Middle Orient

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – Russia has set no deadline for Iran to respond to an offer from six world powers aimed at resolving Tehran’s nuclear standoff with the West, Russia’s U.N. ambassador said on Wednesday.

HASHARON PRISON, Israel (Reuters) – Israel released five Palestinian prisoners on Wednesday as part of a swap deal with the Lebanese Hezbollah guerrilla group that brought the bodies of two Israeli soldiers home.

RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) – Israel has agreed to release roughly 120 to 150 Palestinian prisoners as a gesture to President Mahmoud Abbas, Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said on Wednesday.

ISMAILIA, Egypt (Reuters) – Egyptian police shot dead a Sudanese man as he tried to sneak across the border to Israel on Wednesday, bringing to 19 the number of migrants killed at the frontier this year, medical and security sources said.

ANKARA/BAKU (Reuters) – An explosion on the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline on Tuesday night in eastern Turkey has halted the oil flow along the one million barrels per day pipeline, a senior Turkish Energy Ministry official said.

BAQUBA, Iraq (Reuters) – In a video sold in Baghdad’s souks, a group of women draped in cartridge belts and clutching pistols and rifles explained why they had taken up arms against the U.S. military in Iraq.

TEHRAN (FNA) – The National Iranian Oil Company is to propose 15 project packs to the global market for investment.

TEHRAN (FNA) – Good relations between Iran and Azerbaijan have been conducive to the development of partnership and cooperation between the two sides’ border officials, the chief of the State Border Service of the Azerbaijan Republic said.

TEHRAN (FNA) – Iran’s state purchasing agency has extended the bidding deadline in an international tender to buy 100,000 tons of Kazakhstan-origin milling wheat to August 9, from August 2, European traders said.

TEHRAN (FNA) – An amount of 100mln dollars has been allocated for the development of Bandar Imam petrochemical infrastructures this year (Iranian year started 20 March 2008), an official said.