MOGADISHU (AP) — A Somali lawmaker bypassed the government and signed an agreement Saturday to end hostilities with the country’s powerful Islamic Courts, a symbolic gesture that is unlikely to have any real effect.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) — US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Friday she would ask the US Congress for tens of millions of dollars to strengthen the security forces of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Visiting Pakistani Foreign Minister Mian Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri met with chairman of Iran-Pakistan parliamentary friendship group Ali Aghayee here on Thursday.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Pakistani Foreign Minister Mian Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri stressed Iran’s right to access and use peaceful nuclear technology, and further reiterated that Tehran’s nuclear issue should be resolved through peaceful means.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Tehran’s Interim Friday Prayers leader Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati said here on Friday that massive participation of the Iranians in elections proved their loyalty to Islam, the Supreme Leader and the Islamic Republic.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Secretary Ali Larijani stressed here on Thursday that the likely UNSC resolution on Iran’s nuclear activities would be incapable of exerting any pressure on the Islamic Republic.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Chairman of the Iranian parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission and Pakistani foreign minister underlined the need for intense efforts to fight cultivation and trafficking of illicit drugs.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Europe and American Affairs Saeed Jalili met with Swiss Vice-President and Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey in Bern on Thursday.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- The Russian ambassador to the UN says a revised draft resolution on Iran’s nuclear programs needs more work.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that Iran is only one short step away from gaining full access to nuclear energy and pays no heed to the obstructions caused by the big bullying powers in this regard.