Holy City

Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Sunday urged Israeli leaders to relinquish the idea of a unified Jerusalem if they truly want peace, contending in a pair of interviews that years of government neglect have kept the Jewish and Arab sectors irreparably divided. The comments, made as Israel marked the 45th anniversary of capturing east Jerusalem, were nearly unprecedented for a mainstream Israeli leader and put Olmert at odds with his successor, Benjamin Netanyahu. Celebrating Israel's control of the city on the Jewish state's "Jerusalem Day," Netanyahu declared his government was...

Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Sunday urged Israeli leaders to relinquish the idea of a unified Jerusalem if they truly want peace, contending in a pair of interviews that years of government neglect have kept the Jewish and Arab sectors irreparably divided. The comments, made as Israel marked the 45th anniversary of capturing east Jerusalem, were nearly unprecedented for a mainstream Israeli leader and put Olmert at odds with his successor, Benjamin Netanyahu. Celebrating Israel's control of the city on the Jewish state's "Jerusalem Day," Netanyahu declared his government was...

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia -- Prince Abdul-Majid bin Abdul-Aziz, the governor of Islam's holy city of Mecca, died yesterday after a long illness, a Saudi Arabian royal statement said. He was 65. Prince Abdul-Majid, who was the half brother of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, was flown to the United States, where he died after sudden health deterioration, the statement said. The brief statement did not provide any other details about the cause of death or say where the prince died in the United States.

BAGHDAD (AP) — A torrent of bombings and shootings ripped across eight Iraqi cities on Tuesday, targeting police and Shiite pilgrims and killing 46 people. The deadly wave undermined the government's hopes for stability ahead of next week's meeting of the Arab world's top leaders. The Iraqi wing of Al Qaeda said it was behind at least one of the attacks near Baghdad's heavily guarded Green Zone. A statement on a militant website said the group targeted the office that will oversee security for the upcoming Arab League summit — the first time the meeting is set to be held in...

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - The family of Osama bin Laden has announced the death of one of the terror mastermind’s brothers. In a full-page notice yesterday in Al-Riyadh newspaper, the family said Thabet bin Laden passed away and the funeral was scheduled for that afternoon in the holy city of Mecca. The notice said he died Saturday but did not give the cause of death or his age. Thabet bin Laden was one of 54 children born to Mohammed bin Laden, a poor Yemeni immigrant who started the family contracting business in the 1930s that grew into a multimillion dollar construction empire.

BEIRUT — A Lebanese TV psychic who had been condemned to death for witchcraft by a Saudi Arabian court while visiting that country will not be beheaded, his lawyer said yesterday. May al-Khansa said that the Saudi ambassador in Beirut had informed the Lebanese justice minister that the execution of Ali Sibat would not take place. “He confirmed to me that there will be no execution,’’ al-Khansa said about her conversation with Ibrahim Najjar, Lebanon’s justice minister.

MOUNT ARAFAT, Saudi Arabia - Muslim pilgrims holding white umbrellas against the blazing sun clambered up a rocky desert hill for prayers yesterday during the annual hajj, a day after torrential rains that killed at least 77 people. Flooding from the unusually heavy downpours hit hardest in the Red Sea coastal city of Jiddah, about 40 miles away from the holy city of Mecca and its surrounding sacred sites where the 3 million Muslims from around the world were performing the rites of the pilgrimage.

ZUBAIR, Iraq - A bomb tore through a procession of Shi'ite pilgrims heading toward a largely Sunni town in southern Iraq yesterday, killing at least 53 people in the latest sign of a power struggle between rival Muslim sects that has escalated since the US military withdrawal. Fears of more bloodshed have risen in recent weeks, with the United States no longer enjoying the leverage it once had to encourage the two sides to work together to rein in extremists. Most of the latest attacks appear to be aimed at Iraq's majority Shi'ites, suggesting Sunni insurgents seeking to...

BAGHDAD - Thousands of mourners marched through Baghdad behind the coffin of one of the country’s most powerful Shi’ite leaders yesterday, and eulogies from rivals and allies reflected deep worry over the political void left by his death. Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim’s death from lung cancer comes at a time of disarray among Iraqi Shi’ites. Just this week, his party formed a new political grouping to contest January’s parliamentary elections that excludes the Iraqi prime minister, setting up a showdown between the two former allies.

BAGHDAD -- Assailants ambushed a convoy of Britons on a northern Baghdad highway yesterday, killing an Iraqi security guard and a bystander, officials and witnesses said. US soldiers came under fire in a Shi'ite holy city as an agreement to halt fighting there appeared to be unraveling. Two US soldiers were wounded in the clashes around the holy city, Najaf, the military said. Fighting erupted last night in Najaf's twin city, Kufa, and Shi'ite militiamen accused the Americans of firing near the main mosque, damaging its outer wall.

