HERAT, Afghanistan (Reuters) – Taliban insurgents have freed 118 laborers they kidnapped in western Afghanistan last week, Taliban commanders and Afghan officials said on Friday.

NAIROBI (Reuters) – Somali pirates have seized a Ukrainian ship carrying more than 30 tanks to Kenya and Russia said on Friday it was sending a warship to combat piracy in the region.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas pledged on Friday to pursue peace efforts with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s successor but warned of a new cycle of violence if the fragile peace process collapsed.

The President of the former Soviet state Belarus insists this weekend’s elections will be fair and democratic, despite growing scepticism. Advance voting has begun, and the Minsk hardman, President Alexander Lukashenko, who recently fell out of favour in Moscow, must balance the demands of the Kremlin with the promises of …

Russia is to beef up its nuclear arsenal in the next 12 years, including building its own missile shield in space and commissioning more atomic submarines.

A UN inquiry into alleged Syrian nuclear activity has been delayed by the assassination of UN investigators’ top contact in Damascus.

A Libyan official has cast doubt on claims a group of European tourists and their Egyptian guides seized in Egypt last week have been taken to Libya.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran needs the ability to produce nuclear fuel because it cannot rely on other nations to supply enriched uranium to the Islamic Republic’s planned reactors, the Iranian president said Thursday.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Jewish rabbis said that the Islamic Republic of Iran is in pursuit of peace, and that Tehran opposes Zionism and not Judaism.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran plans to launch a satellite into space soon using an Iranian-made rocket, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said.