Middle East Muslims Like Obama’s Words but Want to See Action

There was plenty of enthusiasm across the Muslim world for President Barack Obama’s Cairo speech Thursday, although much of it was tempered by a withholding of judgment until talk of change is translated into action. And there were mixed feelings about whether policy changes would be forthcoming and on Arab and Muslim responsibility to help bring it about

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GOP chastises Obama’s speech over Israeli-Palestinian issue

President Obama’s speech to the Muslim world on Thursday faced mixed reaction abroad — and a very clear directive at home from Republicans and conservatives: The United States cannot ruin its relationship with Israel. Speaking in Cairo, Egypt, the president took on the heated and controversial Palestinian-Israeli conflict by reaffirming that the U.S

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Egyptians await Obama, saying, ‘It can’t all be rainbows and roses’

Languishing in a Cairo prison last year, a prisoner noticed that every day, the prison staff would clean the adjacent cell, even though there was no one in it. Why, the prisoner asked his guards, did they do it It’s for Barack Obama, they responded.

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New Clues to Autism’s Cause

Correction appended: July 15, 2008 What exactly is going awry in the brains of people who have autism The answer is very slowly coming into focus. A paper published in the current issue of Science by researchers at Children’s Hospital Boston and members of the Boston-based Autism Consortium identifies five new autism-related gene defects. Already, more than a dozen genetic defects have been found to be associated with autism spectrum disorders, which affect about 1 in 150 children, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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Ready for a Fight: Russia’s New Security Policy

Diminishing supplies of oil and natural gas will push countries into violent competition, the Kremlin predicted in a long-awaited national security strategy paper released this week. The document foresees these struggles playing out in the Arctic as well as the Middle East, the Barents Sea, the Caspian Sea and Central Asia — and states that Russia is prepared to fight for its share of the world’s resources

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Pope visits Jerusalem’s Old City

Pope Benedict XVI will complete his eight-day tour of the Holy Land on Friday with a busy morning in Jerusalem’s Old City, including meeting the patriarchs of the Greek Orthodox and Armenian Apostolic churches. In between sessions with the patriarchs, Benedict will tour and pray at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, believed to be located on the site where Jesus was crucified and buried

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