Middle East News

In this photo released by the US Army on Thursday, Aug. 7, 2008, U.S. Army soldiers from 1st Platoon, G Troop, Task Force 1-35, 2nd Brigade Combat Team move out on patrol in search of weapons caches with an attachment of Iraqi Army soldiers during Operation Iron Pursuit on Monday, July 28, 2008 in 7 Nissan village, Diyala province, Iraq. Two Iraqi officials say the U.S. and Iraq are close to a deal under which all American combat troops would leave by October 2010 with remaining U.S. forces gone about three years later. (AP Photo/US Army, Sgt. Eric C. Hein, HO)

Iraqis: Deal close on plan for US troops to leave

AP - 16 minutes ago

BAGHDAD - Iraq and the U.S. are near an agreement on all American combat troops leaving Iraq by October 2010, with the last soldiers out three years after that, two Iraqi officials told The Associated Press on Thursday. U.S. officials, however, insisted no dates had been agreed.

  • Gaza Fulbright scholars appeal for US visas AP - 1 hour, 49 minutes ago

    GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Three Fulbright scholars from Gaza appealed to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Thursday to reissue their entry visas, denying they were security threats.

  • Syrian dissident Aref Dalila in his house in Damascus, Thursday, Aug. 7, 2008, after his release by Syrian authorities. Syria released Dalila, one of the country's most prominent dissidents after nearly seven years in jail, a man whose freedom was urged by international rights groups and U.S. President George W. Bush. Dalila, 68, was arrested in 2001 and later sentenced to 10 years in prison on charges of attempting to change the Syrian constitution, inciting armed rebellion and spreading false information. Officials in Damascus did not comment on the release, three years before Dalila's sentence was to expire. (AP Photo/ Bassem Tellawi)
    Syria frees economist after nearly 7 years in jail AP - 2 hours, 2 minutes ago

    DAMASCUS, Syria - Syria on Thursday released one of the country's most prominent dissidents after nearly seven years in prison — a man whose freedom was urged by international rights groups and President Bush.

  • Kurdish rebels say they sabotaged Turkey pipeline AP - Thu Aug 7, 11:55 AM ET

    ISTANBUL, Turkey - Kurdish separatist rebels claimed responsibility Thursday for sabotaging a critical Turkish pipeline, helping push global oil prices back above $120 per barrel.

  • Israeli officer in prisoner abuse video quits post AP - Thu Aug 7, 10:48 AM ET

    JERUSALEM - An officer filmed ordering a soldier to abuse a bound and blindfolded Palestinian prisoner was indicted Thursday and has resigned his command of an army battalion but will continue to serve elsewhere, the Israeli military said.

  • Iraqi official defends spending, surplus AP - Thu Aug 7, 10:12 AM ET

    BAGHDAD - An Iraqi lawmaker close to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki defended the government's record on reconstruction spending, saying Thursday that U.S. critics of its multibillion dollar surplus were overlooking Baghdad's progress over the past three years.

  • Military personnel adjust the placement of the US Air Force MQ-1 Predator aircraft at March Air Reserve Base in Riverside County, Calif., June 25, 2008. The air national guardsmen who fly Predator drones over Iraq are fighting a war from the safety of Southern California, but confronting some of the same wartime stresses as their comrades on the battlefield. Working in an air-conditioned trailer nicknamed the Dumpster, occasionally unleashing missiles on enemy fighters. Then their eight-hour shifts are done and they merge onto Interstate 215 and blend into the suburbs. For the growing number of air national guardsmen involved in unmanned combat missions, it can be a whiplashing daily transition, and one that is taking a toll on a few of them. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
    Iraqi cleric links truce, US withdrawal timetable AP - Thu Aug 7, 10:00 AM ET

    BAGHDAD - Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr will call on his fighters to maintain a cease-fire against American troops but may lift the order if a planned Iraq-U.S. security agreement lacks a timetable for the withdrawal of American forces, a spokesman said Thursday.

  • In this Thursday, Dec. 27, 2007 photo, an Israeli Air Force fighter plane lands during an acrobatics display at a graduation ceremony at the Hatzerim Air Force Base near the southern Israeli city of Beersheba. Israel appears increasingly confident that it would be able to deal a sharp setback to Iran's nuclear program, if not destroy it, through a military strike. (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer, File)
    Israel considers military option for Iran nukes AP - Thu Aug 7, 6:27 AM ET

    JERUSALEM - Israel is building up its strike capabilities amid growing anxiety over Iran's nuclear ambitions and appears confident that a military attack would cripple Tehran's atomic program, even if it can't destroy it.

  • Map locates Uskudar district in Istanbul, Turkey, where a series of explosions hit a government building; 1c x 3 inches; 46.5 mm x 76.2 mm
    Report: 3 injured in Istanbul explosions AP - Thu Aug 7, 5:20 AM ET

    ISTANBUL, Turkey - A series of explosions at a municipal government building in Istanbul slightly injured three people Thursday, an official and Turkish news reports said.

  • Israeli Prison Authority guards escort Palestinian youths who were released from an Israeli prison to a military checkpoint near the West Bank town of Tulkarem, Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2008. Israel released five Palestinian teenagers from jail Wednesday in the concluding stage of last month's prisoner exchange with Lebanon's Hezbollah militia. All five freed Wednesday were minors serving short sentences for throwing stones and other objects and were due to be freed next year, according to data posted on the Prisons Authority Web site. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
    Israel to release over 150 Palestinian prisoners AP - Wed Aug 6, 11:18 PM ET

    JERUSALEM - Israel's prime minister pledged to free more than 150 Palestinian prisoners in a meeting Wednesday with President Mahmoud Abbas, a gesture meant to energize their sluggish peace talks.

