MOGADISHU (AP) — The Somali parliament stripped the speaker position from a top lawmaker closely associated with the recently ousted Islamist movement, a move the European Union said was disappointing and could hurt reconciliation efforts in the restive country.

KHARTOUM (AP) — Fifteen UN agencies in Sudan warned Wednesday that their relief operations in Darfur would collapse unless the government and the rebels took immediate steps to end the violence there.

CAIRO (Reuters) — An Egyptian court was right to convict a minibus driver shown in an Internet video being sodomised by police while in custody, but the police should also be punished, the man’s lawyer said on Tuesday.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) — Iraq’s oil committee has agreed a final draft of an oil law that sets rules for sharing revenues and boosting output and aims to bring in billions of dollars of foreign investment, an oil ministry spokesman said on Wednesday.

KUWAIT CITY (AP) — Kuwait’s emir told the US secretary of state that Washington should talk to Syria and Iran to improve the situation in Iraq, the Kuwaiti foreign minister said Wednesday.

REVIEW TOPICS: Yanukovich’s team in Ukraine concentrates economic and power levers of administration in its hands Scale of mass disturbances in Kharkov, Ukraine, has not been not known since 2001 Ukrainian parliament’s committee head insists on law enforcement bodies reforms Replacements in Security Service of Ukraine come to capital city …

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Iranian military troops have shot down a spy plane of the US army during the last few days, an Iranian MP said here on Tuesday.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei called for the adoption of new methods of propaganda for the growth and exaltation of the Hajj pilgrims.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- A radiant unidentified flying object was observed in the sky of Central Sepidar in the vicinity of Bouyer Ahmad in western Iran at 19:00 hours local time (15:30 GMT) Monday.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Germany’s Ambassador to Tehran stressed European Union’s strong opposition to the adoption of any military measures against Iran, saying that the EU believes in negotiations as the only way to resolve the nuclear issue.