Middle Orient

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Around two million Muslims massed in the holy Saudi city of Mina on Wednesday for the symbolic stoning of the devil, one of the high points of the annual hajj.

Israel’s plan to build houses on occupied land near Jerusalem will cloud renewed peace talks, the Palestinian Authority said on Sunday, the day before an international aid conference opens in Paris.

Iraq’s government is planning to release thousands of detainees from custody as part of efforts to forge national reconciliation between Shi’ite and Sunni Muslims, a top Iraqi official said on Sunday.

Britain handed over security in Basra province to Iraqi forces on Sunday, effectively marking the end of nearly five years of British control of southern Iraq.

DIWANIYA, Iraq (Reuters) – A former police chief in southern Iraq has been arrested and accused of assisting insurgents, police said on Saturday.

BEIRUT (Reuters) – Lebanon’s army urged feuding politicians to set aside their differences and strengthen the foundations of the nation on Friday at the funeral of an assassinated general.

GAZA (Reuters) – A senior adviser to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s government was abducted by unknown gunmen in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip on Friday, Abbas’s Fatah faction said.

PARIS (Reuters) – France hosts an international aid conference on Monday to raise funds for the Western-backed Palestinian Authority and strengthen President Mahmoud Abbas against Hamas Islamists as he negotiates peace with Israel.

GAZA (Reuters) – An explosion near a funeral procession in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip on Friday injured least 20 mourners, medical officials said.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – Lebanon has asked the United Nations to help it investigate a car bomb that killed a top general this week in the latest of a string of political assassinations, the world body said on Thursday.