Iraqi Oil Minister Abdul Kareem Luaibi said Aug. 23 that ExxonMobil will sell more than half of its 60 percent interest in the West Qurna-1 oil field project to China's PetroChina and Indonesia's Pertamina in the coming weeks, Reuters reported.
Israeli and Palestinian negotiators will convene for a second round of peace talks Aug. 20, an unnamed senior Palestinian official said, AP and Times of Israel reported.
American al Qaeda militant Adam Gadahn has called for attacks on Western diplomats in the Arab world, U.S.-based monitoring group SITE said Aug. 18, Reuters reported.
The United States condemned the violence against protesters in Egypt and said that the Egyptian government has to respect human rights, according to an Aug. 14 White House statement, Al Arabiya reported.