UNITED NATIONS (AFP) — UN chief Kofi Annan has full confidence in his embattled special envoy to Sudan, whose status remains unchanged despite an expulsion order against him from Khartoum over his comments on the Darfur crisis, his spokesman said Monday.

SAQQARA — The arrest of tomb robbers led archaeologists to the graves of three royal dentists, protected by a curse and hidden in the desert sands for thousands of years in the shadow of Egypt’s most ancient pyramid, officials announced.

MOGADISHU (AP) — A senior leader of Somalia’s Islamists urged Ethiopians Monday to revolt against their government, calling it an oppressive regime led by an unpopular minority ethnic group.

TEL AVIV — Aghast at the destruction that ensued as Israel’s army and Hizbollah fighters waged war in Lebanon this year, Israeli David Sasson felt compelled to try to make contact with the Lebanese side.

GAZA — Fear of an escalating power struggle between Hamas and President Mahmoud Abbas added to the gloom on Monday for Palestinians marking a Muslim holiday that would normally be a festival of joy.

RAMALLAH — Last May Adel Samarra’s wife of 31 years left the West Bank to go to Jordan to renew her Israeli visa for the 126th time. On the 125 previous occasions the process had gone off without a hitch for the US passport holder, but five months ago Samarra’s …

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Many US and EU officials and political analysts believe that Iran-West nuclear standoff is not solved because of the United States’ wrong policies and approach towards the issue and the resulted pressures that Washington exerts on the European capitals to obey its policy towards Iran.

TERHAN (Fars News Agency)- An Iranian MP stressed that in case the UN Security Council embarks on imposing sanctions on the Islamic Republic, Tehran will consequently ban entry of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors into Iran.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- A local official in Iran’s Eastern Azarbaijan province said that Iraq has been the destination of 22% of his province’s non-oil exports in the last 6 months.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Key European states on Tuesday circulated their own draft resolution imposing nuclear and missile-related sanctions on Iran after failing to reach agreement with Washington, U.S. and European officials said.