DAMASCUS (AFP) — Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas arrived in Syria on Wednesday for talks with Syrian President Bashar Assad, on his first visit to Damascus since being elected in January. He was greeted at the airport by Foreign Minister Farouq Sharaa and was to meet Assad on Thursday, during a …

BAGHDAD (AP) — Kidnappers of Egypt’s top diplomat in Iraq threatened to kill him Wednesday because Egypt has allied with “Jews and Christians,” according to a statement on a website linked to Al Qaeda in Iraq. Pictures of the envoy’s ID cards were posted as proof he was held by …

TEHRAN (AP) — Iran’s top nuclear negotiator will remain in place at least until the country’s new hardline president takes office, his spokesman said Wednesday, denying a report from the state news agency that said he had resigned. But the report throws into doubt the future of Hasan Rowhani — …

MORONI — Amid persistent poverty and a shaky federal union between its three islands, the coup-plagued Indian Ocean archipelago of Comoros celebrated independence on Wednesday with a Cabinet reshuffle. Announced on the eve of the 30th anniversary of the Comoros’ July 6, 1975 independence from France, the changes saw the …

ABUJA (Reuters) — The parties to peace talks on Sudan’s Darfur region on Tuesday signed a declaration of principles, a breakthrough in negotiations aimed at settling a 2-1/2 year conflict that has killed tens of thousands. But the broad declaration left the nitty-gritty of a comprehensive peace settlement for later …

BAGHDAD — As she tells it, security forces put her in solitary confinement for days on end, whipped her with electric cables and accused her of having sex with a stranger. Humiliated and fearful for her life, the 46-year-old Iraqi housewife went before a TV camera and “confessed” to helping …

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (AP) — Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has ordered quicker work to finish Israel’s contentious West Bank separation barrier, especially the section enclosing Jerusalem, a senior official said Wednesday — and Palestinians responded that Israel is trying to dictate borders while taking over their part of the disputed city.

During combat actions CRI’s Vedeno district last Tuesday 12 invaders were killed and about 15 invaders were wounded. One BTR armored vehicle was knock out. One more vehicle was burnt down, the spokesman of the Headquarters of the Eastern Front of CRI Armed Forces reported.

An ex-police officer is accused of war crimes in Chechnya. For some, his case illustrates Moscow’s misguided policy on the republic. In a war of horrors, it was one of the worst chapters. On the morning of Feb. 5, 2000, more than 100 Russian contract soldiers and riot police entered …

The modern Russian reality is characterized with that the security officers’ grouping of Putin, gained a foothold in the Kremlin, by virtue of features of its “professional thinking” does not see the real importance of political problems, but as external demonstrations of some “latent threats”, more scale ones, having another …