MOGADISHU (AP) — The first African peacekeepers to help the government assert its authority in Somalia are expected by the end of January, the prime minister said Tuesday.

AMMAN — US President George W. Bush’s plan to bring peace to Iraq, already facing resistance in Congress, also has highlighted differences between Washington and Baghdad over how to deal with Syria and Iran.

CAIRO (AP) — Saudi Arabia has asked Arab leaders to convene their annual summit in the kingdom’s capital, reversing an earlier decision not to host it, the Arab League chief said Monday.

BAGHDAD (AFP) — Hundreds of Sunni Arabs paid their respects Tuesday to former aides of Saddam Hussein convicted of crimes against humanity and buried near the former Iraqi leader’s own grave after a gruesome hanging.

MOSCOW (Reuters) — Russia said on Tuesday it had delivered new anti-aircraft missile systems to Iran and would consider further requests by Tehran for defensive weapons.

DUBAI (AP) — The deployment of the USS John C. Stennis to the Middle East will put two US aircraft carriers in the volatile Gulf region for the first time since the 2003 Iraq invasion. Military officials say a second carrier group is meant as a plain warning to Iran.

REVIEW TOPICS: Russian intelligence has lost Iraq and had no wish to interrogate terrorists Putin sending special Russian spy probe squad to Britain Had Russian secret services any relation to Chechen ‘General’s’ death? 

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Ecuador on Monday stressed that his country is firm to promote cooperation with Latin American states despite the fury shown by the system of hegemony.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Ecuador’s President-elect Rafael Correa stressed during a meeting with his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that the Islamic Republic will be given a top stand in Quito’s foreign policy.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Commander-in-Chief of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Major General Yahya Rahim Safavi met with Sudan’s Defense Minister, Field Marshal Abdel Rahim Mohammed Hussein here on Sunday.