The authorities of Russia are planning, under pretext of getting ready for possible 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, large-scale construction projects in the immediate proximity to the borders of a World Heritage Object – the “West Caucasus” reserve – and in its buffer zone.

The Iranian government’s last-minute decision to ration monthly fuel allotments, as well as increase the price of gas, triggered protests and riots — a rarity in the Islamic republic — according to Iranian media reports.

KABUL (AFP) – A suicide attacker drove a bomb-filled car into a foreign military vehicle in Afghanistan’s capital Kabul Thursday, killing two American nationals and an Afghan woman, officials said.