Middle Orient

TEHRAN (FNA)- Oil rose back above $126 a barrel on Monday on supply worries, lifted by concern over West’s ultimatum to Iran over its nuclear activities, a tropical storm that has formed near the Gulf of Mexico and further violence in OPEC member Nigeria.

DAMASCUS (Reuters) – Syrian officials attended the funeral on Sunday of a senior security officer whose killing has shaken the tightly controlled country.

RAMALLAH (Reuters) – Israel freed a former Hamas minister from prison on Sunday, an official from the Islamist group said.

(Reuters) – Following are security developments in Iraq at 1330 GMT on Sunday. * denotes a new or updated item.

ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkish troops have killed eight Kurdish guerrillas in a fire fight in southeast Turkey, bringing the total death toll in a two-day clash to 13, military headquarters said on Sunday.

BEIRUT (Reuters) – A senior Syrian officer was shot dead in mysterious circumstances in northern Syria last week, Arab media reports said on Sunday.

GAZA (Reuters) – About 30 pro-Fatah Palestinians who fled to Israel after fierce clashes in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip were sent back to the coastal enclave on Sunday and were immediately detained by the Islamist group’s security forces.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – A car bomb killed eight people and wounded 14 others in a Sunni Arab area of Baghdad on Sunday, Iraqi police said.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called on Central Bank Governor Tahmasb Mazaheri to take quick measures to solve the recent problems preventing state-owned banks from granting loans to the public.

TEHRAN (FNA)- The falling value of the dollar is to blame for around a third of the rise in the price of oil, Iran’s Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said on Saturday.