TEHRAN (FNA) – US Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said he would favor holding direct talks with Iran and Syria in a bid to stabilize the Middle East if elected president.

LAHORE, Pakistan – A Pakistani lawyer who has spearheaded opposition to President Pervez Musharraf has come out of three months of detention as defiant as ever and insisting the president step down.

MIRANSHAH, Pakistan – A suicide bomber rammed an explosive-laden car into a Pakistani security force checkpost in the North Waziristan tribal region on Friday, killing six men, a security official said.

MOSCOW – Europe’s main election watchdog warned Russia on Wednesday it would not monitor a presidential vote next month unless Moscow eased restrictions on its work.

MOSCOW – Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Friday said Europe’s main election watchdog was seeking to sabotage plans for monitoring the March 2 presidential election.

MOSCOW – Russia on Friday sent 12 air force bombers to take part in naval exercises over the Arctic and North Atlantic oceans, Itar-Tass news agency quoted a spokesman for Russia’s air force as saying.

TEHRAN (FNA) – Foreign ministers of Iran and Africa are due to attend a meeting here in Tehran in the near future, Islamic Republic’s Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said on Friday.

TEHRAN (FNA) – As India has acquired the capability to produce viable commercial nuclear reactors with power generation capacities of 220 MW and 540 MW, some countries are interested in getting nuclear reactors from India, it was announced in New Delhi on Thursday.

TEHRAN (FNA) – Cuba has purchased 550 cargo wagons and 200 railway passenger cars from Iran, according to the country’s transport minister.

TEHRAN (FNA) – The Iraqi army has prevented the Iranian ambassador to Iraq, Hassan Kazemi Qomi, from meeting with an influential Sunni politician.