Middle Orient

Iraqi leaders are examining a new draft deal under which US troops would remain in the country after the UN mandate expires later this year, officials say.

A signing ceremony has been held in Damascus establishing diplomatic relations for the first time between Syria and Lebanon.

TEHRAN (FNA)- A top adviser to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that Iran would hold talks with the United States only if its forces leave the Middle East and Washington ends its support for Israel.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – In five years of war, Iraq has been hostage to a parade of grim statistics: car bombs, corpses, cholera and refugees fleeing rampant bloodshed.

Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad has issued a decree to set up diplomatic ties with Lebanon and open an embassy.

The summit between Lebanese President Michel Suleiman and the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has been heralded by some observers as ushering in a new era for Syria and Lebanon.

British troops are no longer needed to maintain security in southern Iraq as the situation has changed, the country’s prime minister has said.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Prominent Reformist cleric Mehdi Karroubi says President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s comment on the Holocaust has cost Iran an arm and a leg.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – A car bomb killed nine people and wounded 13 in the Bayaa district of southern Baghdad on Sunday, police said.The bomb exploded in a car parked on a busy commercial street in Bayaa, a mainly Shi’ite area, police said, adding the death toll could rise.

Hundreds of Iraqi Christians have reportedly fled the northern Iraqi city of Mosul over the past week, following a wave of killings aimed against them.