Six people are to go on trial suspected of planning attacks on a Kuwaiti port project in the Gulf that is disputed by Iraq, a judiciary official said on Wednesday.

"The police have arrested six people accused of preparing an attack on Mubarak port," said a spokesman for the court of appeal in Nasiriyah, 305 kilometres (190 miles) south of Baghdad.

Baghdad claims the Mubarak al-Kabir project, once completed, would strangle its shipping lanes in the narrow Khor Abdullah waterway that serves as its entrance to the Gulf, through which the vast majority of its oil exports flow.

Kuwait insists the port will not affect Iraq.

The court spokesman said the six detainees "all deny the charges, but a witness has confirmed that they were implicated in preparing to attack the port."

The six, from Nasiriyah and the port of Basra farther south, have been referred to a criminal court for trial, he added.

It was not known if the suspects were members of a particular group, and there was no trial date given.

Kuwait began construction on the container port in 2007 but Baghdad only raised objections to it last May, a month after Kuwait's emir laid the foundation stone.

An Iraqi Shiite militant group, Ketaeb Hezbollah, in July threatened to target firms working on the port project.

"The Iraqi people will not forget what the government of Kuwait is doing by building a port to strangle Iraq economically," said a statement posted on the group's website.

The $1.1 billion (835,000-million-euro) facility on Kuwait's Bubiyan Island is scheduled for completion in 2016.

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — Germany has upgraded the Palestinian diplomatic representation in Berlin from a delegation to a mission headed by an ambassador, visiting German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle announced Wednesday.

The decision followed similar steps in recent months by France, Spain, Portugal and Ireland. It was seen as a boost to the Palestinian quest for international recognition.

Germany is one of the most influential countries in Europe and one of Israel's most loyal allies.

The Palestinians have been campaigning for U.N. membership for a state of Palestine in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, the territories Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war.

The Palestinians say they're trying to build leverage against Israel with the U.N. bid, but remain committed to negotiating the terms of Palestinian statehood. Israel claims the U.N. bid is a Palestinian attempt to delegitimize Israel and bypass negotiations.

The Palestinians have won individual recognition of a state of Palestine from dozens of countries, but not from most of Western Europe. The status upgrades by Germany and other European countries do not necessarily mean they would vote for full U.N. membership.

Commenting on Germany's decision, Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said "the Palestinians will certainly interpret this as an encouragement to proceed with their rejection of direct talks, and that is a pity."

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's powerful Muslim Brotherhood on Wednesday issued a harsh denunciation of liberal and secular activists, echoing charges by the military rulers that they receive foreign funds to create chaos in Egypt.

The statement came a day after Brotherhood members clashed with protesters outside the parliament building in Cairo. The protesters were demanding an end to military rule.

Lines of young Brotherhood members gathered outside the parliament, saying they were defending it in case protesters stormed it. The Brotherhood members then fought with protesters and beat women activists who tried to separate the two sides, witnesses said.

The Brotherhood's political party swept recent elections, taking nearly 50 percent of the seats in the new parliament.

The Brotherhood statement backed the military's investigation of pro-democracy and human rights groups. Last month Egyptian security agents raided offices of 10 groups, several of them U.S.-based, setting off a round of international condemnation. Last week the military banned some foreign activists from leaving the country.

The Brotherhood has called for an end to protests, to allow the military to follow its stated timetable of handing over power after presidential elections in June.

Liberal and secular activists who led last year's popular uprising that toppled President Hosni Mubarak's regime failed to win significant strength in the parliament, and they are suspicious of the Brotherhood, suspecting that the veteran Islamist movement is working with the military.

The clashes were the second between the young protest groups and Brotherhood supporters in recent days. The escalating violence raised concerns that the political differences might turn into bloody confrontations.

The Brotherhood website said its members showed self-restraint as protesters pelted them with rocks and water. The Health Ministry said more than 100 people were injured, including some with broken bones.

This Brotherhood's statement Wednesday in response to the violence was unusually strong. Secular activists, who demand an immediate transfer of power said it echoed the language of the military, which they accuse of perpetuating the repressive tactics of the Mubarak regime.

"The parliament has become the real representative of the Egyptian people," the Brotherhood statement by email said, calling on the military to protect the parliament, state institutions and the military itself "which some of these (protest) groups think must be brought down."

