Reuters: A Hezbollah member appeared in a Cypriot court on Thursday for the last time before it rules on whether he plotted to attack Israeli interests for the Iran-backed Lebanese group.

AFP: Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari will visit Iran on Monday for the groundbreaking ceremony of a much delayed $7.5 billion gas pipeline from Iran to Pakistan, Islamabad announced on Thursday.

AFP: Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was travelling to Caracas on Thursday for the funeral of Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, state television reported.

Bloomberg: Iran’s plan to issue $10 billion in bonds to raise money for energy projects is on hold for several months, state-run Mehr news agency reported.

Reuters: Iran arrested the managing director and political editor of a pro-reform daily on Wednesday, with the semi-official Fars news agency saying their detentions were linked to the publication of a letter from a former president about media freedom.

Bloomberg: Iran and Turkmenistan reached an agreement for the Persian Gulf country to export goods to Turkmenistan in exchange for some of the natural gas it purchases from its northern neighbor, a trade official said.

UPI: Pro-Israel advocates lobbied U.S. congressional members for tighter sanctions against Iran and protection of aid to Israel from the sequester’s automatic cuts.

Reuters: The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations nuclear watchdog stormed out of an agency meeting on Wednesday in protest when Iran’s representative accused Israel of “genocide”, diplomats said.

AFP: After nine fruitless meetings with Iran over its alleged nuclear weapons research, the UN atomic agency may have to change approach, the US envoy to the IAEA said on Wednesday.