Slovenia, the first country to quit Yugoslavia in 1991, becomes EU president on January 1 and will play a lead role in maybe the last act of the old Balkan federation’s demise when Kosovo secedes from Serbia.

The popularity of Russia’s First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has more than doubled since President Vladimir Putin named him his preferred successor two weeks ago, an opinion poll showed on Thursday.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency) Iran’s Deputy Oil Minister Ali Kordan, heading a high-ranking delegation, arrived in Ashkhabad Wednesday.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency) A Turkish parliamentary delegation headed by AKP MP and foreign relations committee chairman Murat Mercan met with a number of senior Iranian officials here in Tehran this week.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency) Iran’s first vice president and Libya’s prime minister Wednesday night attended in Tripoli the signing ceremony of 10 agreements in the fields of investment, marine wealth, customs, trade marine navigation, culture, higher education and tourism.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency) Former Iranian nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani on Wednesday called for setting up an Iran-Arab dialogue mechanism to improve relations and dissipate any misunderstanding between the two sides which share many denominators.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency) The Nabucco gas pipeline may transport gas from Iran from 2017, said Nabucco Gas Pipeline GmbH consortium head Reinhard Mitschek in an interview with Handelsblatt.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency) Strong bilateral ties were hailed as Bahraini leaders yesterday received visiting Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency) Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki insisted on Wednesday that a 32-year-old territorial accord with Iraq remained in force.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency) Bahrain and Iran have targeted an annual trade exchange volume of $1 billion by next year.