Eurasia Press & News

BAGHDAD — The second bombing at the Samarra shrine will test Moqtada Sadr’s political skills and clarify what control he has over his feared Mehdi Army militia.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) — A former UN Middle East envoy quit his job last month making bitter allegations that UN policy in the region had failed because it was subservient to US and Israeli interests, according to a leaked document.

VIENNA (AFP) — Iran threatened Thursday to further reduce cooperation with the UN atomic agency if new sanctions are ordered and insisted its uranium enrichment programme had gone too far to turn back.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) — Three Sunni mosques were torched and mortar bombs hit Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone on Thursday, police said, despite curfews imposed after suspected Al Qaeda gunmen hit a revered Shiite shrine.

BEIRUT (AP) — Angry mourners blamed Syria and vented anger at its ally Hizbollah Thursday as the crowd laid to rest Lebanese legislator Walid Eido, the latest victim of a wave of assassinations of anti-Syrian figures.

AMMAN (Petra) — His Majesty King Abdullah on Thursday called for taking all possible measures to stop inter-Palestinian fighting and bring to an end bloodshed and the state of chaos prevailing in the Gaza Strip.

GAZA CITY (AFP) — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas declared a state of emergency and sacked the government on Thursday as Hamas appeared set to seize full control of the Gaza Strip after days of ferocious gunbattles.

Hamas militants have hailed a series of military victories over rivals Fatah in the Gaza Strip as a new “liberation” of the territory.

Hamas militants overran the main security headquarters of the Fatah organization in the Gaza Strip on Thursday and targeted remaining key facilities under Fatah control.

GAZA, June 13 (Xinhua) — Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) announced on Wednesday that they took over the border between Gaza Strip and Egypt as part of their campaign to capture Palestinian security posts.