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Iraq violence kills 18
VIOLENCE in Iraq, including a bombing near a mosque, has killed 18 people officials say, the latest in a spate of unrest that has cost more than 370 lives so far this month. Tuesday's bomb near a mosque in Abu Ghraib, west of Baghdad, killed five people and wounded at least 16, officials said. Dozens of mosques have been attacked so far this year, including two Shi'ite places of worship ...
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UPDATE 1-Chevron nears sale of Egypt Pakistan downstream assets -sources
Tue May 21, 2013 2:59pm EDT By Dinesh Nair DUBAI May 21 (Reuters) - Chevron Corp is in advanced talks to sell most of its downstream assets in Egypt and Pakistan, three sources said, with the planned disposals seen raising around $300 million for the U.S. oil major. Chevron, the second-largest U.S. oil company, is conducting a separate sale process for its assets in both countries, the banking ...
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Iranians joining Hezbollah in Qusayr Syria battle US
Iranians are working alongside Hezbollah fighters to back Syrian troops battling to retake the rebel stronghold of Qusayr amid fears of a civilian massacre, a US official said Tuesday. ';It is the most visible effort we have seen by Hezbollah to engage directly in the fighting in Syria as a foreign ...
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Iran Bars Election Candidacies of Rafsanjani Ahmadinejad Aide
Iran says a conservative body has barred two prominent figures from competing in next month's presidential election - moderate former president Hashemi Rafsanjani and a leading conservative allied to current president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The Iranian interior ministry said Tuesday the Guardian Council of clerics and jurists excluded the two politicians from a final list of eight ...
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Kerry Visits Oman Seeking Syria Peace Consensus
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has held talks in Oman on his latest stop in a campaign to help arrange an internationally-sponsored Syrian peace ...
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Jordan Army Turns Back Syrian Refugees at Border
A girl wears a headband in the colors of the Syrian revolutionary flag and painted her face with hearts during a protest in front of the Syrian embassy in Amman, Jordan, May 17, ...
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Key commander 30 other Hizbullah fighters killed in Syria battle with Sunni rebels
Special to WorldTribune.com NICOSIA -- A senior Hizbullah commander has been killed in heavy fighting in Syria. Arab diplomatic sources said the Hizbullah commander was leading units in the battle for the strategic Syrian town of Qusair on May 19. The sources identified the commander as Fadi Al Jazar, one of at least 30 Hizbullah fighters killed in the battle with Sunni ...
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Hunger poverty rates in Egypt up sharply over past three years - UN report
21 May 2013 – Poverty and food insecurity in Egypt have risen significantly over the last three years, according to a joint reports released today by the United Nations food agency and partners. An estimated 13.7 million Egyptians or 17 per cent of the population suffered from food insecurity in 2011, compared to 14 per cent in 2009, according to the report by UN World Food Programme ...
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Kerry ramps up diplomacy for Syria peace conference
LONDON // International players are gearing up for a first major diplomatic effort on Syria in 11 months to try to kick start negotiations between the warring parties. John Kerry, the US secretary of state, will today meet allies of the United States and members of the so-called "Friends of Syria" group in Jordan's capital to discuss Russian-American plans for a peace conference ...
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Irans moderate ex-president Rafsanjani barred from standing for elections
TEHRAN // Iran's electoral watchdog has barred moderate ex-president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani from standing in a June 14 presidential election, the interior ministry said yesterday. Eight candidates won approval to stand - five conservatives close to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as well as two moderate conservatives and a reformist. Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie, a close but ...
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Livni says stalemate harmful for Israel as Palestinian narrative gains traction
JERUSALEM // Israel's chief peace negotiator with the Palestinians said yesterday the current stalemate was harmful for Israel. Tzipi Livni told a parliamentary committee that resuming negotiations was "first and foremost an Israeli interest". She spoke days before the US secretary of state John Kerry was expected to arrive in Israel for his latest push to restart long-dormant ...
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Syria opposition signals tough line on peace talks
This citizen journalism image provided by Qusair Lens, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows a Syrian man checking his destroyed house that was damaged by a Syrian forces air strike in the town of Qusair, near the Lebanon border, Homs province, Syria, Tuesday, May 21, 2013. Several members of Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group died of wounds ...
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Israel warns Syria against attacks on Golan
An Israeli soldier works on top of a tank in a position in the Israeli controlled Golan Heights, on the border with Syria, Tuesday, May 21, 2013. Israel's military chief has issued a stern warning to Syrian leader Bashar Assad after an Israeli military jeep came under fire from Syrian forces early Tuesday. Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz said on Tuesday that Israel will not allow the Golan Heights ...
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Palestinian group Ruler rights abuses increasing
The Palestinian Independent Commission for Human Rights said in its annual report Tuesday that incidents of abuse are up 10 percent since last ...
