Death toll in Basra clashes rises to seven

 

BASRA  ( 2008-03-25 20:56:39 ) : 

The death toll from fierce fighting on Tuesday between Iraq's security forces and the Mahdi Army militia in the southern city of Basra has risen to seven, police and health officials said.
Police Major Abbas Youssef said the bodies of four people were brought to Al-Mawani hospital in the city centre while 18 wounded people were treated at the facility.
At the Al-Fayha military hospital, officials said the bodies of two Iraqi soldiers and a child had been received while 30 people were admitted -- 24 members of the Iraqi security forces and six civilians.

Russia, Egypt to seal nuclear power deal in Mubarak visit

 

NOVO-OGARYOVO  ( 2008-03-25 18:02:34 ) : 

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak met Tuesday with Russian leaders to close a deal allowing Moscow to join a tender for Egypt's first civilian nuclear power station.
The agreement, which has taken years to draw up, opens the way for Russia to bid for a 1.5-1.8 billion dollars (970 - 1.16 billion euros) reactor project on Egypt's Mediterranean coast.
The nuclear cooperation accord was to be signed by Russia's Rosatom nuclear energy agency chief, Sergei Kiriyenko, and Egypt's energy minister, Hassan Younis.
Mubarak said that after "difficult" negotiations the deal was ready, Interfax news agency reported.
Meeting with Mubarak at Novo-Ogaryovo outside Moscow, President Vladimir Putin praised Egypt as "one of the leaders of the Islamic and the Arab world" and said Russian-Egyptian relations were of "strategic importance."
Putin's incoming successor Dmitry Medvedev, who takes over the Kremlin in May, told Mubarak that he expected a "productive partnership" in the nuclear sphere, ITAR-TASS news agency reported.
Russia -- which is close to completing Iran's controversial first nuclear facility in Bushehr, and also recently signed a contract for a reactor in Bulgaria -- is keen to reestablish a commercial and diplomatic presence in the Middle East.
The region was a stronghold of Soviet influence before the end of the Cold War and subsequent surge of US dominance.
Today, nuclear technology and conventional weapons sales are again giving Moscow a foot in the door, and Mubarak was expected also to discuss possible arms deals on Tuesday.
Even if ties are a long way from the days when Middle Eastern elites routinely studied and trained in the Soviet Union, throngs of sun-seeking Russians are making their own mark by flooding to Egypt's coastal resorts in growing numbers.
In an interview with state-owned Rossiiskaya Gazeta daily, Mubarak voiced "full satisfaction with the level of international political consultations between Cairo and Moscow."
"However, since friends must always be open with each other, I must say that I am not as happy with the volume of Russian investment into Egypt's economy," Mubarak added.
"The chief issue on the agenda is the signing of an accord on Russian-Egyptian cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy," the
Kommersant daily wrote. The paper added that its sources hinted that "Moscow gave some ground to Cairo and now expects an answer."
The daily added: "Moscow particularly hopes that Cairo will return to buying Russian arms."
The Nezavisimaya daily echoed that theme in its headline: "Cairo is interested in Russian nuclear technologies and (conventional) weapons."