A prominent Iranian journalist has slammed former President Seyyed Mohammad Khatami for setting conditions for running for president.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says the White House has not jettisoned plans to establish a diplomatic mission in Tehran.

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s commander in Afghanistan has said the war against the Taliban cannot be won, the Sunday Times reported.

MOSUL, Iraq (Reuters) – Eleven Iraqis were killed on Sunday during a U.S. raid on a home in northern Iraq in which a suicide bomber detonated an explosive vest among civilians inside, the U.S. military said.

TBILISI (Reuters) – EU ceasefire monitors in Georgia reported the dismantling of a Russian checkpoint near breakaway South Ossetia on Sunday, saying it was the “first open sign” of a promised Russian troop pullback by October 10.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit made an unannounced visit to Iraq on Sunday and promised to reopen an embassy in Baghdad soon, the latest sign that fellow Arab nations are slowly restoring ties.

ASTANA (Reuters) – The United States is not trying to poach Russia’s allies in Central Asia, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Sunday during a visit to oil-rich Kazakhstan.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – In Iraq’s national museum a frieze shows Assyrian King Sargon II, who ruled an empire from what is now northern Iraq, storming a rampart as soldiers pile decapitated heads before him.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Two U.S. Black Hawk helicopters collided while landing at an American combat outpost in northern Baghdad on Saturday, the U.S. military said.

Russia’s navy is gearing up to pass through the straits of Gibraltar.The four warships – including the nuclear-powered Russian heavy cruiser Peter the Great – will stop off in Libya before heading to Venezuela.