Middle Orient

Iran’s foreign ministry on Sunday dismissed talk of immediate suspension of uranium enrichment ahead of this week’s UN Security Council deadline despite a recent flurry of Iranian diplomacy that had raised hopes of a compromise.

RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice sought explanations on Sunday from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas about a unity government that Israel said it had agreed with Washington to shun.

THE shocking toll of six American helicopters shot down in Iraq within three weeks has sparked a Pentagon inquiry into the use of surface-to-air (Sam) missiles against the aircraft.

WHEN Iraqi soldiers and police smashed their way into Mohammed al-Jabouri’s home on the first day of Baghdad’s latest security crackdown last week, he did not imagine they would steal the family’s life savings.

MIDDLE EASTERN countries secretly armed and supported suspected Al-Qaeda recruits in the failed state of Somalia in a direct challenge to western interests in east Africa, according to a United Nations report.

Two car bombs exploded in an outdoor market in Baghdad today, killing at least 56 people and injuring scores in the deadliest attack since US and Iraqi forces began a major security push around the capital last week.

A suicide car bomber rammed into a crowded market in northern Iraq moments after a booby-trapped vehicle exploded Saturday, killing at least nine people and injuring 60, police said.

Ghazi Hamad, spokesman for the Palestinian interim Hamas-led government, called on U.S. Saturday to change its stance towards the forthcoming national unity government.

Iranian artists, painters show works at Madrid’s respected ARCO arts fair, attract international interest.

TEHRAN (Reuters) – Syrian President Bashar al-Assad arrived in Iran on Saturday to discuss instability in Iraq and the crisis in Lebanon, the official IRNA news agency reported.