Right-wing parliamentarian Geert Wilders says the Koran is a “fascist” book that incites violence and plans to show the 15-minute film this month despite appeals from the Dutch government and mounting unrest in the Muslim world.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia will announce soon whether it will allow NATO to deliver supplies to Afghanistan through its land and air spaces, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday.

DUBAI (Reuters) – A top Hamas official said on Tuesday his group was ready to accept a Yemeni initiative for reconciliation with the rival Fatah, but did not say if that means it accepts to relinquish its grip over the Gaza strip.

GAZA (Reuters) – Israeli forces fired a missile at a group of Islamic Jihad militants in the northern Gaza Strip on Tuesday, wounding four, the Palestinian militant faction said.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – President-elect Dmitry Medvedev urged experts outside the Kremlin to stimulate public debate about Russia’s economic and social challenges.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia, which cut passenger flights to Georgia in November 2006 amid a bitter political row, said on Tuesday it would resume civil aviation links with the Caucasus neighbor from March 25.

GENEVA (Reuters) – Nearly one in five of Iraq’s population before the U.S.-led invasion five years ago are living as internally displaced people or refugees in other countries, a global relief agency said on Tuesday.

MITROVICA, Kosovo (Reuters) – A Ukrainian police officer serving with the United Nations in Kosovo died of injuries sustained in violent clashes with Serbs on Monday, Ukraine’s interior ministry said, confirming earlier reports.

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan recognized Kosovo’s independence on Tuesday, a month after the majority Albanian region declared secession from Serbia with the backing of the United States and most European Union states.

Iran is seriously concerned about human rights violations in Europe especially those Muslim prisoners in certain European countries, Foreign Minister Manuchehr Mottaki said here on Monday in a meeting with his Swiss counterpart Micheline Calmy-Rey.