TEHRAN (FNA) – Iranian Deputy Interior Minister Hojjatollah Ayoubi said on Sunday that the current status of Iranian women and their significant advancement in the country has made them a good model for countries in the region.

TEHRAN (FNA) – Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei pardoned a large number of prisoners as Iran celebrates the 29th anniversary of its Islamic Revolution.

TEHRAN (FNA) – Iranians in Tehran and various other cities staged massive rallies to mark the 29th anniversary of the victory of the Islamic Revolution on Monday.

TEHRAN (FNA) – South Korea will deliver 16 oil tankers to Iran in 2008, while the time for delivery of domestically built tankers is not certain.

BAGHDAD – Growing impatience with the slow pace of work to improve basic services like electricity and water could threaten security gains in Iraq’s Anbar province, a former al Qaeda stronghold, the U.S. military said on Sunday.

BEIRUT – A leading member of Lebanon’s anti-Syrian governing coalition on Sunday warned of anarchy and raised the specter of war in the country, which is suffering its worst political crisis since the 1975-90 civil war.

MUNICH, Germany – Russia said on Sunday that Europe risked opening a “Pandora’s box” if it went ahead and recognized the independence of the breakaway Serbian province of Kosovo.

RACAK, Serbia – The massacre of 44 Kosovo Albanians by Serb security forces in this village nine years ago is a reminder of why Kosovo deserves independence from Serbia, says the U.S. diplomat who reported it to the world.

ISLAMABAD – Pakistan rejected on Saturday a U.S. official’s assertion that al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and Taliban leader Mullah Omar are operating from Pakistani territory.

Pakistan holds elections for the lower house of parliament and assemblies in its four provinces on February 18. The elections were postponed from January 8 after the assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto on December 27.