Middle Orient

TEHRAN (FNA) Tehran’s interim Friday Prayers leader Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani termed the visit to the Middle-East by US President George Bush as unsuccessful and a great failure for Washington, stating that Americans failed in attaining either one of their premeditated goals.

TEHRAN (FNA) The National Iranian Central Oil Co. said the company set a new gas output record in 2007, producing 300 million cubic meters of natural gas.

TEHRAN (FNA) Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed Sabah Al-Salem praised Iran’s role in the establishment of peace and security in the region.

TEHRAN (FNA) ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL), a unit of India’s largest exploration company Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), and Iranian oil major Petropars have approached National Iranian Oil Co (NIOC) about taking a stake in the USD 30bln Kish gas block in Iran.

DUBAI – Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Thursday that Israel “would not dare attack Iran”, after Israel said it tested a missile and warned against Tehran’s nuclear program.

BERLIN – German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said on Thursday that Israel should freeze the building of settlements if it wanted to achieve peace with the Palestinians.

OTTAWA – Canada’s foreign ministry has put the United States and Israel on a watch list of countries where prisoners risk being tortured and also classifies some U.S. interrogation techniques as torture, according to a document obtained by Reuters on Thursday.

GAZA – Israeli air strikes killed five Palestinians, including a mother and child, in the Gaza Strip on Thursday as Prime Minister Ehud Olmert vowed to wage a “war” to stop rocket attacks on the Jewish state.

BAGHDAD – A suicide bomber wearing a vest packed with explosives killed eight people near a Shi’ite mosque in the volatile Iraqi city of Baquba on Thursday, police said.

BEIRUT – An Arab mediator brokered a meeting between rival Lebanese leaders on Thursday but a political source said their dispute was unresolved and a breakthrough remained distant.