Middle East News

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has agreed to postpone parliamentary and presidential elections that had been set for January.

The U.N. General Assembly's human rights committee condemned Iran on Friday for a violent crackdown on protesters after presidential elections this year that the Iranian opposition says were rigged.

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A top aide to Iraq's Shiite spiritual leader is calling on the country's fractious political blocs to solve a crisis over a key election law that threatens to delay national polls planned for January, AP reported.

An Israeli minister said on Friday he was to travel to Turkey, in the first such visit since Israel's military offensive in Gaza at the turn of the year strained ties with Turkey, AFP reported.

The Secretary General of Hezbollah movement, Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah, has been re-elected chief of the Lebanese movement for a sixth term, Press TV reported.

Increasing numbers of English-language Web sites are spreading al-Qaida's message to Muslims in the West. They translate writings and sermons once largely out of reach of English readers and often feature charismatic clerics like Anwar al-Awlaki, who exchanged dozens of e-mails with the Army psychiatrist accused of the Fort Hood shootings, AP reported.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Thursday that Israel is currently conducting secret negotiations with Hamas, HaAretz quoted Israeli TV Channel 10 as reporting.

A jailed leader of the Fatah movement, Marwan Barghouti, says Palestinian factions must be united and launch a campaign to achieve statehood, BBC reported.

Egypt recalled its ambassador from Algiers for consultations on Thursday after Egypt's soccer team lost to rival Algeria in a play-off to reach the World Cup finals, accusing its fans of post-match thuggery in Sudan, Reuters reported.

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Peace talks with Israel have failed and the Palestinians must launch popular and diplomatic campaigns to achieve statehood, Marwan Barghouti said in an interview from his prison cell.

Iraqi lawmakers will vote Saturday on how to break a deadlock over a key election law after a vice president vetoed the legislation, causing a crisis that could delay a national vote scheduled for January and affect the timetable for an American troop withdrawal.

President Barack Obama is now confirming what many have long suspected: He will miss his January deadline to close the Guantanamo prison - partly because he cannot persuade other nations to take the detainees.

German mediators are continuing to broker efforts to produce a prisoner swap deal for with the release of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, senior Hamas leader Usama Al-Muzeini said.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas this week countered Israeli and American claims that a Middle East peace deal could be reached before the end of his term, Israeli Haaretz reported.

Israeli chip maker TowerJazz (TSEM.TA) and Tanner EDA, a maker of electronic design automation (EDA) tools, said on Thursday they will jointly develop process design kits for analog/mixed-signal designers, Reuters reported.

Israeli warplanes bombed two smuggling tunnels and a military training compound in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, wounding three people, said officials in the Palestinian territory ruled by the Islamist Hamas movement, Reuters reported.

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On November 23, Azerbaijan Society of America (ASA) and Azerbaijani-American Council (AAC) will be joining the Turkish Coalition of America (TCA), the Assembly of Turkish American Associations (ATAA), the "Turk of America" magazine and the Uzbek Initiative in organizing a one-day symposium on "Jewish Identity in the Turkic World". This one day educational grassroots conference, organized under the Pax Turcica Initiative, will be held at the Center for Jewish History in New York. Among other event co-sponsors are the International Charity Fund of Mountain Jews (STMEGI), the Turkish-American Chamber of Commerce and Industry (TACCI), the Bukharian Jewish Community of the US and Canada, the Turkish American Action Committee and "Kavkaz" Jewish Youth Center.

Israel no longer trusts Turkey to mediate peace talks with Syria, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday, signalling how much relations have deteriorated between the regional allies in recent months, Reuters reported.