Middle Orient

PARIS (Reuters) – Syria’s foreign minister said on Friday it was premature to talk of direct peace negotiations with Israel, a day after the Jewish state called for face-to-face discussions to start soon. A third round of indirect talks between the long-standing foes took place in Istanbul this week and …

GAZA (Reuters) – Israel responded to Thursday’s rocket attack by again closing its border crossing with Gaza on Friday, dampening hopes among Gazans that a ceasefire between Hamas and the Jewish state might ease an Israeli-led blockade. A truce brokered by Egypt on June 19 calls on militants in the …

GAZA (Reuters) – Islamist Hamas said on Friday it was suspending indirect talks with Israel over a prisoner swap deal, citing Israeli violations of a declared truce in Gaza. Gaza’s Islamist leaders have accused Israel of dragging its feet in implementing the truce deal that includes a gradual increase of …

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel reopened its border crossings with Gaza on Wednesday and was expected to let in supplies of cement for the first time in a year, an Israeli official and a Palestinian official in the territory said.

CAIRO (Reuters) – Red and white banners along Nile bridges and Cairo streets this month were Egypt’s latest effort to curb an increasingly pressing problem: a population growing faster than the economy can support.

LAGONISSI, Greece (Reuters) – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas expressed hope of reaching a lasting peace accord with Israel before the end of the year, ahead of a meeting with Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak on Tuesday.

ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkish authorities detained at least 21 ultra-nationalists, including two prominent retired generals, on Tuesday in a widening police investigation into a suspected coup plot against the government.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – The U.S. military has begun withdrawing from Iraq the last of the five additional combat brigades that were deployed to the country in 2007, a U.S. military spokesman said on Tuesday.

BEIRUT (Reuters) – Lebanon said on Tuesday a prisoner swap deal reached between Israel and Hezbollah marked a “big failure” for the Jewish state which had earlier refused to agree to such a plan.

ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Four Iraqi men are suing U.S. military contractors who they say tortured them while they were detained in Abu Ghraib prison, according to lawsuits being filed at U.S. federal courts on Monday.