Middle Orient

TEHRAN (AFP) — Iran on Saturday urged Palestinians to stop infighting and respect election results after the Islamist Hamas-led government was dismissed following its bloody takeover of the Gaza Strip.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) — The decomposed bodies of at least 13 martial arts experts have been found more than a year after they were kidnapped in an Al Qaeda stronghold west of Baghdad, local officials and family members said on Saturday.

GAZA CITY (AFP) — Hamas has pledged in the wake of its bloody seizure of the Gaza Strip to work to free BBC reporter Alan Johnston, snatched by gunmen more than three months ago in the volatile territory.

BEIRUT (AFP) — The Lebanese government has set August 5 for by-elections to replace two assassinated MPs, despite opposition from the country’s pro-Syrian president, Information Minister Ghazi Aridi said Saturday.

NAHR BARED, Lebanon (AFP) — Lebanese troops unleashed an intense artillery bombardment on Saturday against positions of Islamist fighters who have been holed up inside a refugee camp for almost a month.

BAGHDAD (AP) — American paratroopers found the ID cards of two missing soldiers at an Al Qaeda safe house 125 kilometres north of where the men were snatched in an ambush last month, the military said on Saturday. The soldiers found computers, video equipment and weapons but no sign of …

LONDON (Petra) — King Abdullah on Saturday urged the international community to shoulder responsibility for “this critical” stage of the Palestinian cause.

RAMALLAH (AP) — Embattled Mahmoud Abbas got a major boost in his increasingly bellicose showdown with Hamas on Saturday, with a US diplomat saying he expects a crippling 15-month-old foreign aid embargo to be lifted once the Palestinian president appoints an emergency government without the Islamic fighters.

NCRI – A new wave of brutal executions in response to the recent popular uprisings has begun in Iran. According to state-run news outlets in only three days seven prisoners were hanged.

NCRI – 5000 workers of Neishekar (sugar cane) factory in Haft Tapeh in Khuzestan province blocked a road and clashed with regime forces in protest to ignoring their demands. Regime’s suppressive forces attacked the workers to disperse them but were countered by resistance.