Moscow  - Russia will sign a deal next week allowing Spain to transit supplies for NATO operations in Afghanistan by rail through its southern territory, an aide for President Dmitry Medvedev said Friday.

Medvedev will sign the transit agreement on an official visit to Madrid on March 1-3, Kremlin aide Sergei Prikhodko was quoted by news agency Interfax as saying.

Berlin  - The poor human rights record in Belarus stands in the way of closer ties to the EU, was the assessment given Friday by the German human rights envoy Guenther Nooke following a visit to the region.

"There are positive changes, but things are advancing very slowly," Nooke said after several days of meetings with the government of Belarus, opposition leaders and human rights organisations.

Tehran  - Iran sees no limits in expanding its ties with neighbouring Iraq, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told his Iraqi counterpart Jalal Talabani at the Iran-Iraq summit in Tehran on Friday.

"We will grant Iraq all our experiences in all relevant fields and from our side, there is no limit for expanding cooperation with our friends and brothers in Iraq," Ahmadinejad told Talabani in their first round of talks.

A tribal elder has disclosed that three top Taliban groups in Pakistan have joined hands to the counter the offensive of the United States.

The Daily Times quoted the chief of the Taliban in the Wana region, Maulvi Nazir as telling a delegation of Ahmedzai Wazir elders that the alliance between the three factions was targeted at fighting the US forces together.

The Union Cabinet today approved the signing of an agreement between India and Bulgaria on exemption from visa requirement for the holders of Diplomatic and official/service passports.

The agreement is scheduled to be signed during the visit of the Foreign Minister of Bulgaria to India on March 3.