BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit made an unannounced visit to Iraq on Sunday and promised to reopen an embassy in Baghdad soon, the latest sign that fellow Arab nations are slowly restoring ties.

ASTANA (Reuters) – The United States is not trying to poach Russia’s allies in Central Asia, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Sunday during a visit to oil-rich Kazakhstan.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – In Iraq’s national museum a frieze shows Assyrian King Sargon II, who ruled an empire from what is now northern Iraq, storming a rampart as soldiers pile decapitated heads before him.