Brotherhood spokesman Mahmoud Ghozlan said the protesters are mostly those who were unhappy with the Brotherhood's success in the parliament.

"They have no popularity ... Is it valid that they receive funds to create chaos to bring down the parliament?" Ghozlan said. "This is chaos. It is not about democracy."

Heba Ghannam, one of the protesters, said that after making it to the side of the Brotherhood supporters as part of a women's group trying to stop the clashes, she was beaten.

"We were coming from behind the Brotherhood supporters. They started beating us," she said. "One of them took out a belt and beat me with it. It was really ugly." She said other female protesters were beaten on the head.

Abdel-Rahman Ouda, a 32-year old Brotherhood supporter in front of the parliament, denied his group beat anyone. He said he was hit in the head by a stone, causing a large gash. "It was a very vicious attack," he said.

Last week, Brotherhood supporters and secular protesters hurled bottles and rocks at each other and scuffled in Cairo's Tahrir Square during a demonstration.

BAGHDAD (AP) — An al-Qaida front group in Iraq has claimed responsibility for a bloody attack on a government compound in the Islamist militants' former stronghold west of Baghdad last month.

Seven policemen were killed in a three-hour battle between Shiite-dominated security forces and Sunni militants Jan. 14 in the Anbar provincial capital of Ramadi. It was the first serious gunbattle for Iraqi forces against insurgents without American backup.

A statement by al-Qaida's Islamic State of Iraq late Tuesday praised the attackers as a "group of the heroes" for targeting Iraqi troops, who it said were agents of Iran. The group vowed more attacks, saying the recent blasts were "very small" compared to those coming.

Violence has surged since U.S. troops left in December. More than 200 people were killed last month.

The UN atomic watchdog IAEA said Wednesday it would hold new nuclear talks in Tehran this month after a delegation concluded a three-day visit to Iran over the weekend.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said in a statement that another meeting will take place in Tehran from February 21 to 22.

A six-strong IAEA team returned to Vienna on Wednesday after a visit aimed at clearing "outstanding substantive issues" on Tehran's nuclear programme following a damning report from the agency in November.

"There is still a lot of work to be done, and so we have planned another trip in the very near future," chief UN nuclear inspector Herman Nackaerts told reporters on his arrival.

The IAEA said that during the visit the delegation "explained its concerns and identified its priorities, which focus on the clarification of possible military dimensions to Iran's nuclear programme".

"The IAEA also discussed with Iran the topics and initial steps to be taken, as well as associated modalities," it added.

"The agency is committed to intensifying dialogue. It remains essential to make progress on substantive issues," IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano said.

Western nations suspect Iran of seeking an atomic bomb, but Tehran insists its nuclear programme is entirely for peaceful purposes.

Eleven Iranian pilgrims were kidnapped on Wednesday in Syria, in the latest such incident in the unrest-swept Arab state, the state news agency IRNA reported.

It said the latest case raised to 29 the number of Iranians abducted in Syria since December. The foreign ministry has urged Damascus "to use all means ... to release" Iranian nationals.

Iran's consul at the embassy in Damascus, Abdolmajid Kamjou, quoted by IRNA, said the latest batch was snatched in the central city of Hama after the mission had warned Iranian pilgrims to avoid road trips in Syria.

"Armed people are trying to take advantage of our pilgrims in order to propagate that Iran is sending forces to Syria, but this is just a pretext. All of the Iranians kidnapped so far are civilians," he said.

Syria is Iran's main ally in the Arab world. Anti-regime circles have accused Tehran of aiding the regime's crackdown on dissent.

Last Friday, the rebel Free Syrian Army claimed to have captured five Iranian military officers in the restive city of Homs and urged Tehran to "immediately" withdraw any other troops it may have in Syria.

Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on Tuesday warned against US "interference" in Syria's internal affairs while saying he backed reform for the Syrian people.

KABUL (Reuters) - The U.S. military said in a secret report that the Taliban, backed by Pakistan, are set to retake control of Afghanistan after NATO-led forces withdraw, raising the prospect of a major failure of Western policy after a costly war. Lieutenant Colonel Jimmie Cummings, a spokesman for the NATO-led International …