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Tuareg camel-traders returning from Niger reported that a group of Saudi tourists who arrived at the Niger-Mali border on December 28 was ambushed by a Nigerien Arab gang that aimed to kidnap them and then sell them to the terrorist commander Mokhtar Belmokhtar, who operates in the Sahel region.

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Hizbullah deputy secretary-general Naim Qassem today called the March 14 Christian leaders' reactions to an 'Ashura speech by Hizbullah secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah "percussion bombs."

(For more on Nasrallah's December 27 'Ashura speech, see Hizbullah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah Threatens: Lebanon's Christians Must Learn from Their Failed Bets on the U.S. and Israel – And from the Situation of Iraq's Christians)

Qassem said that Sayyed Nasrallah's advice to Lebanon's Christians "stemmed from his will to see them united and to draw their attention that Lebanon is the natural place to live alongside their fellow Muslims."

According to Sheikh Qassem, Sayyed Nasrallah wanted to tell some Christians that the United States did not help anyone and that it has hurt all its allies. "His eminence also wanted to say that political developments require that we all rally around each other," Sheikh Qassem added.

Source: Almanar.com.lb, December 31, 2009

Cartoonist: Amer Al-Z'ubi

Source: Al-Bayan, UAE, December 31, 2009

Cartoonist: Jihad Awartany

Source: Al-Watan, Saudi Arabia, December 30, 2009

Egypt's Cairo province is examining a plan for proving a taxi service for women only in order to prevent mixing of the genders.

The move came following success in separating the genders in railroad cars.

The spread of such separation in the Arab world is being met with opposition by taxi drivers, who fear for their livelihoods, and by women's organizations.

Supporters of the plan say that its advantage is that it prevents sexual harassment; opponents say that women's rights must be protected by legislation and punishment.

Source: Al-Quds Al-Arabi, London, December 31, 2009

The Yemeni 14 October daily reported on December 29, 2009 that significant changes have been made in the mosques in the city of Aden, on orders from the Ministry of Religious Endowments, and that since February 2006 many moderate preachers have been removed from their posts and replaced by extremist Salafis.

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Ahmed Laqman, secretary-general of the Arab Labor Organization, has warned against the rising number of unemployed resulting from the global financial crisis.

He estimated that 2 million-5.3 million unemployed will join the ranks of the 17 million currently unemployed in the Arab countries, bringing the total to over 20 million.

Source: Akhbar al-Khaleej, Bahrain, December 30, 2009

Yemeni Foreign Minister Abu Bakr Al-Gharbi

Yemeni Foreign Minister Abu Bakr Al-Gharbi confirmed that Syria undertook a mediation role between Yemen and Iran. However, in response to the Syrian foreign minister's statement, which was reported by the MEMRI blog yesterday (see Syrian Foreign Minister Reflects On His Country's Foreign Policy), Al-Gharbi said that the mediation had been suspended not because of intervention by foreign powers, as the Syrian minister alleged, but because the Iranians have refused to take a firm position regarding the activities of the Houthis as being illegal and in violation of international law.

Al-Gharbi also said that there were 200 to 300 Al-Qaeda elements in Yemen who are planning attacks similar to the failed attempt on Northwest flight No. 253 from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas Day. The minister said that he plans to visit the U.S. in the near future.

Source: www.alsumaria.tv/ar/print-news-2-42477.html of December 30, 2009

At least 27 were killed and dozens of others were wounded in coordinated suicide attacks on government buildings in Anbar Province in Western Iraq.

According to police sources, the first suicide bombing occurred at the entrance to the compound, and the second suicide bombing occurred when Provincial Governor Qasim Al-Fahdawi appeared on the scene of the first explosion.

The governor was transferred in critical condition to a local hospital and was then airlifted to a Baghdad hospital by a U.S. helicopter.