Middle Orient

Seven Spanish tourists and two Yemeni drivers were killed on Monday when a suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden car into their convoy at an ancient temple in Yemen on Monday, officials said.

Palestinian groups worked on Monday to end the six-week-old battle in a besieged refugee camp of north Lebanon, as aid workers continued to seek access to trapped civilians.

The government of moderate Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad promised Monday to pay full salaries to tens of thousands of civil servants for at least six months, but also warned that employees cooperating with the Islamist Hamas will be cut from the payroll.

The US military on Monday accused Iran for the first time of a direct role in an attack killing American troops in Iraq, saying it helped direct a sophisticated raid in January in which five soldiers died.

Thousands of Palestinians left stranded on the Egyptian side of the border since Hamas took over the Gaza Strip will be allowed to cross through the Kerem Shalom crossing Tuesday and return to Gaza following an agreement between Israel and Egypt.

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Bureau issued a statement on Friday (June 29th), voicing deep concern ahead of the July 11th ruling of the Libyan Supreme Court in the case of six foreign medics, who are appealing death sentences handed down in a controversial HIV infection …

Iraq is pressing the United States and Iran to hold a second round of talks in Baghdad to follow up a landmark meeting in May, but no date has been set, Iraq’s foreign minister said on Sunday.

Hassan Jmassi was a prisoner for five years in the Gaza Strip under Israeli occupation. Now Hamas are masters, he has risen to the dizzy height of prison governor armed with lavish reforming zeal.

Relief workers appealed to the Lebanese army on Sunday for access to hundreds of refugees inside a besieged Palestinian camp, six weeks into a battle between soldiers and Islamists.

The number of civilians killed in Iraq fell sharply in June to the lowest monthly total since a US-backed security clampdown was launched in February, Iraqi government figures showed on Sunday.