Middle Orient

A suicide car bomber has killed nine people in a convoy carrying an Iraqi government minister in central Baghdad. At least 20 others were injured after the bomber slammed his car into the escort. Iraq’s Labour Minister Mahmoud Jawad Radhi escaped unhurt, officials say.

TEHRAN (FNA)- The leader of Iraq’s Kurdish regional administration, Massoud Barzani, arrived in Tehran leading a high-profile delegation on an official visit to Iran.

MAZRA AL-GHARBIYEH, West Bank (Reuters) – Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad joined West Bank farmers to pick olives Wednesday and slammed assaults by Jewish settlers on the harvesters as “terrorism.”

PARIS (Reuters) – Palestinians hope Israeli calls for the revival of a Saudi peace initiative could lead to progress on a diplomatic track that has been dormant for years, their chief negotiator with Israel said Wednesday.

Egypt’s outlawed Muslim Brotherhood movement says 32 members have been detained for joining protests aimed at breaking the Gaza Strip blockade.

TEHRAN (FNA)- An influential Iraqi cleric living in Iran has issued a fatwa – or a religious decree – against a US-Iraqi security pact that would keep American troops in Iraq for three more years.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Turkish National Security Council on Tuesday decided to form a new structure in order to strengthen the coordination in the fight against terrorism.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli police have arrested nine Jews suspected of recent assaults against Arabs in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, including several firebombings that set some homes ablaze, a spokesman said Monday.

SILIVRI, Turkey (Reuters) – A shadowy right-wing group went on trial in Turkey on Monday on charges of trying to topple Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan’s government.

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (Reuters) – One protester died of gunshot wounds on Monday after clashes with police in eastern Turkey at a demonstration in support of jailed Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan, hospital sources said.