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  • Iran cool on talks with US

    Iran has reacted coolly to calls for contacts with the United States to stabilize Iraq. "We are ready to consider any kind of request but that does not mean that we would accept," Manouchehr Mottaki, the Iranian foreign minister said on Tuesday. "The position of the Islamic republic is clear. We are not asking for negotiations." Moves by the US to.. More

  • West Bank fighter shot dead

    Israeli troops have shot dead a Palestinian fighter in the Al-Ein refugee camp in the West Bank city of Nablus. Baha Khatari was a member of the Abu Ali Mustapha Brigades, the military wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Palestinian medical and security sources said. An Israeli military spokeswoman said soldiers had come under.. More

  • Dozens of bodies found in Baghdad

    Baghdad police have recovered the bodies of 46 people around the city, one of the highest tolls of suspected sectarian death squad victims in recent weeks. An interior ministry source said the bodies had been found in the 24 hours leading up to Monday evening and most had been tortured. "All of them dumped unceremoniously ... some on garbage dumps,.. More

  • Politics behind rift with Islam, says Annan

    Politics, and not religion, is at the heart of the growing rift between the West and the Muslim world, UN secretary-general Kofi Annan has said. Annan made thecomments in Istanbul on Monday, as he met scholars, politicians and religious leaders to discuss ways to improve relations between 'East' and 'West'. The 'Alliance of Civilisations' wasjointly.. More

  • Palestinians agree on unity PM

    The two main Palestinian factions have agreed to name Mohammed Shbeir, a US-educated academic, as the prime minister ina unity government. Shbeir, who has a PhD in microbiology from the University of West Virginia in the US, was president of the Islamic University in Gaza for 15 years until 2005 and has no previous political career. The academic is.. More

  • Annan: Politics behind rift with Islam

    Politics, and not religion, is at the heart of the growing rift between the West and the Muslim world, UN secretary-general Kofi Annan has said. Annan made thecomments on Monday, as he met scholars, politicians and religious leaders to discuss ways to improve relations between ''East'' and ''West''. "We should start by reaffirming and demonstrating.. More

  • Tribunal for al-Hariri killers agreed

    The Lebanese government has approved a UN draft setting up an international tribunal to try suspects in the assassination of Rafiq al-Hariri. Fuad Saniora, the prime minister, said on Monday: "We tell the criminals that we will not give up our right, no matter what the difficulties and obstacles are. "Our aim is to achieve justice and only justice... More

  • Arabs lift Palestinian financial blockade

    Arab countries have agreed to lift the financial blockade on the Palestiniansafter the US vetoing ofa draft United Nations resolution condemning the recent Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip. Amr Moussa, the Arab League secretary-general, said at a meeting of the organisation in Cairoon Sunday: "There will be no compliance with any restriction imposed.. More

  • Four British soldiers killed in Iraq

    Four British troops have been killed and three seriously wounded in an attack on a patrol boat in the southern Iraqi city of Basra, the ministry of defence in London has said. Their boat was attacked on the Shatt al Arab river on Sunday, the ministry said in a statement. The routine patrol was caught in an explosion caused by an improvised bomb, a.. More

  • Another Lebanese cabinet member quits

    Lebanon's pro-Syrian environment minister, a close ally of presidentEmile Lahoud,has resigned from the government after all-party crisis talks failed. Yacoub Sarraf is the sixth cabinet member to quit since negotiations on the pro-Syrian factions' demand for a cabinet reshuffle collapsed. All five Shia Muslim members of the cabinet - from the Hezbollah.. More

  • Israeli attacks kill teenagers

    Two teenagers have died as a result of Israeli rocket attacks in Gaza. An 18-year-old Palestinian wounded by an Israeli strike in Gaza's Jabalya refugee camp last week died in a Tel Aviv hospital on Sunday. A second teenager, Abdallah Abu Namous, 16, died as a result of fresh Israeli attacks. Three people were also wounded in the attacks. Abu Namous.. More

  • Lebanese Shia ministers resign

    Five Shia Muslim ministers in Lebanon's cabinet have resigned after talks on forming a government of national unity failed. The move, by members of Hezbollah and its ally Amal,puts further pressureon thegovernment ofFouad Siniora, Lebanon's prime minister. Both Hezbollah ministers in the cabinet resigned, along with two ministers from Amal. Fawzi.. More

  • US veto of Gaza resolution criticized

    The Arab League has criticized the United States forblocking a UN Security Council resolution that sought to condemn Israeli actions in the Gaza Strip. The US used its veto tohalt the draft resolution, sponsored by the Gulf state of Qatar,that criticized the Israeli tank shelling of a home in Beit Hanoun on Wednesday in which seven children and four.. More

  • US vetoes Beit Hanoun resolution

    The US has vetoed a draft UN Security Council resolution condemning an Israeli attack in the Gaza Strip that killed 19 Palestinian civilians. John Bolton, the US ambassador to the UN, described the text as "unbalanced" and "biased against Israel and politically motivated". He added that it did not provide an "even-handed characterisation" of the Israeli.. More

  • Dozens killed in fresh Iraq violence

    A convoy of minibuses has been ambushed on the dangerous highway south of Baghdad, killing 10 passengers. More than 50 others werereportedly kidnapped in the incident. Government officials said thatat least 52 other people died violent deaths or were found dead around Iraq on Saturday, five of them decapitated Iraqi soldiers. The mass kidnapping and.. More