Middle Orient

BAGHDAD – Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice praised Iraq on Tuesday for passing the first in a series of critical laws meant to reconcile warring Iraqis, saying progress was remarkable even though more was needed.

ANKARA/SULAIMANIYA, Iraq – Turkish warplanes attacked Kurdish guerrilla targets in northern Iraq on Tuesday, Turkey’s General Staff said, but there were no reports of casualties or serious damage.

GAZA – Israel killed at least 18 Palestinians, nearly all Hamas militants, in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, in violence the Palestinian Authority said was a “slap in the face” to President George W. Bush’s peace efforts.

BEIRUT – A car bomb damaged a U.S. diplomatic vehicle in Beirut on Tuesday, killing at least three people and wounding 16, but the U.S. State Department said no Americans were hurt by the blast.

LEBANON – At least three people were killed in an explosion which damaged a U.S. diplomatic car in Beirut on Tuesday and wounded a passenger, security sources said.

BAGHDAD – Iraq’s oil minister said a helicopter from the U.S.-led coalition caused a blaze on Tuesday that shut the major Shuaiba refinery near the southern oil hub of Basra, but an industry official blamed a mortar attack.

TEHRAN (FNA) Iranian Parliament Speaker Gholam Ali Haddad Adel said US President George Bush would fail in attaining the goal of his visit to the Mideast region as Washington’s plot for portraying a frightening picture of Iran is destined to failure.

TEHRAN (FNA) Kuwait’s Foreign Minister Muhammad al-Sabah al-Salim al-Sabah is scheduled to arrive here in Tehran Tuesday evening to attend the two countries’ first joint economic cooperation commission meeting.

TEHRAN (FNA) Proposed by foreign minister and approved by the president, Fada Hossein Maleki was assigned as the Islamic Republic of Iran’s ambassador to Afghanistan.

TEHRAN (FNA) The United States has renewed its long-time smear campaign against the Islamic Republic during the last few weeks in a bid to bring Iran to the center stage once again.