Middle Orient

CAIRO (AP) — Egyptian judges rejected Friday a bill on the judiciary, with their elected body saying it does not ensure judicial independence and allows the state to retain too much power.

SULEIMANIYAH — This year’s Iraqi cup final is to be played in the autonomous Kurdish north for the first time amid safety fears around a tie that threatens to fan sectarian passions.

NOUAKCHOTT (AFP) — A new constitution proposed by Mauritania’s military junta with the aim of bolstering democracy will be put to the test Sunday when the country votes in a referendum.

WASHINGTON — Libya’s top diplomat in Washington on Friday expressed frustration at the pace of renewed relations with the United States following the restoration of diplomatic ties.

SANAA(AFP)  — Veteran Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, in power since 1978, announced Saturday that he would seek a new seven-year term after all, at a mass rally in the capital of the impoverished Arabian Peninsula republic.

Sunnis outraged by arrest of religious leader in TikritBAGHDAD (Reuters) — Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki was expected to present a national reconciliation plan to parliament on Sunday to defuse a Sunni insurgency and tackle sectarian violence, political sources said.

RIYADH (AFP) — Saudi security forces have detained 43 suspected militants, including two Somalis, an Ethiopian and an Iraqi, the interior ministry said Saturday after a deadly gunbattle in the capital.

SYDNEY (AP) — Australia will review its troop deployment to Iraq by the end of this year, Defence Minister Brendan Nelson said Wednesday — the first time the Australian government has signalled a possible timeline for withdrawing its troops.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) — One of Saddam Hussein’s main lawyers was shot dead on Wednesday after men in police uniform took him from his home, relatives said, the third defence attorney to be killed since the trial opened in October.

EL FASHER, Sudan — Myriam Ibrahim, a tall quiet 28-year-old clad in a bright blue robe, thought she had seen it all. Three years of violence since the Darfur conflict erupted during which her town was invaded twice.