Middle Orient

BEIRUT — After months of bombings, assassinations and political upheaval, many Lebanese fear the worst is yet to come as the United Nations wraps up its investigation into the killing of former prime minister Rafiq Hariri. Some prominent politicians and journalists have reportedly fled the country. Others stay cooped up …

GAZA CITY — The fishermen of Gaza believe that Allah has put them to work in the only place in the world where the Mediterranean suffocates rather than gives a sense of freedom. But as the days of Israel’s 38-year rule draw to a close, they are hoping to take …

CAIRO — From deep in Egypt’s south to the nation’s Mediterranean shores hundreds of kilometres to the north, everyone knows that it’s all but a formality for Hosni Mubarak to win next month’s presidential election. Such apathy is routine given Egypt’s long record of electoral fraud. Yet surprisingly, many in …

FALLUJAH — As the Sunni tribal chiefs file into the bullet-scarred headquarters of the US-led coalition in the centre of Fallujah, it is immediately clear what they came to talk about. “The constitution is weak and it casts the Sunnis aside,” says one. “We have to keep Iraq united from …

BAGHDAD (Reuters) — Reuters demanded the immediate release on Monday of an Iraqi cameraman who was still being held by US forces in Baghdad more than a day after being wounded in an incident in which his soundman was killed. Iraqi police said the news team was shot by US …

BAGHDAD (AP) — Thousands of Sunni demonstrators rallied in Saddam Hussein’s hometown of Tikrit on Monday to denounce Iraq’s new constitution a day after negotiators finished the new charter without the endorsement of Sunni Arabs. Sunni leaders have urged their community to defeat the charter in a nationwide referendum on …

Abbas condemns attack, describes it `terrorist operation’ OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — A suicide bomber blew himself up yesterday wounding some 40 Israelis, two of them seriously, in the southern Israeli town of Beersheva. The bombing came four days after Israeli troops killed five Palestinians, three of them teenagers, in the northern …

RAFAH — Although Egypt lies a mere 800 metres away, Naim Mohammed may wait hours or even days to get there. For Palestinians in this impoverished border town, very little has changed since Israel’s historic evacuation of Jewish settlers from Gaza. Throughout August, around a thousand Palestinians arrive daily at …

CAIRO — Dabbing sweat from his brow with a neatly folded white handkerchief, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak plods on with his election campaign speech, promising building land for the young and more investment in agriculture. He starts with the ritual homage to the history of the town he is visiting …

TEHRAN (AFP) — Iran does not consider Britain, France and Germany to be the sole negotiating partners on its nuclear programme and believes the process should be opened out beyond Europe, the foreign ministry said Sunday. “We will continue negotiating with them, but on the other hand we will not …