Washington Times: He survived 14 assassination attempts as governor of Iraq’s Diyala province and is ready to risk his life again as a candidate in the parliamentary elections expectedin December. Dr. Abdullah Rasheed al-Jabouri, a dentist by profession, also learned about dirty politics when his opponents on the provincial election commission blocked him from running in the January elections by leaving his name off the ballot.


Iran Focus: Tehran, May 11 The prayer leader of the central prison of Karaj, west of Tehran, was killed by an unidentified person, according to a state-run daily.
Reuters: Iran is expected to notify the United Nations by the end of the week that it is resuming sensitive nuclear work, almost certainly killing off Tehran’s negotiations with the European Union, a European diplomat said on Wednesday. The collapse of the talks likely would bring the controversy over Iran’s nuclear program to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions or other actions.
AP: The trial began on Wednesday of an Iranian accused of the 1993 slaying of an Iranian dissident who died in a hail of automatic gunfire
Reuters: An Iranian man accused of organizing the 1993 murder of an Iranian opposition leader on behalf of Tehran’s secret services went on trial in absentia in an Italian court on Wednesday. Amir Mansur Bozorgian, whose whereabouts are unknown, is being represented by a court-appointed lawyer. The prosecution says Bozorgian was behind the shooting of Mohammed Hossein Naqdi, a leading member of the opposition National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), which wants to oust Iran’s clerical rulers.
Iran Focus: Rome, May 11 – Romes Criminal Court started this morning the trial in absentia of an official of the Iranian government accused of taking part in the killing of the representative of the opposition National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) in Italy. Mohammad Hossein Naghdi, who defected to the NCRI when he was the Iranian charge d’affaires in Italy in 1981, was murdered by a gunmen allegedly working for Iran’s notorious Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS), on March 16, 1993.
Iran Focus: Washington, May 11 A briefing was held in the United States Congress yesterday entitled Iraq’s Future: The Iranian Impact on the initiative of the Iran Human Rights and Democracy Caucus in the House of Representatives, co-chaired by Congressman Thomas Tancredo (R-Col) and Congressman Bob Filner (D-Cal). The panel included, Dr. 