Source : Razak Ahmad | Reuters
KUALA LUMPUR | 13 May 2011

Petronas will build a $20 billion integrated refinery and petrochemicals complex, Malaysia’s largest-single investment, that will boost the country’s total refining capacity by half as it looks to meet Asian demand for specialty chemicals.

Source : Mohammed Mar`i | Arab News
RAMALLAH | 13 May 2011

The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and Palestine Sheikh Mohammed Hussein said that the Israeli police prevented thousands of Palestinian worshipers from attending the Friday prayers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.

Source : Edd K. Usman | Manila Bulletin
MANILA : Philippines | 13 May 2011

Terror leader and al-Qaeda network founder Osama bin Laden, whose death as in life continues to spawn debates among Muslims because of his violent “jihad” (struggle in the way of Allah), is neither a hero nor a martyr to the Muslim world as his doctrines exceeded the limits of Islam, a Muslim religious leader said Friday.

Source : Amir Shah & Patrick Quinn | AP
KABUL : Afghanistan | 13 May 2011

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told the Afghan Parliament Friday that the two nations must not allow the flames of extremism and terrorism to be fanned and saluted Afghanistan’s efforts to reconcile with Taleban insurgents.

Source : Diaa Hadid & Sarah El-Deeb | AP
TRIPOLI | 13 May 2011

Taunting NATO, Muammar Qaddafi has said that he is alive despite a series of airstrikes and “in a place where you can’t get to and kill me.” The defiant audio recording was broadcast after the Libyan government accused NATO of killing 11 Muslim preachers with an airstrike on a disputed eastern oil town.

Source : Reuters
CAIRO | 12 May 2011

A senior member of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood said he would run for president as an independent, a move that could draw votes from backers of the Islamist group that has said it will not field a candidate.

Secular groups and the West are concerned by how much power the Brotherhood may gain after the first elections since the toppling of president Hosni Mubarak. Decades of authoritarian rule has curbed the development of potential rivals.

Source : Associated Press
MOSCOW | 13 May 2011

Russian and Pakistani leaders have pledged to work together to fight terrorism and prevent drug-trafficking in Central and Southern Asia.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and his Pakistani counterpart Asif Ali Zardari were meeting in the Kremlin on Thursday.

Source : Reuters
SANAA/TAIZ | 13 May 2011

Qatar on Thursday pulled out of a Gulf-brokered plan to ease Yemen’s president from power, leaving a deal to end months of violent protests against Ali Abdullah Saleh’s rule close to collapse.

Qatar’s withdrawal came just as the opposition said the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), of which it is a member, was sending its secretary-general to Yemen to revive the stalled deal.

Source : John Iriash | Reuters
PARIS | 11 May 2011

The Libyan government may be forcibly expelling migrants in an attempt to flood Europe, the United Nations refugee chief said on Wednesday.

Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi has previously warned European leaders backing the revolt against his 41-year rule that he would unleash a wave of migrants against Europe to retaliate against military strikes on his country.

Source : Saeed Al-Batati | Arab News
SANAA | 11 May 2011

Pro-democracy protesters in Yemen have decided to escalate pressure on President Abdullah Ali Saleh by storming government headquarters ahead of a mass march to the presidential palace on Friday.

In Sanaa, a protester was killed and dozens of others were injured Wednesday when police intercepted thousands of protesters who were proceeding to the headquarters of the prime minister.