Palestinians confirm first death from swine flu

Palestinians on Friday confirmed a first death in the West Bank of a patient known to be carrying the new H1N1 flu virus, a government health official said.

Asad Ramlawi, a senior Palestinian Health Ministry official said a 34-year-old man who recently returned from a pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia had died in hospital in Ramallah.

Palestinians reported a first confirmed case of the H1N1 virus in June and Ramlawi said there were now some 80 confirmed H1N1 cases in the Palestinian territories.

Israel reported its first fatality from the virus last week since when media has reported that four other people have died.

The World Health Organization declared an H1N1 influenza pandemic on June 11 but it has given up on trying to get a precise count of cases worldwide. By last week it said the virus had killed over 800 people.Readmore

Ahmadinejad sworn in as Iran president amid crisis

TEHRAN, Iran - Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was sworn in for a second term as Iran's president Wednesday while security forces battled hundreds of protesters chanting "Death to the Dictator" in the streets around parliament where the ceremony was held.

Key opposition leaders, moderate lawmakers and all three of Ahmadinejad's election challengers boycotted the swearing in ceremony. State-run Press TV said more than 5,000 security forces were in the streets around parliament and police with sniffer dogs patrolled the area after the opposition called for demonstrations to coincide with the inauguration.

Hundreds of protesters chanted "Death to the Dictator" before security forces broke up a demonstration near parliament, striking people with batons and blasting them with pepper spray, witnesses said.

Some of the protesters wore black T-shirts in a sign of mourning and others wore green - the color of the opposition movement. A middle-aged woman carried a banner warning Iran's leaders if they do not listen to people's demands, they will face the same fate as Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who was toppled in the 1979 Islamic Revolution.Readmore

Former Iranian president calls trial a sham

TEHRAN, Iran - An influential pro-reform ex-president criticized the country's first trial of activists and protesters following the disputed presidential election as a sham that would further erode confidence in the ruling Islamic establishment.

Mohammad Khatami said he hoped the "show" trial of more than 100 people that started Saturday would not "lead to ignorance of the real crimes" carried out by authorities following the June 12 vote, including alleged abuse and murder of detainees.

The opposition has sought to capitalize on growing criticism from both conservatives and reformists of the government's violent crack down against the hundreds of thousands of people who took to the streets following the election to protest hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's disputed victory.

At least 20 people were killed in the unrest that followed the vote, although human rights groups believed the number is far greater and at least one person has died while in government detention.Readmore

Turkish, Syrian leaders talk about Mideast peace

DAMASCUS, Syria - Turkey's prime minister said Wednesday he has been asked to help mediate again in the Arab-Israeli conflict, speaking ahead of talks in Syria with the president.

The Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan helped mediate last year in four rounds of indirect peace negotiations between Israel and Syria. But Syria suspended them in December over Israel's military offensive in Gaza.

Before he left for talks with President Bashar Assad in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, Erdogan reiterated Turkey's readiness to help restart indirect talks between Syria and Israel. Turkey has also offered to mediate in other tracks of the Arab-Israeli peace process.

"New requests regarding this process may come up. ... In fact, they have already started to come," Erdogan told a news conference. He did not say who made the requests.

After the talks Syria's state-run news agency SANA said the two leaders discussed "the need to achieve a just a comprehensive peace in the Middle East which requires the presence of a real Israeli political will."Readmore

Ban on Al-Jazeera operations in West Bank lifted

RAMALLAH, West Bank - Palestinian authorities on Sunday allowed Al-Jazeera to resume operations in the West Bank, four days after banning the Arab satellite station over a report linking President Mahmoud Abbas to the death of his legendary predecessor, Yasser Arafat.

Correspondent Walid al-Omari said he received a phone call from Prime Minister Salaam Fayyad informing him of the decision.

But Al-Omari said Fayyad told him his government would still press ahead with a lawsuit against the Qatar-based station for alleged incitement.

Last week, an Al-Jazeera talk show hosted an exiled official in Abbas' Fatah movement who alleged the Palestinian leader played a role in the death of Arafat in 2004.

The official, Farouk Kaddoumi, a longtime rival of Abbas, did not present evidence. The incident exacerbated existing tensions between the station and Abbas' Palestinian government, which has long complained that Al-Jazeera sides with its political rivals, the Islamic militants of Hamas.Readmore

2 black boxes from Iranian plane crash recovered

By NASSER KARIMI, Writer

Investigators have recovered two of the three black boxes belonging to a Russian-made jetliner that crashed shortly after taking off from Tehran, Iran's state radio reported Thursday.

All 168 people aboard the Caspian Airlines aircraft bound for Yerevan, Armenia, on Wednesday were killed.

The radio's report quoted chief investigator Ahmad Majidi as saying one of the two recovered boxes was damaged. It said the boxes - the plane's cockpit voice and flight data recorders - would likely be sent to the aircraft's Russian manufacturers for analysis.

The search for the third black box was continuing, Majidi said.

Bodies of the victims would be taken to Tehran later Thursday for identification, he added.Readmore

Iran: Few words for China but plenty for Germany

By REBECCA SANTANA,Writer

CAIRO - Iran has reacted with outrage over the stabbing death of an Egyptian woman in a German courthouse, calling it a sign of racism against Muslims, yet has said little about China's crackdown on Uighur Muslims - a silence some leading Iranian clerics have criticized.

The differing reaction from a country that portrays itself as a defender of Islam worldwide is a sign of how highly Iran values its political and economic ties with China and how Tehran is trying to deflect attention following its own crackdown on protesters after the country's disputed presidential election.

Iran has been one of the most vocal countries criticizing Germany in the wake of Marwa al-Sherbini's death. The pregnant 31-year-old Egyptian was stabbed 18 times in a Dresden court July 1 by a man she was scheduled to testify against for allegedly calling her a "terrorist." When he tried to protect her, her husband was stabbed by the attacker and shot by court security.Readmore

Hundreds protest in Iran, defying crackdown vow

TEHRAN, Iran - Thousands of protesters streamed down avenues of the capital Thursday, chanting "death to the dictator" and defying security forces who fired tear gas and charged with batons, witnesses said.

Turning garbage bins into burning barricades and darting through choking clouds of tear gas, the opposition made its first foray into the streets in nearly two weeks in an attempt to revive mass demonstrations that were crushed in Iran's postelection turmoil.

Iranian authorities had promised tough action to prevent the marches, which supporters of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi have been planning for days through the Internet. Heavy police forces deployed at key points in the city ahead of the marches, and Tehran's governor vowed to "smash" anyone who heeded the demonstration calls.

In some places, police struck hard. Security forces chased after protesters, beating them with clubs on Valiasr Street, Tehran's biggest north-south avenue, witnesses said.Readmore