DUBAI (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama said the time was ripe for Israel and the Palestinians to resume peace negotiations and that America was prepared to extend a hand of peace to Iran if it “unclenched its fist.” In his first interview with Arab television since taking office, Obama …

CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt has proposed February 22 as the date for the start of a dialogue between Palestinian groups, several of the groups said in reports published Tuesday. Foreign Minister Ahmed Abou Gheit of Egypt, which has been mediating between the groups, told reporters: “We will invite the Palestinian …

BASRA, Iraq (Reuters) – Thousands of Shi’ite Muslims in southern Iraq are wrestling with a choice of religion or democracy before a pilgrimage which may prevent them from voting in an upcoming election. Pilgrims from the southern city of Basra are setting out on an arduous walk hundreds of km …

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama vowed on Monday that his new Middle East envoy George Mitchell would engage vigorously in the quest for Israeli-Palestinian peace and expressed confidence he would achieve concrete results. Wading quickly into Middle East diplomacy, Obama dispatched Mitchell, a veteran international trouble-shooter, to tackle a …

GAZA (Reuters) – An Israeli soldier was killed and three were wounded in a blast near the border with the Gaza Strip, Al Arabiya television said on Tuesday, in the deadliest incident for Israel since it declared a ceasefire 10 days ago. Palestinians living near the Kissufim border crossing told …

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran’s Judiciary Spokesman Ali-Reza Jamshidi criticized the European Union on Tuesday for removing the terrorist Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) from its black list. Under heavy pressures exerted by the Zionist lobby, the EU politicians decided in their latest meeting on Monday, to exclude the outlawed group from Europe’s …

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran’s Parliament on Monday approved a plan for opening of joint branches of Iranian and foreign banks and insurance companies in several free trade zones across the country. Hamidreza Khabbaz, rapporteur of the Parliament’s Economic Commission, said in an exclusive interview with the Islamic republic news agency that …

TEHRAN (FNA)- Thousands of Gazans remain homeless and hospitals still have a large number of intensive care patients, UN Information Center said on Tuesday. “At this stage, the initial response is focusing on the re-establishment of basic services to the population of Gaza, including water, health, food, cash assistance, education …

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian archeologists have found a unique form of Parthian burial in the country’s Nakhl-e-Ebrahimi village in Hormozgan Province. The second phase of Nakhl-e-Ebrahimi archeological excavations yielded 10 jar burials and a fetal burial, which is the first of its kind found at the site. “The team also found …

TEHRAN (FNA)- Chairman of Iran’s Expediency Council Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, in a meeting with Kazakh Ambassador to Tehran Yerik Utembayev today, stressed the need for expansion of bilateral relations. “Due to rich reserves and good potentialities, the two countries could widely cooperate in development and growth of one another,” Rafsanjani …