News

BEIRUT: Rain fell in waves and thunder cracked as the annual Beirut Marathon got under way early Sunday, with a slightly depressed turnout thanks to the weather. Those who did show up for the marathon or other races were undeterred, however. Over 33,000 people registered for the race, but the rain and rivers of water they caused in the streets clearly kept …

VALENCIA, Spain: Dani Pedrosa of Spain won pole position at the Valencia Grand Prix on Saturday, setting a track record for qualifying with a fastest lap of 1 minute, 30.844 seconds. Pedrosa steered his Honda around the 4-kilometer (2.48-mile) Comunitat Valenciana circuit with a last flying lap to claim his 24th career pole in MotoGP. Recently crowned world MotoGP champion Jorge Lorenzo will start Sunday’s race from second place, with retiring two-time …

TUNIS: A key proposal by Tunisia’s ruling Islamist party to outlaw blasphemy in the new constitution, which stoked fears of creeping Islamisation, is to be dropped from the final text, Assembly speaker Mustapha Ben Jaafar told AFP. The agreement to drop the clause follows negotiations between the three parties in the ruling coalition and must still be approved by the …

AMMAN: King Abdullah II of Jordan has as part of his reform initiatives set up a constitutional court comprising nine members, according to a royal decree published on Sunday. The court, the first of its kind in the kingdom, will be the only one authorised to verify that laws comply with the constitution, the decree states. It is chaired by …

UNITED NATIONS: Israeli and Palestinian leaders will address the United Nations on Thursday, one warning of a dire threat from Iran and the other seeking limited recognition in the absence of a peace process. On a more optimistic note, the U.N. General Assembly will also hear from Myanmar leader Thein Sein, who has presided over historic reforms after decades of …

LOS ANGELES: An actress who said she was duped into appearing in an anti-Islam film that stoked violent protests across the Muslim world took her legal bid to federal court on Wednesday in a renewed effort to force it off YouTube. The lawsuit filed by Cindy Lee Garcia names the popular online video site YouTube and its parent company Google …

SEOUL: Google’s executive chairman Eric Schmidt defended Thursday YouTube’s hosting of an anti-Islam film that sparked violent global protests, saying the answer to “bad speech is more speech” — not a ban. Google, the parent company of the video-sharing site, has blocked access to “Innocence of Muslims” in a number of nations, including India, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, where it …

BEIRUT: At least one, and possibly three, of 10 Lebanese pilgrims held hostage in Syria will be released in the coming few hours,  mediators said. A mediator, who requested he remained anonymous, told The Daily Star early on Tuesday that three men would be released, identifying them as Awad Ibrahim, Ali Termos, Khalil Saleh. The Sunni Committee of Muslim Scholars of Lebanon, …