WASHINGTON (AP) — The Democratic-controlled Senate Foreign Relations Committee dismissed President George W. Bush’s plans to increase troops strength in Iraq on Wednesday as “not in the national interest”, an unusual wartime repudiation of the commander in chief.

BEIRUT (AFP) — Calm returned to Lebanon as roads were cleared and Beirut airport reopened on Wednesday after the opposition called off a general strike that sparked deadly street fights ahead of a donor conference in Paris.

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TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- US navy aircraft carrier Eisenhower left the Persian Gulf for the eastern coasts of Oman a few days ago, an informed source in the Iranian armed forces said here on Tuesday.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Missile units of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRCG) successfully test-fired short-range missiles and ‘Fateh’ rockets in Garmsar region, 100 kilometers east of Tehran on Tuesday.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- A senior military official said on Tuesday that his troops have successfully test-fired two Iranian-made missiles, namely ‘Zelzal’ and ‘Fajr-5’ in Garmsar region, 100 kilometers east of Tehran.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Iran’s permanent representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency Ali Asqar Soltanieh here on Tuesday stressed that all IAEA member states are entitled to omit some names from the list of inspectors the UN nuclear watchdog presents to them.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in a meeting with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Mualem here on Tuesday assured that the United States and the Zionist regime of Israel will soon come to the end of their lives.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Government Spokesman Gholam Hussein Elham here on Tuesday said that barring IAEA inspectors from entering Iran does not mean halt of cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Iran will replace its permanent representative to the United Nations Organization in the near future, an informed source said here on Tuesday.