BBC News Online: World: Middle East

Iraqi soccer team gets Yugoslav coach

A former coach of Yugoslavia's national football team, Milan Zivadinovic, is reported to have been appointed to run the Iraqi national team.

The Yugoslav news agency Tanjug said he'd signed a three-year contract and had announced that the Iraqi team would train in Yugoslavia for the Asian championships due to be held in Lebanon in October.

Correspondents say Belgrade and Baghdad have stepped up economic and political cooperation since the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia last year.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service