LEBANON – At least three people were killed in an explosion which damaged a U.S. diplomatic car in Beirut on Tuesday and wounded a passenger, security sources said.

KABUL – A commando-style suicide raid on Afghanistan’s top hotel, frequented by foreigners and diplomats, shows a new style of Taliban attack aimed at soft civilian targets, diplomats and analysts said on Tuesday.

KABUL – A commando-style suicide raid on Afghanistan’s top hotel, frequented by foreigners and diplomats, shows a new style of Taliban attack aimed at soft civilian targets, diplomats and analysts said on Tuesday.

BAGHDAD – Iraq’s oil minister said a helicopter from the U.S.-led coalition caused a blaze on Tuesday that shut the major Shuaiba refinery near the southern oil hub of Basra, but an industry official blamed a mortar attack.

LONDON – Russia and Britain traded threats and recrimination on Tuesday as a diplomatic feud over the role of the British government’s cultural arm worsened.

MOSCOW – Mothers of children seized by rebels at a southern Russia school in 2004 threatened on Tuesday to use a legal action brought by authorities against them to expose President Vladimir Putin’s role in the bungled rescue.

TEHRAN (FNA) Iranian Parliament Speaker Gholam Ali Haddad Adel said US President George Bush would fail in attaining the goal of his visit to the Mideast region as Washington’s plot for portraying a frightening picture of Iran is destined to failure.

TEHRAN (FNA) Kuwait’s Foreign Minister Muhammad al-Sabah al-Salim al-Sabah is scheduled to arrive here in Tehran Tuesday evening to attend the two countries’ first joint economic cooperation commission meeting.

TEHRAN (FNA) Proposed by foreign minister and approved by the president, Fada Hossein Maleki was assigned as the Islamic Republic of Iran’s ambassador to Afghanistan.

TEHRAN (FNA) The United States has renewed its long-time smear campaign against the Islamic Republic during the last few weeks in a bid to bring Iran to the center stage once again.