BAGHDAD, Iraq –Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki complained Tuesday the long-awaited Baghdad security operation was off to a slow start and warned that insurgents are taking advantage of the delay to kill as many people as possible.

A court martial trial opened for the first US military officer to openly refuse to go to war in Iraq as protests in his support were organized in several cities across the country.

Iran has set up centrifuges in two underground nuclear plants and will test them soon as it moves towards the industrial-level enrichment of uranium in defiance of UN demands, diplomats told АFР.

Four times last year President Bush stood with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, and four times he offered glowing appraisals.

Sanctions? Coke and Pepsi found a way around them and are battling for market share in Tehran with local Zamzam Cola. Fortune’s Eric Ellis reports.

GUNMEN in Iraqi army uniforms kidnapped a senior Iranian diplomat in Baghdad on Sunday, an Iraqi Government official said today.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Union oil minister, Murli Deora, said on Tuesday a final agreement between Iran, Pakistan and India on a pricing formula for gas to be delivered by a proposed $7 billion pipeline should by signed by June-end.

LEADERS of the rival Hamas and Fatah groups headed for Saudi Arabia today for talks aimed at ending factional warfare and forming a unity government that could end a crippling Western embargo.

 Prime Minister Ehud Olmert decided Tuesday to appoint Professor Daniel Friedman, winner of the 1991 Israel Prize for achievements in the field of law, to replace MK Haim Ramon as Israel’s new justice minister, Israel Radio reported.

The United States has no military plans against Iran and Washington agrees to cooperate with Moscow on bringing Iran back to negotiations, the Russian foreign minister said Saturday.