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| Israel hints at Jerusalem flexibility as talks start |
| Israel’s defence minister said yesterday the Jewish state would be willing to hand over parts of Jerusalem under a final accord as US President Barack Obama opened in Washington a peace summit shadowed by Middle East violence. |
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| Barghuti urges Palestinian unity |
| Jailed Palestinian leader Marwan Barghuti said peace talks with Israel were destined to fail and the Palestinians must instead focus on ending their deep national divide. In written answers to questions from Reuters, Barghuti said he supported negotiation in principle but the Palestinians had only agreed to direct peace talks now under foreign pressure.
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| Suicide blasts rock Lahore |
| Three suicide bombers targeted a Shia mourning procession in Pakistan’s eastern city of Lahore yesterday, killing at least 25 people and wounding 180, police said.
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| Qatar learns lessons from Dubai |
| Property developers in Qatar are learning lessons from Dubai’s sharp real estate and development crash by slowing and rethinking projects, a move which will help property prices recover next year, analysts said. |
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| Eid holidays for govt offices from Sept 7 |
| The Eid al-Fitr vacation for ministries and other government departments and public institutions will start from September 7 (Tuesday, Ramadan 28, 1431 Hijri) and ends on September 16 (Thursday), according to the Emiri Diwan. |
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| Gunman shot in TV station siege |
| Police shot a gunman and safely freed the three people he had taken hostage in a four-hour standoff at the Discovery Channel headquarters outside Washington yesterday. A police spokesman said the gunman’s condition was unknown but that he was “in custody”. The gunman, an Asian male, had “what we believe to be explosive devices strapped to his front and back”, he said. |
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| Biden sees end to Iraq stalemate |
| US Vice President Joe Biden, in Baghdad to mark the end of US combat operations, said yesterday he believed Iraq’s political stalemate was nearly over and officials would form a government in “the next couple of months”. Biden said he had spoken with all of Iraq’s main political leaders and thought there was a good chance of a deal being struck soon. |
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The Qatari government will be launching an appeal to help raise funds for the millions of flood victims across Pakistan, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Pakistani Foreign Minister, yesterday said.
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Qatargas is supporting and sponsoring this year’s Ramadan road safety campaign, an initiative by the Ministry of Interior’s Traffic Department.
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