Middle Orient

An Iraqi provincial governor accused U.S. troops of opening fire on civilian cars south of Baghdad on Sunday, wounding six people, and threatened to suspend ties with U.S. officials over the “brutal” attack.

Twenty-eight people were killed when a fire broke out in a gas pipeline near the Hawiyah gas plant in Saudi Arabia overnight, Saudi Aramco said on Sunday.

Lebanon faces a crucial week with the term of pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud ending on November 23 and the country’s divided politicians yet to agree on his successor.

Canadian and Afghan troops pushed into a Taliban heartland in southern Afghanistan, fought off fierce counter-attacks and fortified an outpost on Sunday to stay in the area.

With violence levels dropping across the city, Baghdad’s hard-working ambulance drivers now find time to sit and sip tea instead of each rushing to four or five emergency calls a day.

Jordan holds an election on Tuesday set to keep parliament in the hands of tribal, centrist and pro-government deputies under a system that under-represents the cities where the Islamist and liberal opposition do best.

Iranian president and Indonesian vice-president discussed bilateral relations and exchanged views about the oil policies of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) member states in a meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Sunday.

Iran’s ambassador to Tirana conferred with Albania’s Central Bank governor about expansion of mutual cooperation and promotion of banking relations.

Bolivian President Juan Evo Morales Ayma stressed his country’s need to industry, capital investment and production, saying that La Paz relies very much on Iran’s aids in the said grounds.

Iranian Parliament Speaker Gholam-Ali Haddad Adel said he is slated to pay an official visit to Baku next week.