Middle Orient

SANAA (AP) — Yemen’s president on Sunday acknowledged “mistakes” in elections which gave him more than 77 per cent of the vote, but stood by his victory and thanked the opposition giving him his first real challenge in 28 years at power.

WASHINGTON (AFP) — President George W. Bush on Saturday named a delegation of corporate leaders to visit Lebanon and explore ways of helping the country rebuild following the devastating monthlong war between Israel and Hizbollah.

KUWAIT CITY (AFP) — Kuwaiti authorities have decided to step up measures to monitor fund-raising by Islamic charities during the Holy Month of Ramadan, to prevent funds from being illegally diverted to some groups.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Pope Benedict tried on Sunday to calm Muslim anger at his remarks on Islam, saying he was “deeply sorry” about the reaction and that medieval quotes he used on holy war did not reflect his personal views.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) — Bombs killed 30 people in a police recruitment centre in central Iraq and in a popular market in the north on Monday, as politicians wrangled over a federation bill some fear could unleash sectarian civil war.

THE CRISES IN Somalia and Sudan are pitting Arabs and African governments against each other, sharpening a centuries-old continental divide.

GENEVA (AP) — UN Secretary General Kofi Annan urged the United Nations’ human rights watchdog on Monday to focus its attention on Sudan’s war-ravaged region of Darfur, even as Muslim states demanded the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) address the Pope’s recent comments on Islam and alleged Israeli rights violations.

SANAA (AFP) — Veteran Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh faces his first real electoral test in 28 years in power Wednesday when the Middle East’s poorest country goes to the polls amid persistent Islamist and tribal unrest.

BAGHDAD — Shuhada Mosque in Baghdad’s Shiite district of Shaab is covered in banners singing the praises of cleric Moqtada Sadr’s Mehdi Army, in a building which intelligence reports claim is a centre of factional activities.

A report published in the Washington Post concerning U.S. Marine intelligence Col. Pete Devlin assessing a dire state in al-Anbar governorate and prospects dim for improvement, is cited by the Mujahideen Shura Council in Iraq in a statement issued on September 14, 2006.