Pakistani opposition leader and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif said on Thursday his party would boycott a January 8 general election because of the assassination of another opposition leader, Benazir Bhutto.

The assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto has thrown Pakistan into one of the worst crises in its 60-year history, raising the specter of widespread civil unrest and the threat of cancelled elections.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency) Tehran’s Interim Friday Prayers leader Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati slammed the US administration for sowing discord among the Lebanese, saying that the ongoing political crisis in the Middle-Eastern country was created and deteriorated by Washington.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency) Russia has delivered a second consignment of nuclear fuel to Iran’s Bushehr power plant, the deputy head of the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization said on Friday.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency) Iran’s petrochemical projects will witness a 300% growth in 10 years, with domestic petrochemical output soaring to 98 million tons at the end of 10-year plan, 2014, fetching the country US$20 bln pa.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency) Following the release of an article by AFP on Iranian president’s nuclear policies, the Islamic Republic’s ambassador to Indonesia voiced protest and presented the following response.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency) Iran’s aluminum industries could benefit from closer ties with Aluminum Bahrain (Alba), Iran’s foreign minister said.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency) Iraq said on Thursday it had not repudiated a 32-year-old border treaty with Iran, despite a declaration by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani that the accord was now void.

The killing of Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto on Thursday could trigger a wave of terror in the country, a top Russian diplomat was quoted as saying.

Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was killed in a gun and bomb attack after a rally in the city of Rawalpindi on Thursday, her party said.