AP/UNB, Tehran

Iran on Sunday criticized the United States ahead of a historic visit to the Middle East by U.S. President George W. Bush, saying the trip will be an attempt to "compensate America's failed policies" in the region.
Bush is scheduled to begin his trip to Israel on Wednesday and will also visit the West Bank, Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Egypt as part of his push for a Middle East peace agreement.
"The purpose of these repeated trips is to compensate America's failed policies in the region," Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said in a press conference Sunday.
Bush said in comments published Saturday that he will work with Mideast allies to develop a security plan to counter Iran during his visit.
He did not provide details about the plan, but Arab diplomats told The Associated Press that they expect the U.S. president to offer closer military cooperation with moderate allies in the Persian Gulf, Egypt and Jordan. Bush said Iran remained a threat because it continued to develop missiles that could deliver nuclear weapons and had resisted international demands to suspend uranium enrichment, a process that can produce fuel for a reactor or fissile material for a bomb. Rather than protecting the region, said Hosseini, the U.S. policies are just to help out Israel.

AP/UNB, Manchester

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Democratic presidential front-runner no longer, accused campaign rival Barack Obama of changing his positions on health care and "a number of issues" in a debate three days before the New Hampshire primary. "I have been entirely consistent in my position," responded Obama on Saturday night, adding that he and Clinton have a "philosophical disagreement" over her proposal to require Americans to purchase health insurance or face a penalty from the government. Obama won the kickoff Iowa caucuses last Thursday, and his rivals can ill afford for him to gain a victory in New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation primary as well. Clinton, the former first lady, finished third in Iowa, and immediately made clear she intended to run a more aggressive campaign in New Hampshire when she said Obama's record requires more scrutiny than it received during the remarkably civil caucus campaign.

AP/UNB, Cairo

Syria joined other Arab nations in endorsing the head of Lebanon's army as that country's next president, putting pressure on the Lebanese opposition to drop demands that have blocked a compromise over the post.
During a meeting Saturday in Cairo, Arab foreign ministers agreed unanimously to back Commander Gen. Michel Suleiman for president and called on Lebanon's rival parties to resolve their political differences.
Syria's decision to back the statement suggested that the Lebanese opposition - led by the Syrian-backed Hezbollah – maybe ready to drop its demand that it receive Cabinet veto power before allowing Suleiman to be elected. "Stemming from Arab responsibilities toward Lebanon and in continuation of Arab efforts to help Lebanon overcome its crisis, the ministers ... call on the concerned parties in Lebanon to reach a consensus," the foreign ministers said in a statement made available to The Associated Press.
The statement called on Lebanon to elect a president Jan. 27. It urged Lebanon to first elect Suleiman, then resolve the issues surrounding a national unity government. The ministers also said the new president should have the power to cast his vote to break ties in the Cabinet.

Baghdad AP/UNB

A Shiite tribal sheik who was part of an effort to form an armed group to combat militias in his Baghdad neighborhood was shot and killed on Sunday, police said.
Sheik Ismaiel Abbas, believed to be 45, was outside his house in Shaab when he was shot by gunmen driving by in two cars, a police officer said on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to the media. Shaab is one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in Baghdad and Shiite militias are active in the area.
A resident of the neighborhood, who asked not to be named saying he feared reprisal attacks, said Abbas was in the process of helping form an armed "backing council" to combat the growing influence of the militias.
In other parts of Iraq, so-called "awakening councils" – groups of mostly Sunni anti-al-Qaida in Iraq fighters - have sprung up in the last year. The groups have been credited by American and Iraqi officials for helping cut violence across the country by 60 percent.

AP/UNB, Nairobi

Noor Adam screamed his children's names again and again as he lay bleeding from a bullet wound in front of his blazing shop, but they burned to death anyway.
The Kenyan shopkeeper said the fire was started by police from a different tribe. Police deny the accusation, though human rights groups accuse them of unjustified killings and excessive force in response to riots protesting disputed election results that have killed more than 300 people. The violence has exploded into ethnic clashes pulling in far more tribes than President Mwai Kibaki's Kikuyu and opposition leader Raila Odinga's Luo, and the police do not appear to be immune.
Adam said he was sleeping in his shop alongside Saida, his 7-year-old daughter and his 17-year-old son, Rashid, when the police arrived on Dec. 29.