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Oman jails 13 over Sohar pay, job demonstrations - ArabianBusiness.com

An Omani court has jailed 13 protesters for up to five years in the industrial city of Sohar, site of demonstrations demanding better pay, more jobs and an end to corruption, a newspaper reported on Wednesday. Seven of them were sentenced to five years for "shutting down work at a government organisation" the Times of Oman said, in an apparent reference to demonstrators blocking state buildings during protests that broke out in February.

UN court indicts four Hezbollah members over Hariri car bomb - The Guardian

Lebanon's senior prosecutor has received criminal indictments for four members of the Shia militant group Hezbollah, who are accused of assassinating the country's former prime minister Rafiq Hariri in a car bomb attack six years ago.

Clinton says US offering ‘limited’ engagement with Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood - The Washington Post

The Obama administration is reaching out to the Muslim Brotherhood in a “limited” effort to build ties and promote democratic principles ahead of Egypt’s upcoming parliamentary and presidential elections. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says the U.S. isn’t adopting a new policy. She says the administration wants to engage all Egyptian groups as long as they espouse nonviolence.

Six Moldovan 'uranium smugglers' arrested - BBC

Moldovan police have arrested six people suspected of trying to sell a type of uranium that can be used in nuclear weapons. Those held wanted to sell more than 1kg (2.2lb) of uranium-235 with a value of at least $20m (14m euros; £12m), an official said. The were conflicting reports as to whether the men were accused of trying to sell the uranium to an African country, or to an African national.

Ron Johnson Pledges To Bring The Senate To A Halt Over Debt Negotiations [UPDATE]

Freshman Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) declared that as long as the debt ceiling negotiations are held behind closed doors, he will block all unanimous consent calls, effectively putting a stop on Senate business Tuesday in a one-man filibuster. Johnson criticized the move to "decide the fate of America's ... financial future" in private. "Unless we receive some assurance from the Democrat leadership that we will actually start addressing our budget out in the open, in the bright light of day -- I will begin to object," Johnson said on the Senate floor. "I will begin to withhold my consent."

FEC Grants Stephen Colbert's Super PAC Request, But Compromise Decision Will Have Only Limited Political Impact

The Federal Election Commission on Thursday approved comedian Stephen Colbert's request to form a so-called "Super PAC," a political action committee that can raise unlimited amounts of money from corporations, unions and wealthy individuals. The Comedy Central star's decision to form the PAC is part of his satiric attempt to highlight the implications of the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision last year, which determined that corporations have the same free speech rights as individuals and can provide unlimited money for political advertisements.

Mark Halperin suspended: MSNBC suspends Time magazine editor for calling Obama a dick

** Why is he being suspended for this???? ** MSNBC has suspended one of its senior political analysts indefinitely after he said he thought President Obama acted like "a dick” at recent press conference.

Capital Area Food Bank to begin charging members for produce - The Washington Post

For the first time in its history, the Capital Area Food Bank will begin charging its members for fruits and vegetables July 1, adding thousands in unexpected costs for some of the 700 agencies that rely on the organization to feed the region’s hungry. The fee, 10 cents per pound, is needed to help offset the rising cost of food, which hit an all-time high globally this year and is projected to increase between 3 and 4 percent in the United States by the end of the year, officials said.

Saudi Suggests 'Squeezing' Iran Over Nuclear Ambitions - WSJ.com

A leading member of Saudi Arabia's royal family warned that Riyadh could seek to supplant Iran's oil exports if the country doesn't constrain its nuclear program, a move that could hobble Tehran's finances. In closed-door remarks earlier this month, Saudi Prince Turki al-Faisal also strongly implied that Riyadh would be forced to follow suit if Tehran pushed ahead to develop nuclear weapons and said Saudi Arabia is preparing to employ all of its economic, diplomatic and security assets to confront Tehran's regional ambitions.

It's Netanyahu who is delegitimising Israel - Opinion - Al Jazeera English

And that is the case today. It's not the Palestinians who are delegitimising Israel, but the Israeli government which maintains the occupation. And the leading delegitimiser is Binyamin Netanyahu, whose contemptuous rejection of peace is turning Israel into an international pariah. Sure, Netanyahu received an embarrassing number of standing ovations when he spoke before the United States Congress. But that demonstrates nothing except the power of Israel's lobbyists. It is doubtful that Netanyahu would get even one standing ovation in any other parliament in the world - and that includes Israel's. The only thing we learned (yet again) from Netanyahu's reception by Congress is that money talks. What else is new? So let's ignore the talk about "delegitimisation," even though Madison Avenue message-makers certainly deserve credit for coming up with that clever distraction. Israel's problem is the occupation, the Israeli government that defends it, and the lobby that enforces support for it in Congress and the White House.

Saudi Arabia to spend $100b on clean energy - Saudi Gazette

Saudi Arabia is planning an investment of at least $100 billion into clean energy resources over the next decade, including a target to achieve 5 gigawatts of solar-generated power, said the organizers of an upcoming solar summit. The Solar Arabia summit is taking place in Riyadh on Sept. 27 and 28 at the Four Seasons Hotel.