Manama, Bahrain - The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) on Tuesday accused Iran of "unfriendly and aggressive" behaviour towards the Gulf states, in a row over three disputed islands.

The row centres on the three islands of Greater Tunb, Lesser Tunb, and Abu Musa, in the southern Gulf, which have been under Iranian control since 1992, but are also claimed by the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Manama, Bahrain - The trial of 35 men charged with allegedly taking part in a foiled bombing terror plot last December in Bahrain opened in Manama on Monday - but was immediately postponed for one month.

The Criminal High Court was placed under heavy police guard for the opening hearing, amid skirmishes between police and relatives of the suspects after most of the families were denied access to the court.

The 35 suspects are accused under anti-terrorism legislation of conspiring to overthrow the Bahraini government and taking part in an alleged plot to detonate homemade explosives at a public celebration.

Manama, Bahrain  - The US Navy said Wednesday that one of its battleships patrolling the Gulf of Aden apprehended seven suspected pirates, marking the first such action by the newly-established multinational Combined Task Force (CTF) 151 to combat piracy.

The guided missile cruiser USS Vella Gulf (CG 72) apprehended the pirates after responding to a distress call from a nearby merchant vessel on Wednesday, according to a statement from the Manama-based US Navy 5th Fleet Command.

Manama, Bahrain - A Bahraini opposition leader said Saturday that he had filed libel cases against a local paper and several government figures over a series of articles published about him since 1997.

Abdulla Hashim in papers filed with the court said that he was asking Al Ayam, a liberal pro-government newspaper, to pay 50,000 Bahraini dinars (133,000 dollars) in damages for a series of articles about him.

Manama  - Opposition group supporters clashed with police Wednesday on the third day of demonstrations against the arrest of three Bahraini Shiite opposition figures, as the protests spread to include six other groups who called for their release.

Unrest spread through the outskirts of the capital and many Shiite villages, leading to the arrest of another five people, bringing to 12 the total arrested since Monday, officials said.

Manama, Bahrain  - Bahraini authorities charged three opposition figures early Tuesday with attempting to overthrow the government, and their arrest sparked wide spread clashes between supporters and police across the Gulf island.

The secretary general of the opposition Haq Movement for Liberty and Democracy, Hasan Mushaima; human rights committee head and Haq spokesman, AbdulJalil al-Singace; and Sheikh Mohammad Habib al-Miqdad were all charged with conspiring to overthrow the Bahraini government.