Middle Orient

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Treasury Department on Thursday put seven people it said were backing the Iraqi insurgency from Syria on a list that forbids U.S. citizens from having any dealings with them.

GAZA (Reuters) – Israeli soldiers shot and killed a Palestinian in the Gaza Strip on Friday, local medical workers said.

MAZAR-I-SHARIF BASE: “The situation is getting more dangerous,” said Lieutenant Colonel Jorst Fohmann at a base of about 1,400 German soldiers at Mazar-i-Sharif in northern Afghanistan.

BEIRUT (Reuters) – Lebanon’s presidential election is unlikely to take place on Friday as planned because rival leaders have yet to finalize a political deal to make the army chief president, political sources said on Thursday.

RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Thursday he did not oppose dialogue with rival Hamas Islamists but reiterated the group must first relinquish control of the Gaza Strip.

MINGORA, Pakistan (Reuters) – Pakistani forces have cleared militants from two towns in a northwestern valley, and the Islamists trying to impose Taliban-style rule there have fled, the military said on Thursday.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Iran’s nuclear case should be withdrawn from the UN Security Council and returned to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Tehran’s ambassador to Paris said in the wake of a report by the US intelligence officials underlying the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear programs.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency7)- The United States should drop sanctions imposed on Iran following a US intelligence report that Tehran was not seeking nuclear weapons, Iranian Oil Minister Gholam Hussain Nozari said on Wednesday.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Iran needs $150-$160 billion investment in its oil and gas sector to boost output capacity over the next seven years, Iranian Oil Minister Gholam Hossein Nozari said on Wednesday.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Hungry for acquiring more oil and gas assets abroad, India’s ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL) is set to ink an understanding with the Hinduja Group for jointly exploring the possibilities of acquiring acreages overseas.