By KUNA,
Washington : President Barack Obama extended by one year the national emergency with respect to foreign terrorists who threaten to disrupt the Middle East peace process.
The presidential order, publicized late on Thursday, extends an emergency declared in 1995, then extended again in 1998, during the Bill Clinton presidency.
The 1998 extension came in the wake of the embassy bombings in Africa, and added al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and four others “who threaten to disrupt the Middle East peace process.” The notice said Obama ordered the extension “because these terrorist activities continue to threaten the Middle East peace process” and to pose “an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy and economy of the United States.”