Middle Orient

TEHRAN (FNA)- Swiss energy trading company EGL has signed a multibillion dollar contract to buy natural gas from Iran’s national gas producer over the next 25 years, the Swiss company announced Monday.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli attacks in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip have boosted the popularity of the Islamist group’s leader Ismail Haniyeh among Palestinians in the territory and in the West Bank, according to a poll on Monday.

GENEVA (Reuters) – Five years after the United States led an invasion of Iraq, millions of people there are still deprived of clean water and medical care, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Monday.

TEHRAN (Reuters) – Twenty-two students were killed when their bus crashed with a fuel tanker and burst into flames in Iran’s southwest, Iranian media said on Sunday.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad conferred with Switzerland’s visiting Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey about bilateral relations and cooperation as well as other issues of mutual interest in a meeting here in Tehran on Monday.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran has called for Brazil’s state-run oil company Petrobras to become more active in its oil sector.

TEHRAN (FNA)- National Taiwan University Professor Wu Chung-chih has won the 21st Khwarizmi International Award (KIA) for Science and Technology from Iran for his study of organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs) and technologies, making him the first Taiwanese ever to receive the award.

TEHRAN (FNA)- EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said Sunday that he hoped to meet Iran’s top nuclear negotiator within the next three months.

TEHRAN (FNA)- The Iraqi deputy prime minister has called Iran an important neighbor and stressed his country’s willingness to strengthen bilateral ties.

TEHRAN (FNA)- The EU foreign policy chief has described Iran as fundamental to the Nabucco gas pipeline to Europe from the Middle East and Central Asia.