Middle Orient

ISMAILIA, Egypt – Israel has agreed to allow 550 Palestinians who have been stranded in Egypt for roughly four months to cross into the Gaza Strip on Tuesday via the Jewish state, Egyptian security and border sources said.

KARACHI – Pakistan’s share market tumbled for a second straight day on Tuesday as investors waited for a clearer picture to emerge of the country’s political crisis.

WASHINGTON – The United States expressed concern on Monday about any indefinite postponement of elections in Pakistan after the assassination of Benazir Bhutto and encouraged Islamabad to go ahead with the vote.

JERUSALEM – Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has barred new construction work, building planning and occupancy tenders at West Bank settlements without his approval, documents show.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency) Iran said it hoped Palestinian issue would be resolved through the implementation of a Tehran plan which calls for the restoration of Palestinians’ rights.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency) Iran believes in the need for talks with the US over Iraq in principle, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Seyed Mohammad Ali Hosseini said, assuring that Tehran and Washington would attend a fourth round of talks on Iraq’s security at ambassadorial level.

BAGHDAD – The death toll in a suicide bombing on the northern outskirts of Baghdad on Monday reached 11, including five children and six neighborhood patrol volunteers, an Interior Ministry source said.

ISMAILIA, Egypt – Stranded Palestinian haj pilgrims protesting at Egypt’s refusal to allow them to return to Gaza through a Hamas-controlled crossing, smashed furniture and windows at a shelter on Monday, a security source said.

ISLAMABAD – Pakistan has suffered colossal losses in rioting that erupted when opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was assassinated with damage of about $200 million to the railways alone, the government said on Monday.

GAZA – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction will limit its anniversary celebrations in Hamas-run Gaza to candles and fireworks this week for fear a rally — banned by the Islamist group — will spark violence.