Spartan Echo

  JERUSALEM (AP) — Entertainment star Barbra Streisand waded into one of Israel’s touchiest issues Monday on the first major stop of her tour of the country — Jewish religious practices that separate men and women. Speaking at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem on Monday, she took aim at cases of ultra-Orthodox Jews targeting women. [...]

  BAGHDAD (AP) — A Shiite militia leader on Monday claimed responsibility for a rocket attack over the weekend that killed two members of an Iranian exile group near Baghdad. Saturday’s attack on the sprawling Camp Liberty also killed an Iraqi and wounded nine Iranians and seven Iraqis. The group, the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, is the militant [...]

  KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Insurgents fired rocket-propelled grenades and heavy machine guns into a convoy carrying goods to the Afghan capital on Monday, June 17,  killing three drivers and wounding two others, an official said. Two of the container trucks caught fire and burned from the grenade blasts at about 2:30 a.m. on the [...]

  LONDON (AP) — A newspaper report that British eavesdropping agency GCHQ repeatedly hacked into foreign diplomats’ phones and emails has prompted an angry response from traditional rival Russia and provoked demands for an investigation from Turkey and South Africa. Although spying on diplomats is as old as diplomacy itself, the Guardian’s report laid out [...]

  TEKANI, Bangladesh (AP) — Moushumi’s family now has one of the largest homes in their village — two bedrooms plus a living area with walls made of sturdy brick. Her father and brother will soon have a small business out front, selling furniture her dad will make. There will be money to pay for [...]

  ENNISKILLEN, Northern Ireland (AP) — President Barack Obama declared peace in Northern Ireland a “blueprint” for those living amid conflict around the world, while acknowledging that the calm between Catholics and Protestants will face further tests. Summoning young people to take responsibility for their country’s future, Obama warned there is “more to lose now [...]

  BAGHDAD (AP) — A blistering string of apparently coordinated bombings and a shooting across Iraq killed at least 51 and wounded dozens Sunday, spreading fear throughout the country in a wave of violence that is raising the prospect of a return to widespread sectarian killing a decade after a U.S.-led invasion. Violence has spiked [...]

  BEIRUT (AP) — A car bomb targeting a checkpoint near a military airport in an upscale neighborhood of the Syrian capital killed 10 soldiers, activists said Monday as President Bashar Assad’s troops pressed ahead with an offensive to regain territory they lost to rebels trying to topple his regime. The army has scored major [...]

  KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghanistan’s president landed in Qatar Sunday,  June 9 to discuss his country’s stalled peace process and the possible opening of a Taliban office in the Gulf state, officials said. Foreign Ministry spokesman Janan Mosazai said President Hamid Karzai will not hold any talks with Taliban representatives now in Qatar. He will [...]

  FORT MEADE, Md. (AP) — The mountain of classified material Army Pfc. Bradley Manning gave to the anti-secrecy organization WikiLeaks revealed sensitive information about military operations and tactics, including code words and the name at least one enemy target, according to evidence the government presented Tuesday. Manning, a 25-year-old Oklahoma native, has said he [...]

  TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran’s presidential race lost one more candidate Tuesday but gained a new script: reformist leaders uniting behind relative moderate Hasan Rowhani to boost his once-improbable shot at victory. Former presidents Mohammad Khatami and Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani fell behind Rowhani after a rival moderate bowed out in attempts to consolidate reform-minded [...]