Iran regrets ties cut with Morocco Iran is disappointed at the Moroccan government's decision to cut its ties with Iran, Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said on Monday. Morocco severed diplomatic ties with Iran in mid-February just a few weeks after the Iranian foreign minister had visited Rabat. The Islamic Republic said they have always opposed any conflict between Islamic states, Mehmanparast told the Mehr News Agency. “Certain countries are taking advantage of conflicts between Islamic nations and the Islamic world must be vigilant to identify and end these conflicts,” he added. Algeria to launch Alsat-2 satellite Algeria plans to put its second satellite Alsat-2 into orbit in the first quarter of 2010, head of the country's space agency said Monday. The project comes as part of the Algerian space program that was adopted by the government in 2006, Director General of the Algerian Space Agency (ASA) Azzedine Qussedik was quoted by state-run APS news agency as saying. The new satellite will follow on Alsat-1 Earth observation satellite designed for disaster monitoring, according to the report. Yemen to participate in Arab police meeting in Tunisia Yemen is to participate in the 33rd conference for Arab Police and Security Leaders to be held in Tunisia on December 9 – 10. For this purpose, Undersecretary of Interior Ministry for Security Sector Fadhl al-Qawsi headed on Monday for Tunisia. Al-Qawsi said that the conference would discuss the recommendations of the 32nd conference on human rights and the requirements of the field security work in addition to the image of the police man in the various media outlets. He said that the conference would display the distinctive police experiences in Arab countries and an Arab strategic project to encounter cyber crimes. On the sidelines of the conference, Al-Qawsi will held talks with a number of the Arab police and security leaders over security issues of common concerns. Libya delays oil output capacity boost to 2017: minister Libya has delayed plans to raise its oil output capacity until 2017 because of budget constraints and the market situation, Oil Minister Shukri Ghanem said on Saturday. “Our plan was to reach three million barrels per day by 2012, but because of the market conditions, as well as budget constraints,” we delayed it to 2017, Ghanem told reporters in Cairo on the margins of an Arab oil meeting. “By 2016-2017, we can reach the three million bpd target, but we need more budget allocations,” he said. Libya's current production capacity is “almost two million bpd” and it is producing its OPEC quota of 1.5 million bpd, Ghanem added. UN talks with Sudanese President U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon phoned Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who has been charged with crimes against humanity, for the “sole purpose of an urgent humanitarian matter,” the international body said Monday. Ban Ki-moon urged Bashir to use “direct engagement” in securing the release of two men who have been held hostage for 100 days — one of whom has fallen “gravely ill.” The two men were part of the joint United Nations-African Union Mission in Darfur when they were abducted at gunpoint on August 29. “The situation is critical,” U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky told reporters at a Monday briefing. “The president assured the secretary-general that everything possible was being done,” he added. H1N1 reaches blockaded Gaza Strip H1N1, or swine flu, has finally reached the Gaza Strip, the health ministry reported on Sunday, worrying Palestinians who had believed Israel's blockade of the territory with keeping the virus away. The ministry said five people had been diagnosed with H1N1 on Saturday. Health workers said it appeared to have been kept out until now due to restrictions that limit the flow of people as well as goods into the enclave, which is governed by the Hamas group. “The illness hit Gaza,” said Hassan Khalaf, deputy health minister in the Gaza administration. “We have finalized a national plan to deal with it.” UN Lebanon envoy arrives in Israel UN diplomat Terje Rod-Larsen held unpublicized meetings over the weekend with top government leaders, adding fuel to speculation that an Israeli withdrawal from the northern part of Ghajar on the Lebanese border is imminent, perhaps as early as this week. Rod-Larsen, the UN secretary-general's special representative for the implementation of Security Council Resolution 1559, which calls for Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon and the disarmament of Hizbullah, met with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak. He reportedly arrived in the country on Friday and also met twice with President Shimon Peres. BM
