MOSCOW – Russia announced on Monday it will not issue new entry visas to staff working in the British government’s cultural offices in two regions, sharpening a row that has soured already-poor relations.

KABUL – Detained Taliban suspects, some held for years by the U.S. military in Afghanistan, were able to speak to family members by video link on Monday.

TEHRAN (FNA) The US president is striving to hide the thick file of his administration’s failures, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Seyed Mohammad Ali Hosseini said in the wake of the recent statements made by US President George Bush against Iran.