SHAFAQNA

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) Tunisia's ousted dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali has been sentenced to five years in prison and pay a 3.5 million-euro fine for corruption. Ben Ali received the sentence on absentia on Tuesday, after it was revealed that he had used his position "to provide for himself or a third party unfair advantages, causing harm to the administration," the court ruling said.  Ben Ali and his wife fled Saudi Arabia in January 2011, where Saudi…

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) -- At least nine people have been killed and 27 others injured in two separate car bomb attacks in central Iraq, police officials said. According to Iraqi police, a car bomb exploded in Aziziyah town, 55 kilometers southeast of Baghdad, on Tuesday, killing seven people and injuring 20 others.  Earlier, two soldiers were killed after a car bomb went off near an army patrol north of Baghdad. Seven people, including five civilians, were also injured in…

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) –We have repeatedly said that the use of chemical weapons is a heinous and unacceptable crime, Ban said in a Monday response to an earlier letter by Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi. In a letter to the UN chief on March 26, the Iranian Foreign Minister called on Ban to dispatch an investigation team to probe the use of chemical weapons in Syria, saying the terrorist act represents a major threat to international peace…

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) – UAE based gold retailers and investors took hits on their physical gold holdings and portfolios on Monday as the precious metal continued its plunge to the lowest point in 20 months. Spot gold dropped as much as 6.3 percent on Monday alone, hitting a low of $1,384.69 an ounce. In the last two sessions gold has fallen more than 9 percent, making for the worst two days since March 1, 1983. Gold was recently…

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) – Appealing for UN intervention to stop attacks on Muslims in Burma, a world Muslim body has urged the Burmese government to allow in a ministerial delegation to discuss anti-Muslim violence in the Buddhist country. The Organization of Islamic Cooperation calls on "Burmese authorities to strongly respond to the organization's appeal and allow a ministerial OIC delegation to visit" Burma, the OIC said in a statement cited by Agence France-Presse (AFP). More than 43 people…

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) – A deputy chief of staff of Iran's Armed Forces says the Iranian military is prepared to deliver a swift response to any attempted attack by the Israeli regime. “The Armed Forces are completely ready to act according to what the Leader [of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei] said in his remarks in the shortest possible time,” Brigadier General Mohammad Hejazi said Monday. The commander expressed hope that the Israeli regime would not…

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) -- A series of car bombings across Iraq on Monday killed at least 25 people and wounded more than 170 others, police said. The 24 attacks took place in Baghdad, Kirkuk, Baquba, Tuz Khurmato and Hilla. Two of the bombings pummeled a checkpoint near Baghdad's international airport. Most of the attacks in Baghdad targeted Shiite areas, police told CNN. Al Qaeda in Iraq, made up of Sunni extremists, has claimed responsibility for many attacks in recent…

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) – Egypt’s prosecution has ordered the detention for four days of 10 suspects, including four Christians, accused of killing, attempted killing and causing damage to St. Mark’s Coptic Orthodox Cathedral, according to a prosecution statement. The clashes erupted last week as Coptic families were preparing a funeral procession for those who were killed in the Egyptian town of al-Khoussous the day before. The 10 suspects were arrested for possession of firearms and weapons with blades,…

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) – Armed men dressed in Somali police uniforms have stormed the court complex in the capital Mogadishu killing a number of people, before a gun battle erupted with security forces besieging the compound. Hours after the attack at the court on Sunday, a large blast hit an area on the road to the Mogadishu airport, residents said. Somali officials told Al Jazeera that nine fighters dressed in police uniforms attacked the court complex killed ten…

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) – Iran poses a mortal blow to US global hegemony due to its growing political sway across the region as well as its huge oil reserves, an analyst says. Finian Cunningham, an expert on international affairs, wrote in a column for Press TV that Iran presents a “greater and more problematic challenge” than North Korea to “US global hegemony.” “Iran exerts a controlling influence over the vital drug that keeps the American economic system alive…