After further falls on Friday, the Russian stock market has plunged more than 30% since the country’s invasion of Georgia last month.

KABUL (Reuters) – More foreign soldiers were killed in Afghanistan during August than in any other month since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion, an independent website said, reflecting a rise in Taliban attacks.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was quoted as saying on Friday that he doubted a full peace deal with Israel could be reached this year and urged the next U.S. administration to continue negotiations.

TRIPOLI (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she would discuss the plight of ailing detained dissident Fathi el-Jahmi with Muammar Gaddafi during a historic meeting with the Libyan leader later on Friday.

TRIPOLI (Reuters) – Top U.S. diplomat Condoleezza Rice arrived in Tripoli on Friday on the first trip by a U.S. secretary of state to Libya since 1953, and said it was proof that Washington had no “permanent enemies”.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Pressure for a cut in oil output at next week’s OPEC meeting in Vienna stepped up today when Iran’s OPEC governor said an oil price of $100 per barrel was “appropriate” in current conditions.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad dismissed sanctions by the world powers against his country as illegal, and said that Iran may impose sanctions against the world’s predominant forces in response.

TEHRAN (FNA)- An earthquake measuring 5 on the Richter scale jolted the areas in the vicinity of Iran-Iraq border in Iran’s southwestern province of Ilam on Thursday.

TEHRAN (FNA)- The Iranian Air Force announced the first Saeqeh (Lightning) fighter-jets capable of conducting long-range air missions would be delivered in 2009.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran voiced strong opposition against plans to lay pipelines on the seabed of the Caspian Sea, warning that the move would cause irreparable environmental pollution in the world’s biggest lake.