Eurasia Press & News

A STRING OF car bombs and other blasts killed at least 54 Iraqis on Tuesday, including 17 outside Baghdad’s most venerated Sunni mosque, while US troops battled Shiite gunmen in Baghdad.

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — Israelis are puzzling over the prospect of peace with Syria after their two foreign intelligence agencies gave dramatically different assessments of recent diplomatic overtures from Damascus.

MOGADISHU (AP) — Somalia government and Ethiopian troops advanced towards the country’s capital Tuesday as Islamist fighters retreated, bloodied by a week of artillery and mortar attacks but promising a “new phase” in the war — a chilling pronouncement from a movement that has threatened suicide attacks.

CAIRO (Reuters) — Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak asked parliament on Tuesday to amend the constitution to make it easier for opposition parties to field presidential candidates.

MECCA — Divided in their troubled homeland, Iraqi pilgrims who made the perilous journey to Mecca for Hajj this week are united in their prayers for peace, stability and the loved ones they have lost.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) — Sudanese President Omar  Bashir has told the United Nations he endorses a plan for a joint African Union-UN peacekeeping force to help quell violence and protect civilians in Darfur.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- The US court due to verify the case with a large number of Iranian clay tablets entrusted to Chicago University late December postponed the session to 25 days later.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Since referral of Iran’s case to the UNSC lacked legality from the onset, Iran perceives no reason to accept the UN Security Council Resolution 1737, an Iranian MP said here on Tuesday.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Crude oil rose after Iran, the Middle East’s second-largest exporter, said it will pursue nuclear research.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Iraq’s president on Monday protested the arrest by US forces in Iraq of two Iranian diplomats who had been invited to Iraq by Talabani.