ZUBAIR, Iraq - A bomb tore through a procession of Shi'ite pilgrims heading toward a largely Sunni town in southern Iraq yesterday, killing at least 53 people in the latest sign of a power struggle between rival Muslim sects that has escalated since the US military withdrawal. Fears of more bloodshed have risen in recent weeks, with the United States no longer enjoying the leverage it once had to encourage the two sides to work together to rein in extremists. Most of the latest attacks appear to be aimed at Iraq's majority Shi'ites, suggesting Sunni insurgents seeking to undermine the...

BAGHDAD - Bomb blasts ripped through Karbala yesterday, one of the holiest cities in Shi'ite Islam, killing at least 10 people in a community still reeling from a deadly bus hijacking earlier this month that left 22 dead and Iraq's Shi'ites again feeling hunted. Four explosions that generated thick black smoke struck Karbala within a five-minute period, government officials said. Two of the bombs targeted an Interior Ministry office that issues ID cards. Another struck near a house, shredding its walls and ceiling.

BEIRUT — A Lebanese TV psychic who had been condemned to death for witchcraft by a Saudi Arabian court while visiting that country will not be beheaded, his lawyer said yesterday. May al-Khansa said that the Saudi ambassador in Beirut had informed the Lebanese justice minister that the execution of Ali Sibat would not take place. “He confirmed to me that there will be no execution,’’ al-Khansa said about her conversation with Ibrahim Najjar, Lebanon’s justice minister.

MOUNT ARAFAT, Saudi Arabia - Muslim pilgrims holding white umbrellas against the blazing sun clambered up a rocky desert hill for prayers yesterday during the annual hajj, a day after torrential rains that killed at least 77 people. Flooding from the unusually heavy downpours hit hardest in the Red Sea coastal city of Jiddah, about 40 miles away from the holy city of Mecca and its surrounding sacred sites where the 3 million Muslims from around the world were performing the rites of the pilgrimage.

JERUSALEM - Israel broke ground on a new housing complex for Jews in east Jerusalem yesterday, brushing off President Obama’s criticism that construction in the disputed part of the holy city undermines efforts to relaunch Mideast peace talks. The groundbreaking occurred a day after Israel defied American, European, and Palestinian demands to stop settlement activity by announcing it will press forward with construction of 900 apartments in another Jewish area in east Jerusalem.

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - The family of Osama bin Laden has announced the death of one of the terror mastermind’s brothers. In a full-page notice yesterday in Al-Riyadh newspaper, the family said Thabet bin Laden passed away and the funeral was scheduled for that afternoon in the holy city of Mecca. The notice said he died Saturday but did not give the cause of death or his age. Thabet bin Laden was one of 54 children born to Mohammed bin Laden, a poor Yemeni immigrant who started the family contracting business in the 1930s that grew into a multimillion...

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - Saudi Arabia announced yesterday that it had arrested 208 suspected terrorists in six cells and thwarted several planned attacks in the kingdom's largest terror sweep to date. Among the plots, the Interior Ministry said, the capture of eight Al Qaeda-linked suspects "preempted an imminent attack on an oil installation" in the country's east, which is home to most Saudi petroleum reserves. A ministry statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency said the eight were led by a non-Saudi man, who was among those arrested.

WHO: Richard Simon, Amy Robertson, and their children, Emma, 15, and Lily, 12, of Cohasset WHERE: Morocco WHEN: Two weeks in July WHY: "We travel a fair amount and were looking for an adventure," Simon said. "We'd done a lot of cities and nature trips. This was an opportunity to do everything. " Added Robertson, "And the idea of getting to see some of the Islamic culture was very interesting. " COVERING THE COUNTRY: "Richard is the most amazing travel planner," Robertson said.

BAGHDAD - Thousands of mourners marched through Baghdad behind the coffin of one of the country’s most powerful Shi’ite leaders yesterday, and eulogies from rivals and allies reflected deep worry over the political void left by his death. Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim’s death from lung cancer comes at a time of disarray among Iraqi Shi’ites. Just this week, his party formed a new political grouping to contest January’s parliamentary elections that excludes the Iraqi prime minister, setting up a showdown between the two former allies.

BAGHDAD - A female suicide bomber struck Shi'ite worshipers in the holy city of Karbala yesterday, an official and a witness said, killing at least 43 people and leaving pools of blood on the street leading to one of Iraq's most revered mosques. The blast was the deadliest in a series of attacks that left at least 72 Iraqis dead, including six youths killed when mortar rounds slammed into a soccer field in eastern Baghdad. Two US soldiers also were killed yesterday in a roadside bombing north of Baghdad, bringing the American death toll...