* Russia Reconsidering Missile Deal With Iran Russia may not deliver the S-300 air defence systems to Iran, according to Russian news agency Interfax.

* Mubarak and Assad will seek to repair rift at Saudi summit In another effort at inter-Arab reconciliation, the leaders of Egypt and Syria will visit Saudi Arabia on Wednesday to meet with King Abdullah.

* Saudis and Syrians cement detente Saudi Arabia says King Abdullah is to hold talks with the Syrian leader in Riyadh on Wednesday.

* UN demands answers on Iran arms ship Iran and Syria have until next week to explain to a United Nations sanctions committee how they were involved with a ship detained off Cyprus in January found to be loaded with explosives believed to be bound for Gaza.

* Stem cell go-ahead puts Obama at odds with pope President Barack Obama’s lifting of restrictions on federal funding for human embryonic stem cell research puts him at odds with Pope Benedict and the American Roman Catholic Church.

* ‘It will be difficult to stop Iran’ It would be difficult to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons and hard to tell which combination of carrots and sticks might convince Iran’s leaders to abandon that goal.

* As U.S. weighs Taliban negotiations, Afghans are already talking Even as President Barack Obama floated the idea of negotiating with moderate elements of the Taliban, Afghan and foreign officials here said that preliminary discussions with the Taliban leadership were already under way.

* Egyptian cleric blasts Starbucks for ‘Queen Esther’ logo As Jews around the world are celebrating Purim, one Egyptian cleric has used the holiday to launch an attack against Starbucks.

* 40,000 Israelis expected to attend papal mass Some 40,000 people are expected to attend the mass the pope will lead on his scheduled visit to Israel in May.