TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran’s conservatives have won 71 percent of the seats in parliament after legislative polls, according to partial results announced by Interior Minister Mostafa Pour Mohammadi on Saturday.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran on Saturday reaffirmed its rejection of any talks with world powers over the nuclear crisis, saying it would only negotiate with the UN atomic watchdog.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Former secretary of state Henry Kissinger said the US should negotiate directly with Iran over its nuclear program and other bilateral issues, and further criticized Washington’s policy for a regime change in Iran.

KUT, Iraq (Reuters) – Iraqi police arrested dozens of members of Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr’s Mehdi Army militia on Saturday, hours after two policemen were killed in gunbattles in the southern city of Kut, police said.

TIRANA (Reuters) – About 160 people, including several Americans, were killed or injured on Saturday by a series of large explosions at an Albanian army base on the outskirts of the capital Tirana, government officials said.

ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday condemned a bid by state prosecutors to shut down his ruling AK Party as an attack on democracy and political stability and vowed to resist it.

The arrests came after police raids in several districts of Istanbul and the seizure of bomb-making equipment and documents, the agency said.

RIYADH (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia’s most revered cleric said in a rare fatwa this week that two writers should be tried for apostasy for their “heretical articles” and put to death if they do not repent.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – A Russian newspaper said on Saturday security forces foiled an attempt by a sniper to kill President Vladimir Putin near the Kremlin this month. Itar-Tass news agency cited a security source denying the report.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – NATO said on Saturday it was nearing a deal to use Russian land and airspace to supply its security forces in Afghanistan, but Western diplomats denied any trade-off with Moscow to keep Ukraine and Georgia out of NATO.