Middle Orient

TEHRAN (FNA)- Saudi Health Minister Hamad Al-Manea, in a meeting with Iran’s Ambassador to Riyadh Seyed Mohammad Hosseini, described Iran as a permanent supporter of oppressed nations. “Iran always assists the oppressed nations around the globe,” the minister said on Monday. “Iran as a powerful nation within the Islamic world …

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iraqi National Security Adviser Muwafaq Al-Rubaie here in Tehran on Monday underlined his country’s decisiveness to implement an earlier decision for closing the headquarters of the anti-Iran terrorist group, the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO), in Diyala province. “Iraq has made a decision for Ashraf camp and will implement …

GAZA (Reuters) – Hamas said on Sunday it would cease fire immediately along with its Islamist allies in the Gaza Strip and give Israel, which already declared a unilateral truce, a week to pull its troops out of the territory. A spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said in …

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President-elect Barack Obama welcomes Israel’s ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and is committed to helping Israelis and Palestinians work toward peace, a spokesman said on Sunday. Obama will say more on the situation in Gaza after he is inaugurated on Tuesday, spokeswoman Brooke Anderson said in …

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Pope Benedict, in his strongest comments yet on the situation in Gaza, on Sunday condemned the violence that has killed hundreds of “innocent victims.” Speaking at his weekly Sunday noon prayer, the pope also asked his listeners in St Peter’s Square and around the world to …

GAZA (Reuters) – After 22 days of devastating Israeli air strikes and shelling, shocked Palestinians emerged onto the rubble-strewn streets of the Gaza Strip on Sunday to collect their dead and inspect their shattered homes. Women sat weeping amid the ruins of their houses, hiding their faces, many too distressed …

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (Reuters) – European and conservative Arab leaders said on Sunday Israel and the Palestinians must turn a shaky ceasefire in Gaza into a permanent peace that prevents any recurrence of violence. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, the host of a summit in the Red Sea resort of Sharm …

ALGIERS (Reuters) – Public anger over Gaza has added to economic and political strains in Algeria that will make for an uncomfortable test of nerves ahead of a presidential election in a country with a history of popular unrest. A steep drop in oil revenue, questions about the integrity of …

GAZA (Reuters) – Israeli forces killed a Palestinian in the Gaza Strip on Sunday in an area where militants had fired mortar bombs in defiance of a unilateral Israeli ceasefire, medical workers said. The incident occurred near the Gazan town of Khan Younis, the workers said, identifying the man as …

ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan flies to Brussels on Sunday for a visit aimed at boosting the Muslim country’s troubled bid for European Union accession. Erdogan’s trip, his first to Brussels in four years, comes as Ankara faces EU pressure to speed up reforms in a decisive …