Asian benchmark 180-centistoke fuel oil rose to a record on higher benchmark Dubai crude and lower supplies in the Middle East after Iran cut exports.

Tehran said that expansion of relations with the Arab countries underpins its foreign policy.

The Middle-East peace conference has been designed to help Israel get rid of its present political isolation, Iran’s ambassador to Thailand Mohsen Pak Ayeen said, adding that the US neoconservatives are striving to hide their political failures by making such a move.

An earthquake measuring 3.1 on the Richter scale jolted the town of Esfarayen in Iran’s northeastern province of Northern Khorassan on Friday.

Senegal’s Culture Minister Birame Diouf underlined his country’s enthusiasm for expanding cultural cooperation with Iran, specially in grounds of film production, movie screening and training Senegalese filmmakers.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad vowed that Tehran will not negotiate over its nuclear rights but said his government is prepared to answer questions from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

KABUL (AFP) — A British NATO soldier was killed in a roadside blast in southern Afghanistan overnight while US-led coalition forces killed several militants, officials said Friday.

MONTREAL, QUEBEC–(Marketwire – Oct. 4, 2007) – The Honourable Beverley J. Oda, Minister of International Cooperation, today joined the Afghanistan Minister of Education, His Excellency Haneef Atmar, to announce that Canada’s New Government is taking a leadership role to increase the access to and quality of education in Afghanistan, by …

KABUL, Afghanistan — Violence in Afghanistan has spiked to its highest level since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion, with an Associated Press count of insurgency-related deaths this year surpassing the 5,000 mark.

ROME (AP) — An Italian intelligence agent who was kidnapped with a colleague in Afghanistan and wounded during a rescue operation died Thursday, the Defense Ministry said.