Middle Orient

TEHRAN (FNA) – Iran has exported some 60,000 tons of red meat during the ten months as of March 21, 2007 (start of current Iranian year 1386), Majid Ansari director of the Public Relations Department of the Agricultural Jihad Ministry announced here on Sunday.

TEHRAN (FNA) – Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir affirmed his country’s eagerness to strengthen economic and political relations with Iran.

TEHRAN (FNA) – Iran’s business community is launching its own campaign to counter western economic pressure on Tehran, arguing that European companies are missing big new opportunities.

TUNCELI, Turkey – Ten separatist Kurdish guerrillas were killed in clashes with the Turkish troops in Bingol province on Sunday, army officials said.

BAGHDAD – Iraq’s presidency council said on Sunday a measure that would give thousands of former members of Saddam Hussein’s Baath party their old jobs back had become law, finalizing a key piece of legislation sought by Washington.

RIYADH – The Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), which comprises 57 Muslim countries, said on Sunday it would step up action at the United Nations to stop Israel’s blockade of Palestinians in Gaza.

ANKARA – Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has accused opponents of the Islamic-style headscarf for women of trying to sow division in secular but predominantly Muslim Turkey.

RAFAH, Gaza Strip – Egyptian forces began closing the border with the Gaza Strip on Sunday, stemming the flow of Palestinians across a frontier blown open 11 days ago by Hamas Islamists in defiance of an Israeli-led blockade.

TEHRAN (FNA) – Iranian Parliament Speaker Gholam Ali Haddad Adel said there resides no major impediment to the resumption of ties between Iran and Egypt, adding that Tehran and Cairo are determined to boost mutual cooperation.

TEHRAN (FNA) – Mojtaba Samareh Hashemi, senior advisor to the Iranian president, Saturday dismissed reports about a meeting between Iranian and US officials on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland.