MOSCOW – A Russian helicopter flying out of the Chechen capital, Grozny, crashed into a mountain in bad weather, killing two crew members and seriously injuring another, news reports said on Monday. The Mi-8 was flying to the Ingush capital, Magas.

WASHINGTON – Halliburton's KBR subsidiary received government approval Thursday for its purchasing policies and practices in servicing a huge Pentagon logistics contract. In a letter to KBR, the Defense Contract Management Agency said a review had found its purchasing system's "policies and practices are effective and efficient, and provide adequate protection of the government's interest."

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey – A policeman and a guard were killed early on Tuesday in an attack on a police checkpoint in Diyarbakir, regional capital of the mainly Kurdish southeast of Turkey.

JEDDAH – Chinese foreign minister Li Zhaoxing arrived in Jeddah on Monday, on the first leg of a regional tour expected to include Sanaa and Cairo.

AMMAN – Iraqi foreign minister Hoshiyar Zebari met his Jordanian counterpart, Marwan Moasher, on Monday, to discuss a meeting of Iraq’s neighbors expected to be held in Amman next month.

TEHRAN – A senior Iranian official said on Monday that cooperation, not threats, were needed in the dispute over Tehran’s nuclear program. The US is attempting to bring Iran before the UN Security Council over the issue.

ANKARA – EU enlargement chief Guenter Verheugen said this week that the “moment of truth” is approaching for Turkey’s bid to join the European Union. EU leaders will decide in December whether to open talks.

JERUSALEM – The foreign ministers of Israel and Russia signed a deal to step up intelligence cooperation, referring to terrorism as the biggest challenge facing the international community.

JOHANNESBURG – South African President Thabo Mbeki and senior aides began two days of talks with a delegation from Israel’s governing Likud party on Monday. South Africa has been one of the most vocal critics of Israel’s West Bank separation barrier.

JERUSALEM – Israel’s new-generation spy satellite Ofek 6 failed a launch attempt on Monday, crashing into the Mediterranean Sea after a technical malfunction. The satellite was reportedly one of the world’s most advanced.

STRASBOURG, FRANCE – Judges from the European Court of Human Rights began a three-day visit to Turkey on Monday, to investigate claims by 53 prisoners that they suffered brain damage while on hunger strike in protest at conditions in jail, a court source said.

AMMAN – Three Jordanians and a Sudanese national held hostage by an Islamic militant group in Iraq were released on Monday, Jordanian foreign minister Marwan Moasher announced.

ISLAMABAD – Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz began a three-day visit to Saudi Arabia on Monday, at the head of a 19-member delegation.

ANKARA – A suspected member of the Turkish underground Marxist-Leninist Communist Party was injured when a bomb he had attached to a banner exploded in his hands. The incident occurred early on Monday in the western city of Izmir.

WASHINGTON – The World Bank is to grant the West Bank and Gaza $7.8 million for emergency sewage treatment. The money will be used to tackle an overflow at the Beit Lahia water treatment plant, which is threatening to flood neigh-boring communities with contaminated water.

AMMAN – A Jordanian man will become the third Arab astronaut ever when he travels to Russia later this month for training. The candidate, who has not been named, follows in the footsteps of Saudi Prince Bandar Bin Salman Bin Abdel Aziz and Muhammad Fares of Syria.

AMMAN – Two prisoners were killed and 40 injured in a dispute between inmates in a Jordanian jail. Monday’s edition of Amman’s daily Al Arab said the incident occurred the previous week.

RIYADH – Saudi Arabian security forces in the holy city of Mecca on Monday arrested a man suspected of inciting terrorism, a day after three Saudi security officers were killed in clashes with gunmen in Berida in the central part of the kingdom.

KHARTOUM – Sudan is to file a complaint against Greece in the European Court of Justice over the deportation of a number of Sudanese who allegedly won tickets to attend the Olympics. Greek authorities said they did not have the tickets with them and had very little money.

ADDIS ABABA – The International Committee of the Red Cross over the weekend repatriated 93 Eritrean nationals expelled from Ethiopia, accompanying them across the border.

ANKARA – No country should attempt to tackle terrorism on its own, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday, in response to a threat by Moscow to strike “terrorist bases” anywhere in the world.

RIYADH – Saudi Arabia has set up a panel to oversee the first round of landmark municipal elections to be held in the capital, Riyadh, later this year. The nine-member group will supervise the election process for local councils in the Riyadh region.

ANKARA – A huge fire swept through a copper mine in northern Turkey on Wednesday, killing at least 19 workers and injuring a further 17. The fire broke out in a tunnel 150 meters (490 feet) underground near Kure, 350 kilometers (215 miles) northeast of Ankara.

BAMAKO – Sixteen prisoners, including several murderers, escaped from a jail in Gao in the northeast of Mali on Monday. Security forces were deployed in and around the town in a search for the escaped prisoners.

BEIRUT – Qatari foreign minister Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassem Bin Jabr Al Thani was transferred to a Beirut hospital on Wednesday, after he became ill during a visit to neighboring Syria, hospital sources said.

KUWAIT CITY – Kuwaiti police arrested five drug smugglers in possession of 176 kilograms (387 pounds) of hashish after exchanging gunfire with them, according to an official statement. The operation came after contacts with Bahraini anti-drugs authorities.

ABUJA – An order by Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo to deport a Lebanese-Nigerian dual national was approved by his cabinet on Wednesday after the man, Elias Antonio Dahboul, was accused of activities “detrimental” to Nigeria.

NICOSIA – The Cyprus supreme court has rejected a government appeal against a lower court decision not to punish a Greek-Cypriot who flew to Turkey from the breakaway north of the divided Mediterranean island.

TEHRAN – Iran has called on Britain to return a haul of 5,000-year-old artifacts confiscated from smugglers at London’s Heathrow airport in June, warning that it would otherwise embark on legal action. The artifacts had been dispatched from Kuwait and Dubai.

TEHRAN – Iran has responded to restrictions in France, Germany, and Turkey on the wearing of Muslim headscarves by offering to provide additional university places to women who want to wear the veil.

JERUSALEM – Israeli security officials this week presented a revised route for the West Bank separation barrier, following a supreme court ruling in June that the current route infringes on the fundamental rights of tens of thousands of Palestinians.

JERUSALEM – One man was killed and three others injured when a car exploded in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon on Wednesday, in an incident believed to be linked to gangland violence. Authorities said the victim was “known to police.”

TEHRAN – Fahrenheit 9/11, a film by US director Michael Moore that is a scathing attack on President George W. Bush’s administration, is due to begin screening in Iran, an official said this week.

Islamabad – Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said this week that his government was not fighting terrorism on behalf of the United States, but for its own stability.

SAMARRA – Three foreign truck drivers traveling in US-protected convoys were killed in ambushes north of Baghdad over a 24-hour period, Iraqi police said on Wednesday.

DOHA – Qatar is drafting a bill that would ban hiring people under 18 as jockeys for camel races, in a bid to curb the trafficking of children. An official said the legislation is expected to be ready in April.

TEHRAN – An Iranian extremist group, the Committee for the Glorification of the Martyrs of the World Islamic Movement, said this week it would begin recruiting suicide squads to defend Iran’s first nuclear power station.