TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- The United Arab Emirates’ Foreign Minister Abdallah bin Zayid al-Nuhayyan said his country is proud of having strong and extensive ties with Iran, stressing that the conspiracies practiced by trans-regional powers would leave no impact on the expansion of the two countries’ relations.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- A senior Pakistani official here on Tuesday called on the world community to refrain from practicing double-standards in the face of Iran’s nuclear plans.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- A senior lawmaker here on Tuesday stressed that deployment of alien troops in Iraq is the root cause of unfriendly interactions among the Iraqi people who have always conducted a peaceful life alongside one another prior to the occupation of that country.

BAGHDAD (AP) — US jets screamed low over central Baghdad Tuesday, helicopter gunships fired into the battle zone and the Iraqi government said 50 insurgents were killed in the nearly daylong battle with US and Iraqi forces along Haifa Street, a Sunni stronghold that has seen repeated heavy fighting throughout …

MOGADISHU (Reuters) — Many people were killed in Somalia in a US air strike targeting Al Qaeda suspects among fleeing Islamist fighters, Somali officials said on Tuesday.

AMMAN — High level delegations from Middle East countries, Europe and the US will convene today in Madrid in the hope of initiating a fairer and faster process at achieving peace between the Arabs and Israelis.

MANAMA (AFP) — A US navy nuclear-powered submarine on “anti-terrorism duties” in the Arabian Sea collided with a Japanese oil tanker but no injuries were immediately reported, officials said Tuesday.

Palestinian rival factions Fateh and Hamas engaged in a war of words as tension simmered Tuesday in the volatile Gaza Strip where internecine violence has killed more than 30 people in less than a month.

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s Hizbollah-led opposition joined labour unions on Tuesday in a protest against tax increases proposed by embattled Prime Minister Fuad Siniora, stepping up pressure to force the government into resigning.

BEIJING (Reuters) — Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert arrived in Beijing on Tuesday aiming to lobby China to close ranks with Western powers against Iran’s nuclear programme.