TEHRAN (FNA)- Tehran has stepped up efforts to secure the release of two Iranian nationals kidnapped in the western Afghan city of Herat.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Commissioning the third Azerbaijan gas pipeline will prevent the outflow of over $7 billion a year, the Iranian Gas Engineering and Development Company (IGEDC) managing director said here on Saturday.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Gunmen kidnapped eight Iraqis from their homes on Saturday and held them through the day in volatile Diyala province, where al Qaeda militants continue to roam despite a crackdown by Iraqi security forces, police said.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia has hastened Georgia’s march toward membership in NATO by going to war with it over its breakaway province of South Ossetia, a senior U.S. diplomat said on Saturday.

KIRKUK (Reuters) – A suicide bomber killed at least five people and wounded eight more on Saturday in Iraq’s northern city of Kirkuk, police said.The bomber detonated a suicide vest in a car market in southern Kirkuk, said Major-General Torhan Abdul-Rahman, a senior police official in the city.

So have the Russians left Georgia, or not? People who normally live in the buffer zone Russia has unilaterally set up are dismayed to see armour digging in instead of heading off back into south Osettia.

Life in Georgia is slowly returning as refugees from the Russian military occupation return and re-populate towns and villages that have been deserted for 10 days. They find much of Gori ruined, especially any official or military location.

(Pakistan) – Many bodies are still trapped under the rubble of the police station in Mingora in Pakistan’s Swat valley.Eight have been recovered, but there are fears of more after the Taliban warned of a bombing counter-offensive if the government does not stop military operations in the area, once a …

Two boats that set off from Cyprus packed with Palestinian activists; emergency supplies; and the sister-in-law of Middle East peace envoy Tony Blair have landed in the Gaza strip.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Assets of the Baku branch of Bank Melli Iran (BMI) stood at AZN 20.7 million on July 1, up 15% from a year earlier.