TEHRAN — Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has tightened his grip on the interior ministry by appointing his right-hand man to a key post just weeks ahead of two sets of elections, analysts said. The naming of Mojtaba Hashemi Samareh as deputy interior minister for political affairs is a tactical move …

Mr Roman Kanaev, Chief Technologist at the Volgograd section of the gas pile line ” Asia-Center” which had been blown up Thursday morning, September 29, undirectly confirmed to a local newspaper, “Komsomolskaya Pravda in Volgograd”, that the blast had been caused by a sabotage operation.

RAMALLAH — Israel yesterday released Palestinian Deputy Prime Minister Nasser Shaer, the most senior of 31 Hamas legislators and ministers detained after the June capture of an Israeli soldier in the Gaza Strip. The release comes a day after an Israeli military court had reversed a decision to release 21 …