Eurasia

TBILISI – Several thousand Georgians paid their last respects on Thursday to the country’s richest man, Badri Patarkatsishvili, in a low key funeral ceremony which his most well-known business partner did not attend.

BAKU – Azeri President Ilham Aliyev has asked parliament to vote to withdraw the ex-Soviet country’s peacekeepers from Kosovo, an Azeri official said on Thursday.

KALININGRAD, Russia – The new maternity hospital in Russia’s westernmost region has state-of-the-art German equipment in its operating theatres and the staff know who to thank: Dmitry Medvedev.

ISLAMABAD – Pakistani security forces have arrested an al Qaeda-linked militant wanted in connection with an assassination attempt on former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto hours after she returned from exile in October.

ISLAMABAD – Pakistan’s upper house of parliament unanimously adopted a resolution on Tuesday condemning what it called efforts to denigrate Islam and promote hatred.

UFA, Russia – A deal to bring Serbia into Russia’s South Stream gas pipeline project was a show of support for Belgrade over Kosovo, Dmitry Medvedev, the man likely to be elected Russia’s new president, said on Tuesday.

TEHRAN (FNA) – While Washington, facing European Union discomfort and frank opposition from Russia and China, remains obsessed with another round of United Nations sanctions against Iran, the facts on the ground spell an overwhelming “expansion of mutual cooperation” in the energy sector between Iran and Russia.

BELGRADE – Serbia intends to rule parts of Kosovo where “loyal citizens” still look to Belgrade for government, Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said on Monday.

BELGRADE – Russia’s likely next president, Dmitry Medvedev, told Serbian leaders on Monday there would be no shift in his country’s support for Serbian sovereignty over Kosovo.

TEHRAN (FNA) – Iran will hold an exhibition of its products in Pakistan in May with an aim to provide opportunity to its businessmen to introduce their products in the Pakistani market, an Iranian diplomat said on Friday.