TEHRAN (FNA)- Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik described Iran as her country’s “good and confident partner”.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Four bombs killed at least 32 people and wounded scores in busy districts of Baghdad on Sunday as Iraqis shopped and broke their fast for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, police said.

KABUL (Reuters) – Muhammad Nabi reflects one of Afghanistan’s microcosms – a farmer once besieged by the Taliban, then by drought, who then fled to the city and now rails against food prices he blames on the very government he voted for.

KABUL (Reuters) – Afghanistan’s foreign minister on Sunday declined to confirm a report that said the government was in contact with Taliban insurgents to negotiate an end to the conflict.

MOSUL, Iraq (Reuters) – Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki sought safeguards on Sunday for Christians and other minorities who have complained that they have lost guaranteed seats in provincial councils under a new election law.

GAZA (Reuters) – Hamas security forces released 35 members of the rival Fatah movement from prison on Sunday as a goodwill gesture to mark a Muslim holiday and bolster Egyptian reconciliation efforts, a Hamas official said.

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – Gunmen kidnapped a Polish engineer in Pakistan on Sunday after shooting dead his Pakistani driver, body guard and translator, a senior police official said.

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) – Unidentified gunmen shot dead the most senior woman police officer in southern Afghanistan on Sunday, an official said.

KABUL (Reuters) – Afghanistan’s foreign minister on Sunday declined to confirm a report that said the government was in contact with Taliban insurgents to negotiate an end to the conflict.

Hopes of a Mid-East peace deal before the end of the Bush administration appear to have been quietly put aside by certain parties involved in the process.