LONDON (Reuters) – Iraq earned about $60 billion from average crude oil sales of 1.85 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2008, a top Iraqi oil official said on Monday. Shipments rose by about 200,000 bpd on the previous year and revenues were up about $20 billion, according to data …

DAMASCUS (Reuters) – Hamas is open to international initiatives for a truce in Gaza but insists any proposal must guarantee Israeli withdrawal and an end to the blockade on the besieged territory, an exiled Hamas leader said on Monday. Moussa Abu Marzouk vowed that the Palestinian Islamic group would keep …

CAIRO (Reuters) – Egyptian police detained dozens of people including prominent members of the opposition Muslim Brotherhood movement on Monday to prevent them demonstrating against Israel’s ground attack in the Gaza Strip. Riot police reached Tahrir Square in central Cairo early in the day to thwart the Brotherhood’s plans for …

GAZA (Reuters) – The three little children lying on the floor of the overcrowded morgue looked like sleeping dolls. “Get up, boy, get up” cried the weeping father, who lost a total of 13 close relatives when an Israeli shell hit his house east of Gaza City. “Please get up. …

NOVO-OGARYOVO, Russia (Reuters) – Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin told Gazprom on Monday to cut gas supplies through Ukraine by the same amount that Moscow alleges Kiev is diverting from Europe.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Gaza will become Israel’s graveyard, Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani said after the Zionist regime launched a ground offensive deep into the coastal Palestinian territory following eight days of deadly air and sea bombardments. “The Zionists faced the powerful resistance of the zealous Palestinians … the Zionists should …

TEHRAN (FNA)- Tehran and Islamabad have agreed on a revised price formula and a new price review mechanism for Iranian gas that will be piped to Pakistan, a senior Iranian official said. The new formula and review mechanism update terms reached in 2006 during the long-running negotiations on the project …

TEHRAN (FNA)- Managing Director of Isfahan Steel Mill Bahram Sobhani called for increasing steel import tariffs in light of reduced demand and falling prices in world markets. Sobhani said that steel import tariffs should be raised by 30% in order to support domestic producers, adding that increased tariffs will not …

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) called on world Muslims to defend Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. In a statement released on Sunday, IRGC invited world Muslims to “defend the oppressed Palestinians in Gaza Strip” and urged “Muslims of the world should stay united against world arrogance, the …

The heavy snow fall across the Balkans during the New Year holiday has left mountainous areas of Macedonia and Albania cut off and running low on food, with traffic bottlenecks affecting the rest of the region. The Albanian government called up army engineers and police special forces to free up …