Middle Orient

(BBC NEWS) Hamas says it has released the top representative of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah party in the Gaza Strip. Zakaria Agha was held for four days after being seized by Hamas gunmen.

(BBC NEWS) Palestinian medical workers say a teenager shot by Israeli troops in the West Bank village of Nilin last week has died of his wounds.

BALCILAR, Turkey (Reuters) – A gas explosion killed at least 17 girls and injured 27 others, wrecking a dormitory at a school in southern Turkey on Friday, a military rescue official said.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – The number of civilians killed in Iraq last month fell to less than a quarter of the toll in July 2007, government figures released on Friday showed, underscoring a dramatic improvement in security.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraq’s government called for calm on Friday to dampen a bitter row over the status of Kirkuk, a day after Kurdish councilors called for the city to become part of the largely autonomous region of Kurdistan.

TRIPOLI (Reuters) – In Tripoli’s most deprived areas, Lebanon’s lingering political troubles are being fought out in a sectarian conflict that threatens to cause more bloodshed.

TEHRAN (FNA)- The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps said Monday it had successfully test-fired a naval weapon which could destroy any vessel within a range of 300 kilometers (190 miles).

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran’s top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili on Monday spoke by phone with EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana on the standoff over Tehran’s nuclear program.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian Oil Minister Gholam Hussein Nozari has revealed that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) will seriously consider rationing its oil production.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki is currently on a visit to Saudi Arabia to attend a meeting of the executive committee of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC).