Washington - The US government moved Wednesday to seize the assets of a New York firm accused of operating as a front for an Iranian bank already under sanctions.

The Treasury Department said ASSA Corp in New York and its parent company ASSA Co Ltd in the Channel Islands were working or controlled by Iranian state-run Bank Melli, which has allegedly provided financial support to Iran's nuclear activities.

Tel Aviv  - Members of Israel's ruling Kadima party were voting Wednesday on their centrist movement's list of parliamentary candidates, some eight weeks before the Israeli elections.

Results were not expected until early Thursday morning.

As she cast her vote Wednesday morning in Tel Aviv, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said: "We will choose a list and with it we will win."

Buenos Aires  - Fossils of a 5-metre-long short-armed flesh- eating dinosaur previously unknown to scientists have been found in Argentina, the scientist who headed the excavation said Wednesday in Buenos Aires.

The body of the estimated 370-kilogram creature may have also been covered with feathers and could provide an important link to understanding how dinosaurs developed the capability of flight, said Fernando Novas, the paleontologist who lead the dig in the southernmost province of Patagonia.

Amman  - Jordan and Egypt on Wednesday signed 23 agreements and memoranda of understanding to boost bilateral cooperation in commercial, investment, manpower, educational and information spheres.

The signing of the accords came at the end of an annual meeting of the Higher Jordanian-Egyptian Commission, which is co-chaired by the prime ministers of the two countries.

Baghdad  - Iraqi Parliamentary Speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani announced his resignation on Wednesday after lawmakers engaged in a quarrel over the reporter who threw his shoes at US President George W Bush.

Al-Zaidi, who has worked for the Cairo-based al-Baghdadiya since 2005, faces the Iraqi Criminal Court for throwing his shoes at Bush during a press conference on Sunday as he shouted in Arabic: "This is a goodbye kiss from the Iraqi people, dog."

Minsk/Moscow  - The Justice Ministry of Belarus has after four requests For Freedom democracy movement of the opposition leader Alexander Milinkevich to register as a political party, a spokesman for Milinkevich said Wednesday, according to the Itar-Tass news agency.

The founding of the movement however has not been without controversy, as it is seen by critics as splitting the opposition against authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko.