Middle East News

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran has released a British-Greek journalist held for more than two weeks since demonstrations erupted following disputed presidential elections, Iran's state television reported Sunday.

BAGHDAD - Iraqis are skeptical that much will change after last week's pullback of U.S. combat troops from Baghdad and other cities, a sentiment not shared by their government.

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran TV announces the release of Greek journalist after two weeks of detention.

JERUSALEM - Israel's defense minister said Sunday he hopes to reach a "wider understanding" on regional peace when he meets Washington's Mideast envoy this week, but gave no indication the sides have resolved a dispute over settlement construction in the West Bank.

As of Saturday, July 4, 2009, at least 4,322 members of the U.S. military had died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

BAGHDAD - Vice President Joe Biden spent the Fourth of July with his son and other American troops in Iraq on Saturday, while the Iraqi government spokesman publicly rejected the American's offer to help with national reconciliation, saying it's an internal affair.

SAN'A, Yemen - A Yemeni aviation committee says pieces of wreckage from the passenger jet that crashed off the Comoros islands have been recovered.

JERUSALEM - An Israeli defense official says Defense Minister Ehud Barak is to hold a second round of talks with U.S. special Mideast peace envoy George Mitchell next week in an effort to resolve differences between the two sides on Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

BEIRUT - Syria's leader sent a July 4 message full of praise to President Barack Obama on Friday and invited him to visit Syria — the latest signs Damascus is hedging its bets in Mideast politics, warming up to its rival the United States at a time when its longtime ally Iran is in turmoil.

RAMALLAH, West Bank - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' security forces have significantly widened a crackdown on Hamas in the West Bank in the past month. They have doubled the number of detainees and are increasingly targeting the wives of activists, school teachers and others on the fringes of the Islamic militant group, Hamas officials say.