Leaders from the 12 nations in the Black Sea Economic Co-operation (BSEC) organisation gathered in Istanbul on Monday (June 25th) to mark the group’s 15th anniversary at a one-day summit, hosted by Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer.

The Serbian Parliament adopted a national budget for 2007 late on Friday (June 22nd). Lawmakers from the ruling coalition voted to collect 7.1 billion euros in taxes and spend 7.3 billion euros.

Angry Iranians attacked several gas stations in protest after the government suddenly began long-threatened fuel rationing, while many others rushed to fill their tanks.

Amnesty International appealed for Iran to stop executing children and those who committed their crimes before they turned 18, in a report published Wednesday.

Among the impoverished Iraqi refugees queuing for food aid at a Catholic charity in Damascus stands 65-year-old Hirmiz Hanna, puzzled and upset at his fate.

The plight of some 200 Gazans, stranded in no-man’s-land on the Israeli border in a desperate bid to flee last week’s Islamist takeover of the territory, is dividing Israeli opinion.

In a world where more people are on the move than ever, governments jittery about cross-border criminals, terrorists and illegal migrants must not shirk their duty to protect refugees, a UN official said on Tuesday.

Syria has expressed readiness to help curb Middle East instability in exchange for peace with Israel but will not easily give up its alliance with Iran as demanded by the Jewish state.

A roadside bomb explosion in the Somali capital on Tuesday killed five women and a man and wounded nine other people, witnesses said.

Acting on a request from Iran, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) says it will send a team to Tehran as soon as possible to work jointly on a plan meant to clear up suspicions about the Islamic republic’s nuclear activities.