DUBAI (Reuters) – The United Arab Emirates’ decision to forgive Baghdad’s debt and restore high-level ties reflects a Gulf Arab desire to counter Iran’s spreading influence, but not all will be so quick to warm to the new Iraq. Sunni Arab governments who once funded Iraq’s 1980-1988 war against Shi’ite …

MOSCOW (Reuters) – A U.S. deal with the Czech Republic on missile defense complicates European security and cancels out consultations with Moscow on the missile shield, media quoted a Russian foreign ministry source as saying.

BASRA, Iraq (Reuters) – The Shi’ite Mehdi Army militia is finished as a fighting force in Iraq’s oil rich Basra province and upcoming provincial elections should pass without violence, the province’s governor said on Tuesday. Mohammed al-Waeli said an Iraqi security offensive against the Mehdi Army of anti-American cleric Moqtada …

TBILISI (Reuters) – Moscow-backed separatists in Georgia’s breakaway South Ossetia region detained four Georgian soldiers on Monday, raising tension a day before U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visits Tbilisi. South Ossetia, and Georgia’s second breakaway region of Abkhazia, are a regular source of friction between the pro-Western government in …

PRAGUE (Reuters) – Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Tuesday Russian behavior towards Georgia and its breakaway region of Abkhazia had exacerbated tensions and she urged both sides to avoid provocative actions. “Frankly, some of the things that Russia did over the last couple of months added to tensions …

KABUL (Reuters) – A suicide bomb attack on the Indian Embassy in the Afghan capital bore all the hallmarks of a foreign intelligence agency, Afghanistan’s presidential spokesman said on Tuesday in a likely reference to Pakistan. Afghanistan has accused Pakistani agents of being behind the April assassination attempt against President …

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Pakistan is not behind the suicide car-bombing that ripped through the Indian embassy in Kabul, killing 41 people and wounding 139, the country’s prime minister said on Tuesday. Afghan authorities had suggested that Monday’s attack was coordinated with foreign agents in the region, a likely reference …

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – A roadside bomb killed four contractors and wounded eight others in northern Iraq, the U.S. military said on Tuesday. The military said the bomb hit a coalition logistics convoy south of the city of Mosul on Monday. A U.S. military spokesman said nationalities of the victims had …

Kavkaz Center’s source in Azerbaijani capital Baku reported that another Chechen refugee – Alikhan Hasuyev, b.1979, was kidnapped in Azerbaijani capital June 30. Mr. Hasuyev has an official status and is registered under number N 786-06c06036.

On Tuesday officials of the pro-Russian Ingushetian puppet regime stated at a press conference in Moscow that CIA, British intelligence MI5 and other Western intelligence services are the main culprits in the violations of human rights in Ingushetia.