TEHRAN (FNA)- Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert called on Russia to refrain from providing Iran and Syria with advanced missiles and weapons technology, and vowed to raise the issue during a visit to Moscow starting on Monday.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran will continue with uranium enrichment even if the country is promised supplies of nuclear reactor fuel, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said on Sunday.

TEHRAN (FNA)- An earthquake measuring 4 on the Richter scale jolted Qeshm Island in Iran’s southern province of Hormozgan.

TEHRAN (FNA)- The Bush administration has given a US think-tank the go-ahead to open an office in Iran, in what may look to be a departure from its strict policy on the Islamic Republic.

TEHRAN (FNA)- A former Iranian minister blasted President Ahmadinejad for changing the Central Bank governors so frequently.

New York, Asharq Al-Awsat – Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmad Aboul Gheit denied reports that the US intends to tie its aid to Egypt to respect for human rights and greater freedoms, saying that “in all the talks we had with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice we have not talked …

NEW DELHI, Oct 6 – President of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas along with Foreign Minister Riyad Al-Maliki will head to India’s capital New Delhi late Monday, on an official three-day state visit aimed at overseeing plans for a Palestinian embassy to India.

RAMALLAH, Oct. 6 – An independent Palestinian academic said Monday that he will stand for presidential elections if they were held in January.Abdel Satar Qassem, politics professor in Nablus’ Al-Najjah University, made the decision as the Hamas-dominated Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), or parliament, refused to extend Abbas’term after it ends …

GAZA, Oct. 6 – Palestinian lawmakers from the Islamic Hamas movement in Gaza decided Monday that the presidential term of President Mahmoud Abbas would legally end on Jan. 8, 2009.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States has asked Japan and NATO allies who have refused to send troops to Afghanistan to pay the estimated $17 billion needed to build up the Afghan army, according to U.S. defense officials.