International Business News - SYR http://www.ibtimes.com All articles are copyrighted by IBTimes.com 400 100 http://www.ibtimes.com/ http://www.ibtimes.com/images/top_logo_ibt2_3.gif Syria promised Thursday to cooperate with Cyprus in offshore oil-and-gas exploration, despite objections by Turkey. "The area is promising," Syria's oil minister, Sufian Al-Alao, said after talks with Cypriot officials. "We hope to find good reserves from oil and gas in the Mediterranean." http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20081204/syria-discusses-oil-deal-with-cyprus.htm Thu, 04 Dec 2008 09:54:59 EST Not much is going right for Israel's once-powerful Labor Party. When Labor first tried to hold its primary this week, it proudly touted its pioneering use of a new computer touchscreen voting system. But just three hours into the voting the system crashed, delaying the primary until Thursday, when 60,000 party members began choosing candidates using paper ballots for a Feb. 10 parliamentary election expected to hand Labor a humiliating defeat. http://www.ibtimes.com/data/articleimgs/188686-mideast-israel-palestinians.jpg http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20081204/israels-troubled-labor-party-struggles-to-survive.htm http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20081204/israels-troubled-labor-party-struggles-to-survive.htm Thu, 04 Dec 2008 05:23:29 EST A U.N. special commission investigating the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri reported Tuesday that it has uncovered fresh evidence that could lead to more suspects. http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20081202/un-probe-looks-at-more-suspects-in-hariri-killing.htm Tue, 02 Dec 2008 17:37:43 EST President-elect Barack Obama should shift the main U.S. foreign policy focus in the Middle East from Iraq to curtailing Iran's nuclear program and promoting peace agreements between Israel and its Arab neighbors, analysts at two prominent Washington think tanks proposed Tuesday. http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20081202/report-calls-for-shifting-foreign-focus-from-iraq.htm Tue, 02 Dec 2008 18:22:26 EST U.S. TROOP LEVELS: _October 2007: 170,000 at peak of troop buildup. http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20081201/iraq-key-figures-since-the-war-began.htm Mon, 01 Dec 2008 15:27:41 EST The head of Iran's nuclear power agency said Sunday the country is willing to help neighboring Arab countries build joint light-water nuclear power plants if they are interested. http://www.ibtimes.com/data/articleimgs/186046-mideast-iran-nuclear.jpg http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20081130/iran-proposes-nuclear-plants-with-arab-countries.htm http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20081130/iran-proposes-nuclear-plants-with-arab-countries.htm Sun, 30 Nov 2008 10:24:55 EST Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Friday he expects the international tribunal that will prosecute suspects in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri to start operating on March 1, 2009. http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20081128/hariri-tribunal-expected-to-start-on-march-1.htm Fri, 28 Nov 2008 19:15:38 EST The chief U.N. nuclear inspector said Thursday that his agency's Syria probe has been hampered because key satellite images of an alleged nuclear reactor bombed by Israel are inexplicably unavailable on the market. http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20081127/iaea-chief-baffled-over-lack-of-syria-nuclear-info.htm Thu, 27 Nov 2008 14:32:48 EST The U.N. nuclear agency on Wednesday overrode U.S. concerns and approved sensitive technical aid for Syria, despite allegations the country has a secret atomic program that could be used to make weapons. http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20081126/in-us-defeat-un-nuclear-agency-approves-syria-aid.htm Wed, 26 Nov 2008 14:22:31 EST A man accused of gunning down his estranged wife and a man in a New Jersey church told authorities Tuesday in a videotaped confession that he would've killed everyone in the building if he'd had a machine gun, a Georgia prosecutor said. http://www.ibtimes.com/data/articleimgs/182004-church-shooting.jpg http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20081126/prosecutor-man-confesses-to-nj-church-killings.htm http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20081126/prosecutor-man-confesses-to-nj-church-killings.htm Wed, 26 Nov 2008 00:13:15 EST Iranian official media said Tuesday that one of the detained members of an alleged Israeli-linked espionage network was involved with the elite Revolutionary Guards. http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20081125/iran-alleges-spies-for-israel-linked-to-elite-unit.htm Tue, 25 Nov 2008 16:44:05 EST Two American servicemen were killed Tuesday when a gunman in an Iraqi army uniform opened fire while they were distributing humanitarian aid in northern Iraq, the U.S. military said. http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20081125/2-us-servicemen-killed-in-iraq-shooting.htm Tue, 25 Nov 2008 17:16:06 EST Young Christian women in tight jeans mingle easily with Arab matrons draped in black, head-to-toe robes. Both church spires and mosque minarets rise above the low-slung houses. Violence is rare. http://www.ibtimes.com/data/articleimgs/181680-iraq-christian-flight.jpg http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20081125/some-fearful-christians-hope-to-flee-iraq.htm http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20081125/some-fearful-christians-hope-to-flee-iraq.htm Tue, 25 Nov 2008 12:01:51 EST The chief U.N. nuclear inspector has urged caution against prematurely judging Syria's atomic program by reminding diplomats about false U.S. claims that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, comments released Tuesday show. http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20081125/un-nuclear-agency-chief-critical-of-us.htm Tue, 25 Nov 2008 15:15:23 EST A man accused of gunning down his estranged wife and a man in a New Jersey church told authorities Tuesday in a videotaped confession that he would've killed everyone in the building if he'd had a machine gun, a Georgia prosecutor said. http://www.ibtimes.com/data/articleimgs/181934-church-shooting.jpg http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20081125/suspect-in-deadly-nj-church-killings-arrested.htm http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20081125/suspect-in-deadly-nj-church-killings-arrested.htm Tue, 25 Nov 2008 21:10:45 EST Syria on Monday rejected U.S. allegations that it is allowing terrorist networks to use its territory to attack Iraq. U.S. Embassy charge d'affaires in Damascus, Maura Connelly, told a security conference of Iraq's neighbors held in Syria on Sunday that militant groups continue to receive weapons, training, funding and guidance from abroad. She was apparently referring to Syria and Iran. http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20081124/syria-rejects-us-claims-it-is-aiding-terrorists.htm Mon, 24 Nov 2008 11:21:51 EST The chief U.N. nuclear inspector said Monday that Syria had a right to his agency's help in planning a power-producing atomic reactor, in what diplomats described as a rejection of U.S.-led efforts to block the aid. http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20081124/diplomats-us-iaea-chief-clash-over-syria.htm Mon, 24 Nov 2008 14:07:54 EST The chief U.S. delegate to the International Atomic Energy Agency said Monday that the change in administrations in Washington would be a good opportunity for Iran to enter new negotiations to end its uranium enrichment program. http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20081124/us-administration-change-gives-iran-new-chance.htm Mon, 24 Nov 2008 12:53:12 EST Joseph M. Pallipurath went halfway around the world to India to find a wife last year. Now the California man is accused of going across the country to New Jersey to kill her. http://www.ibtimes.com/data/articleimgs/181383-church-shooting.jpg http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20081124/police-wife-shot-and-killed-at-new-jersey-church.htm http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20081124/police-wife-shot-and-killed-at-new-jersey-church.htm Mon, 24 Nov 2008 22:07:44 EST A gunman drove across the country to confront his estranged wife, then killed her in a church vestibule as Sunday services let out, authorities said. Two other people were injured in the attack, which sent churchgoers scrambling for safety. http://www.ibtimes.com/data/articleimgs/180916-church-shooting.jpg http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20081123/gunman-shoots-3-inside-nj-church.htm http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20081123/gunman-shoots-3-inside-nj-church.htm Sun, 23 Nov 2008 21:37:47 EST