Middle East

Amidst fears that the country is falling back into Taliban-style rules and conservative power, the Afghan government is now considering a law that would ban men's jeans, long hair, makeup, and couples talking in public. This follows the government's recent attempts to ban popular Indian soap operas, and a recent high court decision to confirm the death sentences of 100 people.

The proposal to outlaw these things is also seen as a part of a large push for Islamic values by the country's ruling religious elite.

According to Haji Ahmad Shah Khan Achakzai, an MP in Kandahar, the law would boost moral and religious values for the Afghan people:

"Kabul has seen a wave of liberal, unwelcome influences of late," he said. "There are women dressed immodestly, prostitution can be found openly and even alcohol is available on the market. Our job is to protect the Afghan people from being exposed to this un-Islamic way of life and poor morals," he said.

But not everyone is in favor the the laws, and some of Afghanistan's more liberal MPs fear the loss of hard-fought freedoms, and the return of another Taliban ruling era.

Others warn that attempts to bring stability to the country could be jeopardized if these laws allowed to go through:

Edna Parker, 114, of Shelbyville, Indiana, may soon lose her spot in the Guinness Book of World Records as the oldest living person in the world. Mariam Amash, 120 of Israel, has revealed that she is the world's oldest, after having shown her birth certificate when applying recently for an ID card.

According to her birth certificate, which was issued by the now defunct Ottoman Empire, Amash was born in 1888 near her current home in the village of Jisr az-Zarka.

Amash, a devout Muslim, has 10 children, 120 grandchildren, 250 great-grandchildren, and 30 great-great-grandchildren. She has made the haj pilgrimate to Mecca five times in her life, most recently in 1990 at the age of 102.

One of the FBI's most wanted terrorists, Imad Mughniyeh, was killed overnight by a car bomb in Damascus, Syria after having dropped out of sight for nearly fifteen years. Considered to be one of the most elusive terrorists in the world, the former Hezbollah security chief had been previously implicated in a series of attacks that killed hundreds of Americans in Lebanon in the 1980's, as well as a string of brutal kidnappings and bombings of Jewish sites in Argentina.

Hezbollah, a Lebanaese Shiite militant group, as wel as their main ally, Iran, have accused Israel in the assassination. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has quickly denied the charge, stating "Israel rejects the attempt by terrorist elements to ascribe to it any involvement whatsoever in this incident."

The US government is pleased to hear news of his death, as Mughniyeh was indicted in the US for the 1985 hijacking of a TWA airliner. A US Navy diver was killed in that incident, and the FBI put a $5 million bounty on him.

The FBI says that they are awaiting official confirmation of Imad Mughniyeh's death, as well as the details. Sean McCormack, a spokesman for the State Department said, "The world is a better place without this man in it. One way or another he was brought to justice."

Iranian officials have issued a stark warning to the United States military and any thoughts of crossing Iran's borders. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Seyed Mohammad Ali Hosseini said at a news conference Wednesday in Tehran that Iran would "give proper response to any move in this connection in a bid to defense its security and national sovereignty."

Further more, he said, "Any entrance to the Iranian soil by any U.S. military force to trail suspects would be against international laws and could be pursued legally."

A 2005 U.S. intelligence document that was leaked indicated that U.S. military forces in Iraq were permitted to pursue members of the former Iraqi regime or suspected terrorists across the border into Iran or Syria. Iran has come out to say they will not permit such action to occur without retaliation.

Saudi sweethearts hoping to give their loved one a beautiful bouquet of red roses for Valentine's Day will have to think outside of the box, due to a government-imposed ban on red roses ahead of the holiday. Saudi Arabia's Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice has ordered florists and gift shop owners in the country's capital of Riyadh to remove any items that are scarlet in color.

Such a clamp-down before Valentine's Day is not uncommon in the religiously conservative country. In the eyes of the Saudi vice squad, Valentine's Day encourages relations between men and women outside of wedlock.

In Saudi Arabia, unrelated men and women are forbidden from mixing, women cannot drive, and women must wear a headscarf and cloak. Relations outside the bounds of marriage are strictly prohibited and punishable by law.

Smoking bans around the world have relegated the world's smokers to seek refuge in their cigarettes outside, often times in the cold or rain. For those who'd still like to get in their nicotine fix, without having to spend as much time outside, Philip Morris is launching a new "snack size" mini cigarette - Marlboro Intense.

