BAGHDAD (Reuters) — Gunmen killed the brother of a top Iraqi Sunni politician, officials said on Monday, in the second killing in days of a relative of a Sunni leader as deadlock over a unity government showed no sign of loosening.

KUWAIT CITY (AFP) — Iran’s influential former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said Monday he was sure the Islamic republic’s Gulf neighbours would not support any US assault on his country over its nuclear programme. “We are certain that Gulf countries will not back the United States in waging an attack …

TEHRAN — Iran’s president has thrown a new wrinkle into the nuclear debate by claiming his country is testing a more sophisticated type of centrifuge for enriching uranium — a device that could be used to more speedily create fuel for either power plants or for atomic weapons.

BEIRUT (AP) — Prime Minister Fuad Siniora headed to Washington on Monday for a meeting with US President George W. Bush where he was expected to seek American political and economic support for Lebanon’s efforts to extend its authority over all Lebanese territory and revive the war-shattered economy.

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — As far as the Abu Hawa family is concerned, the sale of two floors of their home on Jerusalem’s Mount of Olives was perfectly legitimate.

EIN GEDI, Israel — The Dead Sea is dying, with the world’s saltiest water body threatened by a lack of freshwater and an increasingly tense political situation, environmentalists have warned.

KIRKUK — Armed men fill the corridors of power in Kirkuk’s government building as police, soldiers and bodyguards trade fierce looks outside the offices of council members. What the squabbling politicians and their retainers are not doing in this building, however, is shooting at each other, giving hope for the …

VIENNA (Reuters) — Iran has expanded its uranium conversion facilities in Isfahan and reinforced its Natanz underground uranium enrichment plant, a US think tank said, amid growing concern over possible US military action.

Iran announces $50m aidGAZA CITY (AP) — The Hamas-led Palestinian government on Sunday renewed calls for a “national unity” coalition with rival factions in a bid to stave off rising tensions between the groups that have severely weakened the new Islamic leadership.

BAGHDAD — US leaders are pushing Iraqis hard to resolve the deadlock over a new prime minister and form a unity government. But getting that done will offer no guarantee of a quick end to the country’s violence.