International Politics of the Middle East

The British oil giant BP will today take control of Iraq’s biggest oilfield in the first important energy deal since the 2003 invasion. The move has created uproar among local politicians invoking resentful memories of their nation’s colonial past.

Many Iraqi MPs say that the deal is illegal, and that the constitution should give them, not the Oil Minister, the final say over the country’s vast resources.

It is the world’s 11th-biggest oil producer, with the potential to climb to third place or higher. “With an extension of the pipeline network they could reach the [output level of] the Saudis,”

Security forces have clashed with opposition protesters as thousands of Iranians gathered on the streets of the capital, Tehran to mark the 30th anniversary of the 1979 takeover of the US embassy.

Mir Hossein Mousavi, who was Ahmadinejad's main rival in the election, suggested in a statement on his website that a protest rally would be held.

"The 13th of Aban is ... a rendezvous so we can remember anew that among us it is the people who are the leaders," he said, referring to the Iranian date for the capture of the US embassy.

court of appeal in Riyadh approved the death

40 people have been executed

Beheading is permitted

sign of continuing protest in Iran

along with shouts of "death to dictator."

30th anniversary of the Iranian hostage crisis approaches.

An Italian judge has convicted 23 US secret agents over the 2003 abduction of an Egyptian imam from a Milan street in an extraordinary rendition by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

trial was the first in the world to centre on the agency's controversial programme, in which "terror" suspects are thought to have been transferred to countries known to practise torture.

case concerned the seizure of Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr, also known as Abu Omar, and his transfer to Egypt, where he claims he was tortured.

The Palestinian militant group Hamas has test-fired a rocket capable of reaching Tel Aviv from Gaza, Israel's head of military intelligence has said.

rocket was believed to be of Iranian origin and had been successfully fired out to sea.

no immediate comment by Hamas and it is not clear what evidence there is that the rocket came from Iran.

appeared to endorse an Israeli position that talks could start before a settlement freeze which the Palestinians are demanding.

Washington has changed tack, saying the most important thing was to get the negotiations going again.

The Palestinian refusal to acquiesce in this means the chances appear slimmer than ever that these talks about talks can be turned into substantive negotiations, BBC Jerusalem correspondent Paul Wood said.

Gaza's aquifer and only natural freshwater source is "in danger of collapse," the UN is warning.

The plant is handling twice its capacity and is only able to partially treat the sewage.

In addition, with several years of drought and the digging of hundreds of illegal, unregulated wells, the UN Environmental Programme says at least three times more water is extracted than is replenished each year.

The UN will temporarily evacuate 600 "non-essential" international staff from Afghanistan

UN has 1,300 international staff based in Afghanistan.

The temporary relocation of staff out of Afghanistan is likely to take three to four weeks,

officials in Sanaa denied there had been any attacks on Yemeni territory.

Saudi warplanes and helicopters had dropped phosphorus bombs on its fighters in the areas of al-Malahaid, Jabal al-Mamdud, al-Husama and al-Mujdaa.

A Saudi government adviser said the air force had targeted rebels who had seized Saudi parts of Jabal al-Dukhan, which they said had now been recaptured by troops.

The president of Yemen has ruled out a truce in the escalating conflict with Houthi fighters in the north.

Heavy clashes had been reported at the Saudi-Yemeni border as Saudi forces battle Yemeni rebels for the fifth straight day on Saturday.

The Shia Houthis, fighting their own government over alleged discrimination, had also claimed to have captured some Saudi soldiers on Friday.

"It is not possible for those who belong to the Muslim faith to carry out genocide," Erdogan told ruling party members.

Syrian President Bashar Assad earlier Sunday urged Turkey to maintain good relations with Israel, in order to mediate Damascus-Jerusalem peace negotiations.

During Ehud Olmert's tenure as prime minister, Turkey mediated five rounds of talks between Israeli and Syrian officials. Toward the end of Olmert's term the two sides were on the verge of resuming direct negotiations. At the last meeting between Olmert and Erdogan, the Turkish leader called Syrian President Bashar Assad and relayed messages to and from Olmert. But after Operation Cast Lead earlier this year and the freeze in negotiations with Syria, Erdogan said Olmert had stabbed him in the back.

Syria has denied that a cargo ship loaded with hundreds of tonnes of weapons seized by Israel, was transporting Iranian arms to Syria.

"All the cargo certificates are stamped at the ports of origin, and this one was stamped at an Iranian port."

The weapons were "a drop in the ocean" of arms being shipped to Hezbollah, Ben-Yehuda said.

Jews have the right to kill non-Jews in just about any circumstance, according to Rabbi Yitzhak Shapiro, who heads the illegal Yitzhar settlement's Od Yosef Chai yeshiva.

According to Maariv, the book is a manifesto, "230 pages, no less, on the laws of the killing of gentiles, a guide to deciding whether and when it is permissible to take the life of non-Jews." Shapiro and his followers began selling the guide at Saturday's memorial in Jerusalem for Rabbi Meir Kahane, the Israeli Knesset member who urged the mass expulsion of Palestinians from Israel and the occupied territories.

However, the book does not mention Palestinians or Arabs "even by implication," Maariv pointed out, explaining that the author clearly meant to discuss the killing of gentiles as a theoretical concept rather than in the context of the region's politics. The newspaper noted that Shapiro was "careful not to explicitly encourage private individuals to take the law into their own hands." Maariv also quoted settlers as saying, "We respect the rabbis, but they do not represent the settlements nor the outposts."