Middle Orient News

Darfur parties agree on basics, adjourn talks

ABUJA (Reuters) — The parties to peace talks on Sudan’s Darfur region on Tuesday signed a declaration of principles, a breakthrough in negotiations aimed at settling a 2-1/2 year conflict that has killed tens of thousands. But the broad declaration left the nitty-gritty of a comprehensive peace settlement for later …

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Iraqis say security forces use torture to extract confessions

BAGHDAD — As she tells it, security forces put her in solitary confinement for days on end, whipped her with electric cables and accused her of having sex with a stranger. Humiliated and fearful for her life, the 46-year-old Iraqi housewife went before a TV camera and “confessed” to helping …

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Sharon orders speedup in building barrier

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (AP) — Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has ordered quicker work to finish Israel’s contentious West Bank separation barrier, especially the section enclosing Jerusalem, a senior official said Wednesday — and Palestinians responded that Israel is trying to dictate borders while taking over their part of the disputed city.

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Iraq launches fresh raids on rebels

BAGHDAD (Reuters) — Iraq’s prime minister announced a new phase in anti-insurgency operations on Monday, as troops seized more than 100 suspects around Baghdad airport and hunted the kidnappers of Egypt’s envoy in the capital. Political efforts to undermine revolt among Sunni Arabs moved forward with parliament’s formal acceptance of …

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Pullout may incite Sharon assassination — Katsav

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (Reuters) — Israeli President Moshe Katsav said on Monday the vocal opposition of pro-settler rabbis to Israel’s Gaza pullout could incite ultranationalists to try to assassinate Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. “In the struggle over the disengagement someone is likely to distort the rabbis’ messages,” Katsav told army Radio. …

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Police force often the only hope for Iraqi jobless

HAMYYA, Iraq — Tawfiq Jamil hasn’t worked since Saddam Hussein’s government fell more than two years ago. A former taxi driver, the 28-year-old was forced to sell his car after the war to try to provide for his wife and seven children, and hasn’t been able to find a new …

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Palestinian Cabinet clears Irineos I in property deals with Jewish groups

RAMALLAH (AP) — The embattled Greek Orthodox patriarch in Jerusalem was not involved in the long-term lease of prime Jerusalem properties to Jewish settlement groups in the city, the Palestinian Authority concluded Monday, after an investigation of several weeks. The findings could signal a turning point in the murky saga …

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Syrian troops in deadly clash with Saddam ex-bodyguards

DAMASCUS (AFP) — Syrian forces captured two “terrorists” and a security officer was killed Monday in a dawn clash with extremists who included former bodyguards of Saddam Hussein, official media said. The gunbattle on Mount Qassioun overlooking the Syrian capital was the second such firefight with extremists in recent days …

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Lahoud bows to majority, names Siniora PM

BEIRUT (Reuters) — Lebanon’s pro-Syrian president bowed to the will of the majority on Thursday and appointed an anti-Syria former minister to head the first government to take office without Syrian troops in the country for 30 years. Highlighting the challenges facing the next government, Israeli troops shot at Hizbollah …

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