Xinhua Middle East news summary at 2100 GMT, April 26

Some 55 people were killed in a huge fire at a mattress factory in Morocco's biggest city Casablanca on Saturday morning, the official news agency MAP reported.

A communique issued by local authorities was quoted as saying
that the death toll in the mattress factory fire rose to 55 from
an original figure of 25. (Morocco-Fire)
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   BEIRUT -- Lebanon's parliamentary majority leader MP Saad
Hariri expressed Saturday that he supports dialogue among factions
on condition that a president would be elected afterwards.

Hariri made the remarks after meeting with Maronite Patriarch
Nasrallah Sfeir, saying Lebanon can not go on without a president.
(Lebanon-Dialogue)
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   CAIRO -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas arrived in the
Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh for talks on the latest
developments over the Palestine issue, Egypt's Nile TV reported on
Saturday.

Abbas is scheduled to meet his Egyptian counterpart Hosni
Mubarak on Sunday morning to brief him on the outcome of his talks
in Washington with U.S. President George Bush and U.S. Secretary
of State Condoleezza Rice, confirmed the Egyptian official MENA
news agency. (Egypt-Abbas)
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   DAMASCUS -- Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Saturday held
talks with visiting Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on
activation of the peace process in the Middle East.

The two leaders discussed "ways of activating a just and
comprehensive peace process", said the official SANA news agency.
(Syria-Turkey-Peace Process)
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   BAGHDAD -- Up to two anti-Qaida members were killed and eight
others injured, including a local leader, in a suicide car bomb
attack in western Baghdad on Saturday, an Interior Ministry source
said.

"The latest reports said that two Awakening Council members of
Amriyah neighborhood were killed and eight others were injured,"
the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity. (Iraq-Suicide-
Bombing-Update)
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   TEHRAN -- Fifty-two of the Principlist candidates (
conservatives) have won the country's parliamentary run-off
election, accounting for 63.4 percent of the remaining seats, the
semi-official Fars news agency reported on Saturday.

According to the results released by the Interior Ministry
election headquarters, for the remaining 82 seats after the first
round of the eighth legislative election held in March, the number
of Principlist winners is put at 52 and the rest 30 were gained by
the reformist camp. (Iran-Parliament-Election)
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   BEIRUT -- Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri on Saturday
set May 13 as a new schedule date for electing a new president, local ANB reported.

"Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri decided to set Tuesday, May 13, a new date for a session to elect the president of Lebanon..." a
statement from the parliament was quoted as saying. (Lebanon-
Presidential-Election)
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   ANKARA -- Turkish jets and artillery struck targets of the
outlawed Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) in northern Iraq on Friday
and early Saturday, Turkish General Staff said in a statement
issued on Saturday.

The General Staff said in a statement posted on its website that the strike targeted a group of PKK rebels in Zap, Avashin and Khakurk regions of northern Iraq who were trying to infiltrate Turkey to carry out attacks. (Turkey-Army PKK)