Interior Minister Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi said Iranian and Pakistani officials have started negotiations for the extradition of a number of criminals who were arrested by the Pakistani police after they took several Iranian citizens hostage and crossed the two neighbors’ borders last month.

Iran’s non-oil exports experienced a 28% increase in the first four months of the Iranian year from March 2007, announced commerce minister.

Those who have established Abu Ghraib and Guantanamou prisons and defend occupation should not make boastful speeches about human rights, Syrian deputy foreign minister said.