AL-NASHWA, Iraq (AFP) - Commercial traffic has resumed on the strategic Shatt al-Arab waterway after 31 years, with the opening of a port for oil giant Shell, an Iraqi official said on Tuesday.

MALE (AFP) - The Maldives military denied Tuesday that a coup had taken place in the island nation but said it had advised President Mohamed Nasheed to resign.

BAGHDAD (AFP) - Ministers from the secular Iraqiya bloc on Tuesday ended a cabinet boycott that began in December amid a crisis with the Shiite-led government, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's spokesman said.

MOSCOW (AFP) - Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov arrived Tuesday in Damascus with the head of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) for talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, the Russian foreign ministry said.

BEIRUT (AFP) - The Syrian opposition on Tuesday urged businessmen across the strife-torn country and throughout the Arab world to fund rebel forces seeking the overthrow of the regime of Bashar al-Assad.