Eurasia

BAKU (Reuters) – Authorities in Azerbaijan said turnout was high on Wednesday in a presidential election boycotted by the opposition and almost certain to return Ilham Aliyev for a second term in the oil-producing state.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Three men go on trial on Wednesday for involvement in the murder of Anna Politkovskaya, a journalist and Kremlin critic.Politkovskaya, whose reports on Russia’s breakaway Chechnya region detailing rights abuses angered the Kremlin, was shot dead outside her Moscow apartment in 2006.

TEHRAN (FNA)- A top Iranian nuclear official said on Tuesday that Tehran was satisfied with the ongoing construction of the Islamic Republic’s first nuclear power plant, currently being built by Russia in the south of Iran.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Pakistan invited Iran to invest in its expanding Housing sector.Speaking to APP on Monday, Pakistani Housing Minister Rehmatullah Kakar said his Iranian counterpart Saeedi Kia had accepted his invitation to visit Pakistan and explore Iranian investment in this important sector of economy.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) – More than 40 Islamist militants and two soldiers have been killed in the latest fighting in Pakistan’s troubled northwest near the Afghan border, paramilitary force officials said on Tuesday.

A demonstration in Montenegro against the government’s decision to recognise Kosovo has turned violent.At least 30 people, including ten police officers, were injured in the clashes in the Montenegrin capital, Podgorica.

Talks are underway in Moscow on the possibility of Russia lending Iceland four billion euros to help it survive its financial crisis. Russian could loan the money over three to four years, to be paid back at a higher than normal interest rate.

LUXEMBOURG (Reuters) – European Union foreign ministers differed on a possible restart of partnership talks with Russia Monday as questions remained over whether Russia had fully complied with a ceasefire pact with Georgia.

LUXEMBOURG (Reuters) – The European Union suspended travel bans on Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko and dozens of other officials on Monday as a reward for freeing political prisoners, but kept some sanctions in place.

VILNIUS (Reuters) – Lithuania vowed on Monday to push for extending the lifespan of its Ignalina nuclear power plant after a referendum failed to support the government’s case against EU demands to close it by the end of 2009.