Guardian report.

An Iranian university professor working at a key nuclear facility has been killed in a bomb explosion, the latest in a series of assassinations and attempted killings linked by the country's authorities to a secret war by Israel and the US to stop the development of what Tehran insists would be a peaceful nuclear capability.

Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, 32, a chemistry expert and a director of the Natanz uranium enrichment plant in central Iran, died after two assailants on a motorcycle attached magnetic bombs to his car, according to the semi-official Fars news agency.

Reuters report.

Israel's government broke all its settlement-building records in 2011, diminishing prospects for establishing a viable Palestinian state in the occupied West Bank, Israel's anti-settlement activist group "Peace Now" said Tuesday.

Independent report.

When you have already spent half a million pounds on rent, £300,000 on furniture and £2.3m paying your staff, an extra £8m on unexplained "administrative expenses" might seem to be stretching credulity, but that is what Tony Blair has told Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs, which as a consequence has received a rather smaller cheque from the former Prime Minister than it might have expected.

new York Times report.

The imminent opening of the enrichment site -- the Fordo plant, near the city of Qum -- confronts the United States and its allies with difficult choices about how far to go to limit Iran's nuclear abilities. The new facility is buried deep underground on a well-defended military site and is considered far more resistant to airstrikes than the existing enrichment site at Natanz, limiting what Israeli officials, in particular, consider an important deterrent to Iran's nuclear aims.

Guardian report.

An Iranian court has convicted an American man of working for the CIA and sentenced him to death, according to reports on state radio.

Iran charges that as a former US marine, Amir Hekmati, received special training and served at US military bases in Iraq and Afghanistan before heading to Iran for his alleged intelligence mission.

Telegraph report.

Mr Musharraf will announce his intention to return from London where has been living in exile despite facing arrest by the civilian government on treason charges.

"His return will be announced by video link at a rally in Pakistan on Sunday," a source close to the former president told the Daily Telegraph.

Independent report.

An explosion ripped through a busy intersection in the Syrian capital today, hitting a bus carrying police and killing up to 25 people in what Syrian authorities said was the second suicide attack in as many weeks.

[...]

Also today, SANA said terrorists blew up a pipeline that carries diesel from the central province of Homs to nearby Hama. There have been several pipeline blasts in recent months, but it is unclear who is behind them.

Guardian report.

The naval commander for the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi, said the drill in February would be "different compared to previous exercises held by the IRGC". The Iranian navy finished 10 days of exercises in the Gulf on Monday, during which it tested a range of new missiles. It warned that Iran could close the strait of Hormuz, the narrowest point in the Gulf, through which a fifth of the world's traded oil passes.

On the same day, the Israeli military said it was preparing for joint exercises with the US to rehearse missile defence and co-operation between the forces. The manoeuvres, which are codenamed Austere Challenge 12 and involve thousands of troops, have been planned for some time and were hailed by Israeli and US officials as their biggest joint drill.

Telegraph report.

A roadside bomb targeting Shiite pilgrims killed 44 people in the southern city of Nasiriyah on Thursday, following bombings in Baghdad that killed at least 29.

Officials said 44 people died and 72 were wounded in the attack, which occurred just west of Nasiriyah as pilgrims were walking to the holy shrine city of Karbala for Arbaeen commemorations.

The attack came on the same day two Shiite neighbourhoods in Baghdad were targeted in bombings that left at least 23 people dead.

Craig Murray writes:

David Miliband and William Hague are implicated in three entirely new Adam Werritty/Matthew Gould meetings admitted by the FCO in response to one of my FOI requests. Gould's meetings with Werritty, in his capacity as Principal Private Secretary to first Miliband and then Hague, were entirely left out of Gus O'Donnell's "investigation" into Werritty's activities.

Jerusalem Post article.

Israel is moving forward with plans to hold the largest-ever missile defense exercise in its history this spring amid Iranian efforts to obtain nuclear weapons.

Last week, Lt.-Gen. Frank Gorenc, commander of the US's Third Air Force based in Germany, visited Israel to finalize plans for the upcoming drill, expected to see the deployment of several thousand American soldiers in Israel.

The drill, which is unprecedented in its size, will include the establishment of US command posts in Israel and IDF command posts at EUCOM headquarters in Germany -- with the ultimate goal of establishing joint task forces in the event of a large-scale conflict in the Middle East.

From Mondoweiss.

On Dec 20 Jerusalem Post reported thousands of American soldiers were deploying to Israel to take part in the "the largest-ever missile defense exercise" in Israel's history.

We're back, after a seven month gap.