Qatar Petroleum and Royal Dutch Shell agreed on Tuesday to study building a petrochemical project worth six billion dollars in Ras Laffan by 2016.

The two companies signed a memorandum of understanding in the Qatari capital Doha under which they will jointly study development of the project, a statement said.

At least seven people have died and hundreds more were injured in a 6.5-magnitude earthquake which struck southeastern Iran, Mehr news agency reported on Tuesday.

The late Monday quake, with epicenter near the town of Hosseinabad in Kerman province, was followed by 22 tremors, including one of 5.0 magnitude, the agency said quoting the geophysics department of Tehran university.

A suicide bomber blew himself up at a Shiite religious procession in the Iranian city of Chabahar on Wednesday killing at least 39 people in an attack claimed by Sunni rebel group Jundallah.

A pathologist cited by the official IRNA news agency said 38 bodies had been brought to the town's mortuary, among them women and children. A 39th casualty later succumbed to his wounds, the pathologist said.

Kuwait's appeals court on Wednesday reduced to three months a one-year jail term given to a prominent writer and journalist for allegedly slandering the prime minister, his lawyer said.

The ruling means that Mohammad Abdulqader al-Jassem, who was arrested on November 22, will remain in jail at least for the time being, Abdullah al-Ahmad told AFP.

Iraqi Premier-designate Nuri al-Maliki has received orders from Iran to give the Iraqi nationality to Hizbullah members and protect them against the indictment of the international tribunal, a former Iraqi lawmaker told the Saudi daily al-Watan.

Al-Maliki "received Iranian orders to give the Iraqi nationality to members of the Lebanese Hizbullah after formation of the new cabinet," the former MP said in remarks published on Wednesday.

Israeli gunfire wounded two Palestinians near the Erez checkpoint on the border with Israel on Tuesday, a Palestinian medical source said.

The two men were among a group collecting gravel for construction north of Beit Hanoun, in an area which the Israeli military has declared a no-go zone for Palestinians.

Iran said Tuesday its nuclear and foreign policies will not change after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad fired Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki and replaced him with the atomic chief.

"Iran's major international policies are defined in higher levels and the foreign ministry executes these policies. We will not see any changes in our basic policies," foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said at his weekly briefing.

The showdown over Iran's nuclear pursuit is "still in the stage of diplomacy," and extended sanctions against the regime could help prevent it from acquiring atomic weapons, Israel's defense minister said in comments broadcast Sunday.

"I think that it's still in the stage of diplomacy," Ehud Barak told CNN in an interview.

Winds, rain and hail battered the eastern Mediterranean for a second day on Sunday, wreaking havoc across the region as a months-long drought came to a sudden, drastic end.

Drought-stricken countries across the Middle East had been praying for rain for weeks when weather conditions turned violent at the weekend, with at least four people killed and another feared dead as gale-force winds and torrential rain pounded the coastline.

Palestinian officials expressed doubt and frustration on Sunday about the future of peace talks after the United States failed to secure a new settlement freeze.

n a speech on Friday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pledged that Washington would remain engaged despite the failure, encouraging the two sides to address core issues through indirect talks