Middle Orient

Israel is considering easing criteria for freeing Palestinian prisoners, a move one Israeli official said on Monday could pave the way for the release of Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouthi.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Iranian diplomats have indicated they want to skip a postponed meeting with security, military and diplomatic experts from the US and instead hold another round of talks at the ambassadorial level, Iraqi officials said Monday.

Gunmen posing as Iraqi security forces kidnapped 14 members of one family in the volatile Diyala province north of Baghdad on Monday, police said.

A cargo train collided with a large family car and killed 12 people, including 10 children from the same extended family, a hospital morgue official said on Monday.

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.