UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon acknowledged on Monday he had spoken out of turn in a report that leaned towards the Moroccan side in protracted negotiations with the Polisario movement over western Sahara.

Iran admitted on Tuesday that international sanctions imposed over its controversial nuclear programme were harming its ability to invest in oil infrastructure, the backbone of its economy.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said on Tuesday that Damascus is ready to resume unconditional peace talks with Israel, at a press conference with his Danish counterpart Per Stig Moeller.

The death toll for private contractors in the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan has topped 1,000, a stark reminder of the risks run by civilians working with the military in roles previously held by soldiers.

Security forces in northern Iraq’s Kurdistan, the heartland of the Kurdish minority long tormented by Saddam Hussein, routinely torture detainees with beatings and electric shocks and hold hundreds of prisoners for long periods without charge, a human rights group said Tuesday.

Iraq’s Cabinet on Tuesday approved an amended draft oil law — a key plank to help unite the country’s warring communities — and forwarded the bill to the parliament.

Yemen’s president said on Tuesday that security authorities knew Al Qaeda was plotting attacks in the impoverished country, after a suicide car bomber killed seven Spanish tourists and two local drivers.

Brazil has accepted to resettle 100 Palestinians from Iraq who have been living in the Rweished refugee camp for more than four years, according to the UN refugee agency, UNHCR.

Israel and the Palestinian government of President Mahmoud Abbas have resumed security talks after a long break, both sides said Tuesday, a new sign of cooperation between Israel and Palestinian moderates after the Islamic Hamas took over Gaza.

King Abdullah will travel today to France for talks with President Nicolas Sarkozy on Middle East issues and bilateral ties, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.