TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Iranian Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar Monday said that several defense projects which will sharply increase the country’s military capabilities will become operational during the next week.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Pope Benedict tried on Sunday to calm Muslim anger at his remarks on Islam, saying he was “deeply sorry” about the reaction and that medieval quotes he used on holy war did not reflect his personal views.

RAMALLAH — Shots were fired in Gaza yesterday when bodyguards around Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh tried to disperse protesters that had gathered in front of the parliament building in Gaza City.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) — Bombs killed 30 people in a police recruitment centre in central Iraq and in a popular market in the north on Monday, as politicians wrangled over a federation bill some fear could unleash sectarian civil war.

THE CRISES IN Somalia and Sudan are pitting Arabs and African governments against each other, sharpening a centuries-old continental divide.

GENEVA (AP) — UN Secretary General Kofi Annan urged the United Nations’ human rights watchdog on Monday to focus its attention on Sudan’s war-ravaged region of Darfur, even as Muslim states demanded the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) address the Pope’s recent comments on Islam and alleged Israeli rights violations.

SANAA (AFP) — Veteran Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh faces his first real electoral test in 28 years in power Wednesday when the Middle East’s poorest country goes to the polls amid persistent Islamist and tribal unrest.

HEBRON — Ibrahim Zedat is a chemistry teacher, but he has been sneaking into Israel to work on a building site since a strike by Palestinian government workers over unpaid wages closed many schools.

BAGHDAD — Shuhada Mosque in Baghdad’s Shiite district of Shaab is covered in banners singing the praises of cleric Moqtada Sadr’s Mehdi Army, in a building which intelligence reports claim is a centre of factional activities.

Staffers of the Headquarters for Promoting Prayer called on the Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Khamenei on Monday, September 18.