The mini cigarette allows smokers to smoke their cigarette much more quickly than regular sized ones, but it still delivers the same amount of nicotine as the full-size version.

The new Marlboro Intense cigarettes are only 7.2cm long, which is shorter than the standard 8.5cm cigarette. It will be first tested in Turkey, but with more than 50 countries around the world now enforcing smoking bans, Philip Morris believes that they may be on to something. So it may not be long before we see these snack-sized cigarettes in the States.

How likely are those who buy the Marlboro Intense mini-cigarettes to simply just start smoking more of them because of the psychology of their small size?

The official groundbreaking for the Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi (CCAD) hospital was held over the weekend on Sunday in the United Arab Emirates' capital city. The facility, which is scheduled to welcome its first patients in early 2011, will be a unique extension of the Cleveland Clinic model, who will play a vital role in the success and operation of the hospital.

CCAD will be a 360-bed (scalable to 490), multi-specialty facility located on Al Sowa Island in the UAE, across from the Abu Dhabi Mall. One of the main objectives of the CCAD is to meet the needs of patients that currently travel abroad for treatment.

CCAD will be a physician-led medical facility served by United States trained and board certified physicians. Medical professionals working at CCAD will receive on going training directly from the Cleveland Clinic here in Cleveland, Ohio.

Through a comprehensive range of specialties and sub-specialties, CCAD will ofer the region's most advanced tertiary/quaternary medical services. Both local and international patients will receive world-class care in an unique environment combining "seven star" amenities and service standards with the highest quality patient care and superior clinical outcomes.

President George Bush gave his radio address this morning to the nation. His focus today was on his trip Israel and Palestinian where he is attempting to broker a peace agreement.

Here is what he said:

THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. I'm speaking to you from the Middle East, where I have been meeting with friends and allies. We're discussing how we can work together to confront the extremists who threaten our future. And I have encouraged them to take advantage of the historic opportunity we have before us to advance peace, freedom, and security in this vital part of the world.

My first stop was Israel and the Palestinian Territories. I had good meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Olmert and Palestinian President Abbas. Both these men are committed to peace in the Holy Land. Both these men have been elected by their people. And both share a vision of two democratic states -- Israel and Palestine -- living side by side in peace and security.

On early Friday morning, a light snow fell on the city of Baghdad, a phenomenon not experienced by the Iraqi city in about 100 years. Other rare snowfalls were also reported in the west and center of Iraq, where temperatures fell to 32 degrees Fahrenheit (0 degrees Centigrade) and lower.

The snow that fell in Baghdad, however, was short-lived. The snow melted almost immediately as it touched the ground. The snow began falling just before dawn, and continued until after 9am.

Iraqi weather officials issued the following statement:

"Snow has fallen in Baghdad for the first time in about a century as a result of two air flows meeting. The first one was cold and dry and the second one was warm and humid. They met above Iraq."

However, Dawood Shakir, director of the meterology department in Iraq, said that climate change may be due to the rare event:

"It's very rare. Baghdad has never seen snow falling in living memory. These snowfalls are linked to the climate change that is happening everywhere. We are finding some places in the world which are warm and are supposed to be cold."

Benazir Bhutto, a Pakistan opposition leader and former prime minister, was assissinated on Thursday in a suicide attack that killed 20 others at a campaign rally. Bhutto's death has now thrown the upcoming January 8th parliamentary elections into chaos, and has created fears of mass protests and violence across the country.

The suicide bomber struck just minutes after Bhutto had addresses thousands of supporters in the city of Rawalpindi, about 8 miles south of Islamabad. Bhutto, 54, was shot in the neck and chest by the attacker, who thus blew himself up. 20 others were also killed at the rally.

Wasif Ali Khan, a member of Bhutto's party, said, "At 6:16 p.m., she expired." And Bhutto's lawyer, Babar Awan, said, "The surgeons confirmed that she has been martyred."

Supporters at the hospital where Bhutto was taken exploded in anger as news of her death circulated, smashing the glass door at the main entrance to the emergency unit. A few also began stoning cars outside the parking lot.

So far, no one has claimed responsibility for the attack on Bhutto. However, that did not stop Bhutto's supporters from pointing fingers as they began chantting "Killer, Killer, Musharraf," which referrs to the current Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, Bhutto's primary political opponent.