TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Iranian parliament has defied government opposition to pass a bill that would raise the minimum voting age in legislative and presidential elections from 15 to 18.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Foreign Ministry Spokesman Seyed Mohammad Ali Hosseini stressed the Iranian government’s resolve to defend the country’s nuclear rights within the framework of international rules and regulations.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Iran’s Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki in a meeting with Senegal’s outgoing ambassador to Tehran here on Tuesday, stressed that consolidation of Tehran-Dakar ties is no threat to any other world country.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Seyed Mohammad Ali Hosseini here on Tuesday extended his condolences to the Indonesian people and government as well as the bereaved families of the victims of a jetliner crash incident in that country.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) — Thousands of Sunni Arabs vented their anger on Tuesday over Saddam Hussein’s execution as the Iraqi government promised an investigation into illicitly filmed footage of Shiite officials taunting him on the gallows.

BAGHDAD — US-led forces are likely to launch a limited new year offensive against Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr’s Mehdi Army, blamed for sectarian death squad killings, senior Iraqi officials say.

GAZA CITY (AP) — Palestinian fighters attacked the Gaza Strip’s main cargo crossing with mortar fire early Tuesday, lightly wounding an Israeli truck driver in the latest flare-up of violence in the coastal strip.

BEIRUT (Reuters) — Lebanon’s Hizbollah-led opposition will decide this week how to press its campaign against the government and sees little chance of an early end to the standoff, the group’s deputy leader said.

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel failed to achieve all its objectives in its summer war against Hizbollah fighters in Lebanon, the Israeli army chief admitted Tuesday, but he rejected calls to resign as a result.

MOGADISHU (Reuters) — Ethiopian troops will stay in Somalia for several weeks to help the victorious government pacify the Horn of Africa nation after a two-week war to oust Islamists, both countries said on Tuesday.