Mideast News

Libyan Abdel Basset al-Megrahi, convicted in the Lockerbie bombing in 1988 in Scotland, died on Sunday in Tripoli, said his brother. The former intelligence agent suffered from cancer and was hospitalized last month for a blood transfusion in a “very critical condition.” He died at the age of 59.

Megrahi was sentenced in 2001 to life imprisonment for his involvement in the explosion of a Pan Am plane over Lockerbie, which had killed 270 people. He was released by the Scottish justice for humanitarian reasons in 2009 as doctors diagnosed him with a terminal cancer.

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Lebanese soldiers shot dead a Sunni cleric and a member of the anti-Syrian regime coalition in northern Lebanon, confirmed the Lebanese security forces. Sheikh Ahmed Abdul Ouahid and another companion, Mohammed Hussein Miraib, members of the March 14 Alliance, were shot dead when their car refused to stop at an army checkpoint, according to these sources.

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The Muslim Brotherhood has deployed a formidable campaign machine in its quest for the Egyptian presidency but faces an uphill struggle winning over voters, hampered by its own image problems and the limited appeal of its candidate,

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According to several sources within the Syrian opposition, a “heroic operation” was conducted last night against the senior staff of President Bashar Al-Assad, who met in a convention center to discuss the crisis. According to the opposition information, which is difficult to confirm, the operation resulted in the hospitalization of at least six senior members of Assad’s inner circle, with some of them died …

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Key projects in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) could be shelved if the European Union slips again into a fresh financial crisis as this means costlier funds for the region, a US market research firm has said.

Strong crude prices allied with high oil production by the UAE to boost its nominal gross domestic product by nearly $62 billion in 2011 and allow it to maintain its position as the second largest Arab economy.

Ahmed Shafiq was the last prime minister to serve under ousted president Hosni Mubarak, and like his previous boss is a product of Egypt’s powerful military machine.

Ex-Muslim Brotherhood member Abdel Moneim Abul Fotouh has attracted support from both hardline Islamists and liberals who believe he could defuse Egypt’s post-revolt religious divide.

A deadly suicide blast that hit Syria’s main eastern city Deir Ezzor on Saturday killed seven people and wounded 100, according to Syrian foreign ministry spokesman Jihad Makdisi.

US President Barack Obama said Saturday that the G8 – which includes Russia – agreed that the political process in Syria should move forward “in a more timely fashion.”