Middle Orient

BAGHDAD (AFP) — Thirty-two Iraqi youngsters, most of them under age 15, were killed Wednesday when a suicide car bomber blew himself up near US soldiers as they handed out chocolates in a Baghdad neighbourhood. Another 31, mostly children, were also wounded in the blast, while a US soldier died …

DAMASCUS (AFP) — Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas arrived in Syria on Wednesday for talks with Syrian President Bashar Assad, on his first visit to Damascus since being elected in January. He was greeted at the airport by Foreign Minister Farouq Sharaa and was to meet Assad on Thursday, during a …

BAGHDAD (AP) — Kidnappers of Egypt’s top diplomat in Iraq threatened to kill him Wednesday because Egypt has allied with “Jews and Christians,” according to a statement on a website linked to Al Qaeda in Iraq. Pictures of the envoy’s ID cards were posted as proof he was held by …

TEHRAN (AP) — Iran’s top nuclear negotiator will remain in place at least until the country’s new hardline president takes office, his spokesman said Wednesday, denying a report from the state news agency that said he had resigned. But the report throws into doubt the future of Hasan Rowhani — …

MORONI — Amid persistent poverty and a shaky federal union between its three islands, the coup-plagued Indian Ocean archipelago of Comoros celebrated independence on Wednesday with a Cabinet reshuffle. Announced on the eve of the 30th anniversary of the Comoros’ July 6, 1975 independence from France, the changes saw the …

ABUJA (Reuters) — The parties to peace talks on Sudan’s Darfur region on Tuesday signed a declaration of principles, a breakthrough in negotiations aimed at settling a 2-1/2 year conflict that has killed tens of thousands. But the broad declaration left the nitty-gritty of a comprehensive peace settlement for later …

BAGHDAD — As she tells it, security forces put her in solitary confinement for days on end, whipped her with electric cables and accused her of having sex with a stranger. Humiliated and fearful for her life, the 46-year-old Iraqi housewife went before a TV camera and “confessed” to helping …

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (AP) — Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has ordered quicker work to finish Israel’s contentious West Bank separation barrier, especially the section enclosing Jerusalem, a senior official said Wednesday — and Palestinians responded that Israel is trying to dictate borders while taking over their part of the disputed city.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) — Iraq’s prime minister announced a new phase in anti-insurgency operations on Monday, as troops seized more than 100 suspects around Baghdad airport and hunted the kidnappers of Egypt’s envoy in the capital. Political efforts to undermine revolt among Sunni Arabs moved forward with parliament’s formal acceptance of …

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (Reuters) — Israeli President Moshe Katsav said on Monday the vocal opposition of pro-settler rabbis to Israel’s Gaza pullout could incite ultranationalists to try to assassinate Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. “In the struggle over the disengagement someone is likely to distort the rabbis’ messages,” Katsav told army Radio. …