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Iran decreases medicine imports by 54
(MENAFN) Iran's total medicine imports were USD34.2 million during the first month of its calendar year, down 54.7 percent on yearly basis, reported Tehran Times citing ISNA.In terms of weight, medicine imports fell by 18.6 percent, to 549.7 tons in the period.On the other hand, the total medicine exports were USD1.2 million, weighing 101.6 tons.Meanwhile, the country itself is producing 97 ...
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Qatar- QEWC Qatar Holding QPI establish USD1b investment fund
(MENAFN) Qatar Electricity and Water Company (QEWC) announced that it will establish a USD1-billion fund in collaboration with Qatar Holding and Qatar Petroleum International (QPI), reported Gulf Daily News.The aim of the fund, to be called Nebras Power, is to launch investments in foreign energy infrastructure assets, in the fields of power generation, water desalination and treatment, heating ...
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Qatars Msheireb Properties grants Downtown Doha Phase 3 contract
(MENAFN) Msheireb Properties CEO, Abdulla Hassan Al-Mehshadi, announced that the company has granted a construction contract worth USD690 million for Phase 3 of its Msheireb Downtown Doha project, reported Arabian Business. Al-Mehshadi added that constructing the phase, which comprises 11 residential buildings, a mosque, two office blocks and a hotel, is projected to begin at the end of May.He ...
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Vodafone Qatar Customer Base Reaches 1084000
(MENAFN - Qatar News Agency) Vodafone Qatar continues to expand its mobile customer base in Qatar, growing its customer numbers by 30% over the year to reach 1,084,000 customers as at 31st March 2013."We are proud that in just 3 years of operations more than 1 million customers have chosen to become Vodafone customers. To have 56% of the population using our services is a great achievement ...
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Hamas to close tunnels if Egypt will open border
Hamas said it would be willing to close all smuggling tunnels under the Gaza-Egypt border upon opening of a commercial crossing, Palestinian news agency Ma'an cited Ghazi Hamad, Hamas undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as saying Tuesday. Egyptian police angered by the kidnapping of seven colleagues Thursday by Islamist ...
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Iran election Rafsanjani blocked from running for president
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad leaves office.Iranian state-run television station broadcast a statement by the interior ministry on Tuesday night announcing the final list of candidates. It did not include Rafsanjani or President Ahmadinejad's close ally, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei.Eight men were allowed to enter the race for the 14 June presidential election, including Iran's chief nuclear ...
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Bahrain Attends Arab League Meeting
Cairo-May-21(BNA) Bahrain Ambassador to Egypt and Permanent Representative to the Arab League Shaikh Rashid bin Abdulrahman Al-Khalifa today attended an urgent meeting to discuss the developments of the Syrian crisis, in the aftermath of the atrocities perpetrated in Al-Qassir . Egyptian delegate Amro Abul-Ata chaired the session in the presence of Arab League secretary-general Dr. Nabeel ...
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Solar power brightens Oman oil output prospects
Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) and US GlassPoint Solar have commissioned the Middle East's first solar enhanced oil recovery (EOR) project, the project partners said on ...
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Saudi Arabia Five beheaded and ‘crucified’ amid ‘disturbing’ rise in executions
Saudi Arabia must halt a "disturbing" rise in death penalty usage that has resulted in at least 47 state killings in the country already this year, Amnesty International urged after six more people were executed today.Five Yemeni men were beheaded and "crucified" this morning in the city of Jizan, while a Saudi Arabian man was executed in the south-western city of ...
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Fears for safety of human rights lawyer abducted in Syria
A prominent Syrian human rights lawyer who went missing this weekend after an apparent abduction is at grave risk of abuse, Amnesty International has said. Abdullah al-Khalil, who became head of the local council for al-Raqqa Governorate after armed opposition groups took control in March 2013, was reportedly taken away by unidentified armed individuals as he left his office in the north-eastern ...
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First sea turtle nest spotted at Saadiyat Beach
ABU DHABI - The Environmental Services team at the Tourism Development and Investment Company (TDIC), master developer of major tourism, cultural and residential destinations in Abu Dhabi, has spotted the first sea turtle nest on Saadiyat Island, marking the start of this year's nesting ...
Iran Focus
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Iran will have men in space within ten years
Iran will have astronauts in space within the next ten years, according to government officials who recently revealed to Iran news media the Iranian Space Agency’s long-term space objectives.
Iran has pursued an ambitious space program in recent years, entering the so-called ‘Asian Space Race’ and launching the country’s first rocket in 2004, followed in 2009 by the launch of an entirely domestically-built satellite, thereby becoming the 9th country in the world to have achieved orbital-launch capability. Read more
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