Insurgents ‘took a break’ during Ahmadinejad visit
A top US general says Iranian-backed insurgents took a couple of days off during the recent visit to Baghdad by Iran’s president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Lieutenant General Ray Odierno, who has only just returned from duty as the second highest ranking US officer in Iraq, says Iran still controls insurgent groups in Iraq.

Report: Turkey attacks Northern Iraq
ISTANBUL, Turkey – Turkish military helicopters attacked Kurdish separatist rebels in northern Iraq less than a week after the end of a large-scale ground operation, a Turkish television station reported Wednesday.

Iraqi cabinet OKs deals with oil giants
BAGHDAD – Iraq’s cabinet has given the green light to the Oil Ministry to sign agreements with international oil companies to help increase the nation’s crude output, a ministry official said Wednesday.

Violence Leaves Young Iraqis Doubting Clerics
BAGHDAD — After almost five years of war, many young people in Iraq, exhausted by constant firsthand exposure to the violence of religious extremism, say they have grown disillusioned with religious leaders and skeptical of the faith that they preach.

Palestinians will resume peace talks
RAMALLAH, West Bank – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Wednesday he will resume peace talks with Israel, backing off a threat to boycott negotiations until Israel reaches a truce with Hamas militants in Gaza.

Lebanese get by amid crisis
BEIRUT, Lebanon – “Poor Lebanon” is a much-loved preface to a litany of the country’s troubles. Parliament has been deadlocked for a year. A quarter of Cabinet ministers boycott meetings. There’s been no president since November because quarreling lawmakers keep postponing a session to elect a replacement.

Russia tells Iran to suspend enrichment
UNITED NATIONS – Russia to neighbor and friend Iran: Study the incentives the world’s key powers are offering — including improved relations with the United States — and suspend uranium enrichment as the U.N. Security Council is demanding.

Bombings in Afghanistan kill 5
A suicide car bomber attacked a government building Tuesday in eastern Afghanistan, killing a policeman a day after a similar blast left four people—including two NATO soldiers—dead.

UN: Afghanistan should hit drug lords
KABUL, Afghanistan – The Afghan government should target big drug traffickers — some with links to government officials — who are fueling the country’s multibillion-dollar illicit drug trade, which has reached unprecedented levels, the United Nations said Wednesday.

Pakistan in limbo as election winners squabble
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Two weeks after Pakistan’s opposition parties triumphed in national elections, they’re still unable to agree on a prime minister or a government, and the stalemate threatens to strengthen the man they defeated, President Pervez Musharraf. Western diplomats in Islamabad privately expressed alarm over the political vacuum, which comes as Islamic extremists are conducting a campaign of suicide bombings.

Top US military man arrives in Pakistan
On his second visit in a month, Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, has arrived in Islamabad. He is visiting the increasingly violent country for talks with embattled President Pervez Musharraf and Pakistan’s military leadership.

Sri Lanka says 104 soldiers killed in February
COLOMBO (AFP) – More than 100 government soldiers were killed and another 800 wounded during clashes with Tamil Tiger rebels last month, a senior minister told parliament Wednesday.

China announces largest military budget ever
China’s defense budget will rise to $59 billion in 2008, an increase of 17.6 percent over a year earlier, said Jiang Enzhu, spokesman for the National People’s Congress. The budget increase, the latest in a string of double-digit hikes over more than a decade, brings China’s military spending on a par with Russia, Britain and Japan.

Australia cancels contract for US Seasprite helicopters
SYDNEY (AFP) – Australia on Wednesday cancelled a one billion dollar (930 million US) contract for US-made Seasprite helicopters following a review of the troubled project.

Canada budget passes, keeping minority govt alive
OTTAWA (Reuters) – The Canadian budget passed the House of Commons on Tuesday, keeping the minority Conservative government alive.

Seized laptop shows Chavez-rebel ties
BOGOTA, Colombia – A single laptop can reveal much, and so it is with the digital treasure chest that Colombian commandos found in the jungle quarters of slain rebel leader Raul Reyes.

Colombia demands OAS act against Venezuela
WASHINGTON — Colombia clashed on Tuesday with Ecuador, Venezuela and their allies at the Organization of American States, which agreed to convene an emergency meeting of hemispheric foreign ministers to deal with a spiraling crisis in the Andes. The OAS may also send a mission to investigate and explore diplomatic solutions to the March 1 raid, when Colombia bombed a guerrilla camp one mile inside Ecuador, killing a top commander of a rebel group known as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

UK parliament votes on referendum for EU treaty
LONDON (Reuters) – British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is likely to survive a revolt in parliament from some ruling Labour Party members on Wednesday and avoid a referendum on the new European Union reform treaty.

Eritrea claims UN supports Ethiopia in border deadlock
NAIROBI (AFP) – Eritrea on Tuesday accused the United Nations of siding with its arch-enemy Ethiopia, as UN peacekeepers finalise their pullout of border zones due to a fuel blockade imposed by Asmara.

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