  • In this undated photo released by the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities on Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2008, one of the two mummified fetuses found in the tomb of King Tutankhamun in 1922 is seen during preparations for a DNA test in Cairo, Egypt. Egyptian scientists are carrying out DNA tests on two mummified fetuses found in the tomb of King Tutankhamun to determine whether they are the young pharaoh's children, Egyptian antiquity authorities said Wednesday. (AP Photo/Supreme Council of Antiquities)
    DNA tests to study mummy fetuses in King Tut tomb AP - Wed Aug 6, 11:14 PM ET

    CAIRO, Egypt - Egyptian scientists are carrying out DNA tests on two mummified fetuses found in the tomb of King Tutankhamun to determine whether they are the young pharaoh's offspring, the antiquities authority said Wednesday.

  • A painter decorates a security wall sealing off the southern section of the Shiite enclave of Sadr City in Baghdad, Iraq on Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2008. (AP Photo/Karim Kadim)
    US military works to keep out Iraq militia leaders AP - Wed Aug 6, 6:21 PM ET

    BAGHDAD - Iranian-backed Shiite militiamen who fled U.S.-Iraqi operations in Baghdad hope to return, but the U.S. military is confident they won't receive a warm homecoming, officials said Wednesday.

  • Egyptian guards kill illegal Sudanese migrant AP - Wed Aug 6, 4:16 PM ET

    El-ARISH, Egypt - A migrant from Sudan's troubled Darfur region was shot and killed by Egyptian border guards Wednesday as he scrambled over barbed wire barriers in a dash for Israel, an Egyptian official said.

  • FILE ** In this July 12, 2008 file photo, face covered Taliban militants exercise before they executed two Afghan women in Ghazni province, Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Rahmatullah Naikzad, File)
    AP IMPACT: Harsh justice under resurgent Taliban AP - Wed Aug 6, 2:22 PM ET

    KABUL, Afghanistan - As the two women hunkered down in the dark, enveloped in blue burqas, they thought the gun-toting Taliban might free them despite accusations they had run a prostitution ring for a U.S. base.

  • Israeli president posts peace song on Web site AP - Wed Aug 6, 1:28 PM ET

    JERUSALEM - There's a new songwriter in cyberspace: Israeli President Shimon Peres. And composers from countries including Iran are writing music for the lyrics to his song, "Ray of Hope."

  • IAEA deputy director Olli Heinonen seen in Tehran in this August 21, 2007 file photo. REUTERS/Morteza Nikoubazl
    France: Iran reply on nuclear offer insufficient AP - Wed Aug 6, 11:32 AM ET

    BRUSSELS, Belgium - France joined the United States on Wednesday in rejecting Iran's response to an incentives package aimed at defusing a dispute over its nuclear program as insufficient as negotiators from six major world powers plotted their next move.

  • Syria confirms assassination of military officer AP - Wed Aug 6, 11:32 AM ET

    DAMASCUS, Syria - Syria's government is confirming the assassination last week of a senior military officer believed to have been a close aide to President Bashar Assad.

  • FILE ** A Nov. 15, 2006 file photo shows Itzhak Levanon, Ambassador of the Permanent Representative Mission of Israel to Geneva, listening to a session of the Human Rights Council at the UN headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. Israel will almost surely boycott the United Nations' next racism conference in Geneva, its ambassador said Wednesday, warning that the meeting is likely to sink into the same anti-Semitism that prompted the U.S. and Israel to walk out of the last one seven years ago. (AP Photo/Keystone/Martial Trezzini, File)
    Israel likely to skip next UN racism conference AP - Wed Aug 6, 11:31 AM ET

    GENEVA - Israel will almost surely boycott the next U.N. racism conference in Geneva, its ambassador said Wednesday, warning that the meeting is likely to sink into the same anti-Semitism that prompted the U.S. and Israel to walk out of the last one seven years ago.

  • Lawyer: Court urged to stop sale of Bhutto book AP - Wed Aug 6, 7:13 AM ET

    ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - A lawyer for an alleged al-Qaida-linked militant said Wednesday that he asked a court to halt the sale of a book by slain ex-Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto that he claims defames his client.

  • Map locates Bajur tribal region in Pakistan, where dozens were killed in fighting; 1c x 2 inches; 46.5 mm x 50.8 mm
    Musharraf cancels China trip amid doubts on future AP - Wed Aug 6, 5:53 AM ET

    ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf on Wednesday abruptly canceled his trip to the Beijing Olympic Games as local media reported that the ruling coalition had agreed on steps to remove him.

  • Israel releases 5 prisoners in Hezbollah swap AP - Wed Aug 6, 5:50 AM ET

    TULKAREM, West Bank - Israel released five Palestinian teenagers from jail Wednesday as part of a prisoner exchange agreement made with Lebanon's Hezbollah militia last month.

  • Kuwait FM blasts Iran threat to shut Gulf strait AP - Wed Aug 6, 4:36 AM ET

    KUWAIT CITY - Kuwait's foreign minister says Iran's renewed threats to close the strategic Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf amount to a "punishment" of its Arab neighbors.