TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Oil prices were on the rise again yesterday, amid concern at Iran’s reaction to tough United Nations sanctions aimed at tempering the country’s nuclear program.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- The International Atomic Energy Agency has called for negotiation and mutual accommodation to achieve a long-term solution to the issue of Iran’s nuclear program

BAGHDAD (AFP) — Ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein will be hanged within 30 days, an appeal court judge said Tuesday, after confirming the former strongman’s sentence for crimes against humanity.

A STRING OF car bombs and other blasts killed at least 54 Iraqis on Tuesday, including 17 outside Baghdad’s most venerated Sunni mosque, while US troops battled Shiite gunmen in Baghdad.

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — Israelis are puzzling over the prospect of peace with Syria after their two foreign intelligence agencies gave dramatically different assessments of recent diplomatic overtures from Damascus.

MOGADISHU (AP) — Somalia government and Ethiopian troops advanced towards the country’s capital Tuesday as Islamist fighters retreated, bloodied by a week of artillery and mortar attacks but promising a “new phase” in the war — a chilling pronouncement from a movement that has threatened suicide attacks.

CAIRO (Reuters) — Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak asked parliament on Tuesday to amend the constitution to make it easier for opposition parties to field presidential candidates.

MECCA — Divided in their troubled homeland, Iraqi pilgrims who made the perilous journey to Mecca for Hajj this week are united in their prayers for peace, stability and the loved ones they have lost.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) — Sudanese President Omar  Bashir has told the United Nations he endorses a plan for a joint African Union-UN peacekeeping force to help quell violence and protect civilians in Darfur.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- The US court due to verify the case with a large number of Iranian clay tablets entrusted to Chicago University late December postponed the session to 25 days later.