Iran established its oil bourse Sunday in a free trade zone on the Persian Gulf Island of Kish and 100 tons of polyethylene consignment was traded at the market’s opening on the island, which houses the offices of about 100 Iranian and foreign oil companies.

Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has called on all loyalists to the Islamic Revolution to maintain unity and to ignore minor and unimportant issues.

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — In the second serious attack in southern Afghanistan in two days, a suicide bomber set off an explosion on Monday as he drove his car near a convoy of Canadian troops on a crowded border town street, killing 36 civilians and wounding 38. The governor of Kandahar …

UNITED NATIONS – If the U.N. Security Council does nothing to stop Kosovo from seceding, it will tell the world that no country’s sovereignty and borders are safe, Serbian President Boris Tadic said on Monday.

BUCHAREST – Romania’s will not recognize Kosovo independence, parliament declared on Monday, highlighting fears that such a move could fuel separatist moves in the Balkans.

SARAJEVO – Ethnic Serbs in Bosnia and Montenegro reject Kosovo’s declaration of independence from Serbia and will try to block its recognition by their own countries, officials said on Monday.

DUBAI – Iraq is inching toward attracting the billions of dollars needed to revamp its oil sector but international oil companies are still not ready to commit the massive sums required.

Iraq currently produces only a fraction of its vast reserves, the third-largest in the world and among the cheapest to produce, and international oil firms have been positioning for years to gain access.

The attack, a day after more than 100 people were killed in the deadliest suspected suicide raid since the Taliban were overthrown in 2001, comes as some Western politicians call for a stronger resolve to stop Afghanistan sliding back into anarchy.

BRUSSELS – Spain, grappling with its own separatist movements, said on Monday it would not recognize the secession of the ethnic Albanian territory of Kosovo from Serbia.