Iran’s government withdrew 42.054 trillion rials ($4.7 billion) from the Oil Stabilization Fund (OSF) in the first four months of the current Iranian year (started March 21), the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Finance reported here on Wednesday.

Iran’s first 40,000-ton wheat cargo was exported to Oman via southern Imam Khomeini Port on Wednesday in the presence of Minister of Commerce Massud Mirkazemi.

KABUL (AFP) – Dozens of Taliban militants have been killed in heavy fighting in southern and western Afghanistan, officials said Thursday, as the Al-Qaeda-backed insurgency showed no signs of abating.n volatile southern Uruzgan province, at least 36 insurgents were killed Wednesday in a fierce clash with Afghan and US-led coalition …

    Turkey’s devout Muslim prime minister said Wednesday that the constitution should be changed to remove a ban at universities on head scarves, the most potent symbol of the national divide over the role of religion in politics.     

 ISLAMABAD — Now that President Pervez Musharraf has reaffirmed intention to step down as army chief after eight years, the identity of his replacement at the helm of the powerful nuclear-armed army is leaving every body guessing. “Loyalty will possibly be the key factor but General Musharraf may spring a …

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is urging Iran to comply with Security Council resolutions regarding its nuclear activities, after France‘s foreign minister warned that the world should prepare for war if negotiations fail.

Russia and China expressed alarm on Tuesday over comments by France’s foreign minister that Paris should prepare for the prospect of war with Iran, which the West accuses of secretly developing nuclear weapons.

WARSAW, , 19 (UPI) — Polish President Lech Kaczynski has ordered 1,100 soldiers to stay in Afghanistan another year as part of NATO troops battling Taliban and al-Qaida insurgents.

Former Kabul producer Bilal Sarwary left the BBC in 2006 to study in the United States. He has spent his summer holidays in Afghanistan reporting for the BBC.

A senior Iranian air force commander said his troops have prepared operational plans to retaliate against Israel’s possible air strikes on the Islamic Republic.