British Prime Minister Tony Blair went to the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday to tap members of the ruling family for ideas to revive an Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
The stop is the final leg of a Middle East tour that began in Turkey and went to Egypt, Iraq, Israel and the Palestinian territories.
Attacks in Iraq on U.S.-led forces, local security personnel and civilians have surged 22 percent to record levels, the Pentagon said in its latest quarterly report on Iraq published on Monday.
The report, published as the United States seeks a new strategy in Iraq, identified the Mehdi Army of radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al Sadr as the group most damaging to Iraqi security and the biggest catalyst for sectarian violence.
The head of a U.N. inquiry into the murder of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik al-Hariri said on Monday he had made progress in analyzing the crime scene in Beirut and investigating suspects.
But Serge Brammertz told the U.N. Security Council and reporters that about 20 countries out of 60 had not responded to his call for assistance or said their national legislation barred cooperation.
Ukraine's Naftohaz Ukrayiny won a tender to develop oil and gas deposits in Egypt.
The Interfax-Ukraine news agency reported Monday that the international tender was to develop deposits at Alam El Shawish East in the western Egyptian desert.
In a ceremony as lavish as the Arabian Nights, Dubai wrapped up its third international film festival on Sunday night with new cash awards for Arab cinema scooped up by Algerian, Tunisian and Palestinian films.
The festival's top prize -- $50,000 for best feature film -- went to "Barakat!", an Algerian road movie about a woman's quest to find her husband after he is kidnapped by Islamic militants.
An interreligious seminar taking place in the northeastern United States city of Rochester on Monday through tomorrow will attempt to explore the root causes of the mounting violence in the world. At the seminar, entitled 'Spiritual Dimensions underlying the crisis in violence,' the World Council of Churches (WCC) will engage with a panel of leaders of the local Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Jewish and Christian faiths.
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