Eurasia

NOVO-OGARYOVO, Russia (Reuters) – Russia said on Thursday it was ready to consider helping Venezuela develop a peaceful nuclear energy program, a gesture that will displease Washington as two of its sharpest critics draw closer.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran’s Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki met with his Turkish counterpart Ali Babacan on the sidelines of the 63rd session of the United Nations General Assembly.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Azerbaijan is sticking to plans to reduce oil exports to the EU and increase shipments to Russia and Iran, as the South Caucasus country – home to another Russia-influenced frozen conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh – seeks to spread risk.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Russia pulled out of talks on tighter sanctions against Iran despite repeated calls by the US for fresh UN Security Council resolutions against the Islamic Republic.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Russia’s foreign minister on Wednesday dismissed suggestions by U.S. and European officials that it has become isolated since its war with Georgia and insisted it acted in justifiable self-defense.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice piled new criticism on Russia as she met with its foreign minister on Wednesday in their first encounter since Moscow’s incursion into Georgia last month.

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – Pakistani security forces have killed 25 Islamist militants in fighting on the Afghan border while security was stepped up at airports across the country on Thursday after a telephone threat, officials said.

MAGADAN, Russia (Reuters) – Russian President Dmitry Medvedev laid flowers at a memorial to victims of the Soviet prison camps on Wednesday, a gesture campaigners said may mark a new readiness to confront Russia’s past.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko vowed on Wednesday his country would be undeterred in its bid for NATO membership despite Russian opposition.

KAMENICA, Bosnia (Reuters) – Forensic experts said on Wednesday they had unearthed the remains of 362 Muslim victims of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre from a mass grave in eastern Bosnia.