe their defeat and displacement in the war that followed Israel’s founding in 1948. Israeli security forces detain a Palestinian man…
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East Asia
New Confucius Institute inaugurated in Istanbul, Turkey
Consul General of China in Istanbul Zhang Qingyang (2nd L), President of Okan University Sule Kut (3rd L), Chairman of Okan University board Okan Bekir (3rd R), President of Beijing Language and Culture University Cui Xiliang (2nd R), Cultural Counsellor of the Embassy of China Yu Jian (1st R) are…
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West Asia
In the animal kingdom, a sheep can’t be a king
In the animal kingdom, a sheep can’t be a king. The sentence written above was so simple, but the reactionary rage over reading it “from the Muslim Brotherhood” was so huge. It started when Mr. Ihab Al Salmawi prepared the English second term exam for the students of the secondary…
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West Asia
[Book Review] The Bamboo Stick: Dispersion between two worlds
The Bamboo Stick: Dispersion between two worlds “The Bamboo Stick” is a novel by Kuwaiti writer Saud Al-Sanousi, which recently won the Booker prize for Arabic novels. It shows the story of Eissa or José, whose mother is Filipino while his father is Kuwaiti, and his struggle in adapting to…
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