TEHRAN (FNA)- The Central Bank of Iran has given the green light for the establishment of a special fund to support domestic producers of oil industry equipment, the petroleum minister said here on Sunday.

TEHRAN (FNA)- A senior Iranian lawmaker dismissed the possibility for the impeachment of Interior Minister Ali Kordan over his Oxford degree.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki and his Nepalese counterpart Upendra Yadav on Tuesday urged broadening cooperation in light of the new political conditions in Kathmandu, Nepal.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ordered the implementation of a formerly issued directive on the withdrawal of complaints against the media and press.

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – Pakistan has appointed a new chief for the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Directorate, months after U.S. officials had questioned the reliability of the military’s premier spy agency in the war against terrorism.

KHAR, Pakistan (Reuters) – Pakistani tribesmen backed by army helicopter gunships battled Islamist militants in the Bajaur region on the Afghan border on Tuesday, killing several of the militants, a tribal elder said.

TEL AVIV (Reuters) – Israel has cut purchases of U.S.-made cluster bombs, defense officials said Tuesday, stocking up on supplies from a state-owned Israeli company rather than heeding calls for an outright ban.

ASIRA AL-KIBLIYA, West Bank (Reuters) – Armed with guns, slingshots, knives and stun grenades, Jewish settlers pelted the house of Palestinian Nahla Makhlouf with stones, uprooted young trees and painted the Star of David on her walls.

NAIROBI (Reuters) – Rival Somali pirates arguing over what to do with a hijacked Ukrainian ship and its cargo of 33 tanks engaged in a shootout on board, killing three of their number, a maritime group said on Tuesday.

KABUL (Reuters) – Three soldiers from a U.S.-led coalition force in Afghanistan have been killed in a blast in the south of the country, the U.S. military said Tuesday.