By David Ignatius It’s a measure of the relatively quiet time for Israel these days that the sharpest argument at a big national security conference here was between an ultra-Orthodox rabbi who wanted “autonomy” for his fellow believers and secular Israelis in the audience who shouted out denunciations of what one called his “apartheid” plan. To be sure, the Iranian threat looms on the horizon. And Amos Yad ...

By Michael Burleigh The drum beats for Western intervention in the Syrian civil war have grown louder in the last few days. Not because 70,000 to 100,000 people are dead, with more than a million dispersed as refugees. But because it is claimed the regime of Bashar al-Assad is using chemical weapons. It has long been known that Syria  possesses the largest stockpile of  chemical munitions in the Middle East ...

BCCI is initially impressed with the facilities at the newly-built Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium but will analyse the preparedness of the venue to host international matches through the two IPL matches. "The kind of infrastructure which they have got, I think this is the most suitable venue to be allotted for the international matches," IPL chairman Rajeev Shukla said ahead of the Pune Wa ...

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="266"] Horia Ankour, 30, was taken off an Air France flight after confirming she’s not Jewish[/caption] By Elham Asaad Buaras A French court has found Air France guilty of discrimination for removing a pro-Palestinian activist from a flight to Israel because she was not Jewish. The incident happened during the ‘flytilla’ campaign in April 2012 – when hundreds of pro-P ...

By NATHAN HODGE and HABIB KHAN TOTAKHIL KABUL—New details about an ambush on Afghan troops in March and the army's stumbles in the monthlong battle that followed illustrate the challenges Afghanistan faces in taking over security around the country. Afghan and coalition officials said recently concluded operations in the usually peaceful northeastern province of Badakhshan laid bare a range of problems face ...

According to local authorities in southern Kandahar province of Afghanistan, Afghan security forces arrested at least 8 Pakistani Taliban militants in Panjwai district. District governor for Panjwai, Haji Fazal Ahmad confirming the report said the Pakistani Taliban militants were sent to suppress anti-Taliban uprising forces. Mr. Fazal Ahmad further added Taliban district governor for Zherai was also among ...

By Scott Wilson and Greg Miller The injured suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings has told interrogators that he and his brother were driven by hard-line Islamist views and anger over the U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq but had no ties to foreign militant groups, U.S. officials said Tuesday. The statements made by Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, from his hospital bed provide what authorities described as the cle ...

By David Ignatius The growing evidence that the Syrian regime has used chemical weapons against its own population provides an opportunity for the United States and Russia, the two countries that have the most influence over the situation, to jointly force President Bashar al-Assad to hand over power. A senior Israeli military officer told several journalists here today that he’s “very close to 100 percent ...