WARSAW (Reuters) – Poland’s last communist leader, General Wojciech Jaruzelski, told a court on Thursday his decision in 1981 to declare martial law was a necessary “evil” that averted disaster and prepared the way for democracy.

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – A suicide bomber killed himself and three other people in Pakistan on Thursday in an attack aimed at a prominent ethnic Pashtun politician, police said.

NAIROBI (Reuters) – Piracy in the Gulf of Aden has cost shippers between $18-30 million so far this year in ransoms and is threatening global business, British think-tank Chatham House said on Thursday.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is in St Petersburg in Russia, helping to mend ties between the two countries.

Suicide bombers have struck near two Shia mosques in Baghdad, killing 20 people and wounding another 25, Iraqi security officials said.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei pledged Iranian support for the Palestinians and the Hamas government.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran’s rebar prices are still falling. 12 to 25-millimeter rebar prices have dropped to around USD 1,000 per tons compared to USD 1,050 per tons a week ago.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Trade turnover between Iran and Kazakhstan will experience a 4-time increase to reach USD 3 billions in the next three years, an Iranian envoy said.

TEHRAN (FNA)- The Iranian government plans to ask parliament for an extra $7 billion budget to cover the growing price of fuel imports.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran may restrict its cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog in opening its nuclear facilities to inspection, a senior Iranian lawmaker warned on Tuesday.