Middle Orient Press

Following are the latest figures for military deaths in Iraq and Iraqi civilians killed in attacks since the U.S.-led invasion in March, 2003: U.S.-LED COALITION FORCES: United States 3,926

IRAQ – Following are security developments in Iraq at 8:00 a.m. EST on Wednesday. * denotes new or updated item.

DAMASCUS – A score of young Iraqi women in tight, shimmering gowns shuffle across the nightclub dance floor under the hungry eyes of Gulf Arabs at nearby tables.

JERUSALEM – The number of people killed in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict dropped sharply in 2007, but human rights abuses in the Gaza Strip and occupied West Bank increased, an Israeli human rights watchdog said on Monday.

DUBAI – Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden accused Washington of plotting to take control of Iraq’s oil and urged Iraqis to reject efforts to rebuild a U.S.-backed national unity government there.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Iran’s nuclear capability brings balance of power to the region and strengthens Muslim and Arab world against the Zionist regime of Israel, a former Lebanese minister said.

RAMALLAH, West Bank – The top Palestinian security official said on Saturday his government was dismantling militant groups, including those connected to President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency) Iran’s Agriculture Minister Mohammad Reza Eskandari and Turkish Foreign Trade Minister Kursad Tuzmen discussed issues of mutual interest in Ankara.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency) A Turkish parliamentary delegation headed by AKP MP and foreign relations committee chairman Murat Mercan met with a number of senior Iranian officials here in Tehran this week.

Hamas will not release a captured Israeli soldier unless Israel meets its demand to free nearly 1,400 Palestinian prisoners, including 350 with life sentences, a leader of the Islamist group in Gaza said on Wednesday.