DAMASCUS (Reuters) – Syria prevented a World Food Programme vessel carrying rice for Iraqi refugees from unloading at the country’s main port on Tuesday because, the government said, its cargo failed tests.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has submitted to parliament a draft law on extending the presidential term of office, a Kremlin spokeswoman said on Tuesday.

KABUL (Reuters) – Security constraints are hampering humanitarian operations across much of Afghanistan, where violence has spread to more areas this year, the International Committee of the Red Cross said on Tuesday.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) – A blast went off outside a stadium in the Pakistani city of Peshawar on Tuesday, soon after a sports tournament had ended, causing some casualties, police said.

LANDIKOTAL, Pakistan (Reuters) – Pakistani security forces aim to recapture trucks hijacked by militants as they were taking supplies to Western forces in Afghanistan through the Khyber Pass, a government official said Tuesday.

LANDIKOTAL, Pakistan (Reuters) – Pakistani security forces aim to recapture trucks hijacked by militants as they were taking supplies to Western forces in Afghanistan through the Khyber Pass, a government official said Tuesday.

ALGIERS (Reuters) – Algerian lawmakers are expected to vote on Wednesday to lift presidential term limits, a move seen by the OPEC member’s opposition as a ruse to let President Abdelaziz Bouteflika stay in office for life.

At least three people have been killed in a double bomb attack in Baghdad, Iraqi police say.

Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak has agreed to partially lift Israel’s suspension of fuel supplies to the only power plant in the Gaza Strip.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran’s Wagon Pars Company has planned to export €25 million worth of wagons to Cuba and China by the end of the current Iranian year (March 20, 2009), the company’s managing director Gholam Reza Razzazi said here on Monday.