IRAN : AHMADINEJAD IS THE NEW IRANIAN PRESIDENTMahmood Ahmadinejad has won the Iranian presidential elections against the veteran cleric Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani with the votes of the religious poor.
"Poor provinces have voted massively for Ahmadinejad," said an Interior Ministry official. The newly appointed president won 61,6% out of the 13.3 million votes counted.
Analysts said that
this government could help improve the social situation of the country as well as the external relations.
"In this election, the people were on one side and political parties supporting Rafsanjani were on the other," said an aide of the new Major.
al-Jazeera
Il Romanaccio at 12:13 PM
IRAQ: FOUR BOMBS IN BAGHDAD KILL 17Just some hours after the Thursday car bomb massacre which killed almost 40 people, another
series of bombs hit the Iraqi capital killing 17 and wounding many others.
The Army of Ansar al-Sunna, the Islamic Army in Iraq, and the Mujahideen Army have
claimed responsibility for yesterday's bombing with an internet statement.
"There are nationalists within the insurgency who are against the (US) occupation. We are urging them to show their faces and come to the table," Abdul Karim al-Enzi, the Iraqi Security Minister, told Reuters.
al-Jazeera
Il Romanaccio at 11:52 AM
IRAQ : 38 PEOPLE KILLED BY BLASTSBaghdad was woken up by three bombs which killed at least 15 people and wounded 50 on Thursday.
Earlier in the morning three car bombs exploded in a mainly Shia district of the capital. Police sources said that
three policemen were killed by the bombing.
These events occurred the same day that commission of the Iraqi government was in Bruxelles to ask the main European countries for help in reconstucting Iraq.
al-Jazeera
Il Romanaccio at 12:19 PM
ISRAEL : SHARON SAYS NO PROGRESS WERE MADE WITH ABBASDespite all the peace plans and the optimistic start of the Palestinian President Abbas, Israeli Prime Minister,
Ariel Sharon, is starting to complain about his collegue's work.
The Palestinian Prime Minister
Ahmed Qureia had a two-hour meeting with the Israeli authorities at Sharon's residence in Jerusalem, but as he admitted, "it was a difficult meeing that did not meet the expectations.
"
There were no positive answers to the issues we raised," said Qureia.
al-Jazeera
Il Romanaccio at 11:23 AM
LEBANON : ANTI-SYRIAN POLITICIAN KILLED BY A BOMBGeorge Hawi was a former leader of the Lebanese Communist Party,
killed by a bomb placed in his car in the Wata Musaitbi area of Beirut, on Tuesday morning.
This is what an eye witnessed told the press,
"The car kept going and we then saw the driver screaming and he jumped out of the window. We rushed to the car and saw Hawi in the passenger seat with his guts out."
Wlaid Jumblatt, leader of the Progressive Socialist Party in Lebanon, accused the Lebanese politicians of not being united,
"
Some sides want to cause a state of instability in Lebanon by foiling the success of the elections in northern Lebanon."
al-Jazeera
Il Romanaccio at 1:33 PM
IRAQ : CAR BOMB KILLS 13 POLICE OFFICERSA suicide bomber drove his car bomb into a police roll call in Arbil killing 13 newly appointed police officers and wounding about 107 others.
A similar episode happened
in Baghdad where some rebellious fighters had an
exchange of fire with Iraqi soldiers and policemen wounding at least five of them.
"When an Iraqi police patrol responded to the incident, terrorists detonated a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device, killing four police and wounding four others," the US army reported.
In this attack
an 8-month-old baby lost his life too.
A US soldier was killed in the Iraqi town of Tal Afar.
al-Jazeera
Il Romanaccio at 1:57 PM
ISRAEL : CONDY RICE SUGGESTS WITHDRAWAL FROM THE GAZA STRIPIn a
meeting with Ariel Sharon and Simon Peres, US secretary of state
Condoleeza Rice, said that a withdrawal from the Gaza Strip of all the Israeli military forces might help to reach peaceful relation with the Palestinians.
"This is an historic step that can lead to the eventual resolution and the eventual ability to get to a two-state solution," Rice told the Israeli politicians.
Ariel Sharon said that the step could effectively change the situation,
"a smooth and successful implementation of the plan in coordination with the Palestinians will help energise the political process under the roadmap".
Rice said herslef conviced that, in order to solve the issue, both sides[Israeli and Palestine] must come to terms on thorny issues related to the Gaza pullout.
al-Jazeera
Il Romanaccio at 1:06 PM
