Middle Orient

TEHRAN (FNA) – Iran plans to privatize 47 firms in its energy sector worth $90 billion and set up a holding company for these assets which it will list on four international exchanges, a National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) executive said.

TEHRAN (FNA) – Iran’s Presidential Advisor Mohammad Nasser Biriya has said that Turkey’s approval of the Hijab law shows Islam has prevailed in the country.

TEHRAN (FNA) – Iranian Consul General Saeed Kharazi on Saturday called for stronger bilateral ties between the peoples and governments of Iran and Pakistan.

Egypt boosted troop security along the volatile border with Gaza on Friday, a security official said, following an alleged threat by Hamas that the group would stage kidnappings of Egyptian troops if its operatives arrested in the Sinai were not releaseThe remarks came amid stepped-up rhetoric by Egypt against Gaza’s …

BEIRUT  – Arab League chief Amr Moussa brought feuding Lebanese parties together on Friday to try to agree on a new government and end a protracted political crisis.

AUSTIN, Texas – Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said on Thursday a lasting peace accord with Israel was unlikely in 2008 despite renewed diplomatic efforts to resolve the long-running conflict.

TEHRAN (FNA) – Tehran’s interim Friday Prayers leader Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami stressed that the Israeli regime could never thwart Palestinian Intifada through continued siege on Gaza and massacre of Palestinians

TEHRAN (FNA) – Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki here Friday assigned new heads for his European, Asian and Economic affairs departments.

TEHRAN (FNA) – Iraq’s electricity ministry delegation is discussing further cooperation with counterparts in Iran, though Baghdad wants projects implemented soon.

TEHRAN (FNA) – Four consecutive earthquakes have hit the southern Iranian province of Fars, the strongest of them measuring 4.2 on the Richter scale.