Sri Lanka’s president secured 1.5 billion dollars worth of financial aid from Iran for infrastructure projects while on a three-day visit to the country, his office said on Wednesday.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Iran said on Wednesday to have built a submarine equipped with sonar-evading technology, saying the craft had been launched in the Persian Gulf.

Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) are set on Thursday to finish sealing uranium fuel that Russia intends to send to Iran’s first atomic power station, a Russian nuclear official said.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- A senior commander in Iran’s naval force said the country’s navy enjoys the required capabilities to respond to any possible military aggression against Iran’s territorial waters with an iron feast.

Iran’s Intelligence Minister Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ezhehee said that his ministry would disclose contents of a case publicly known here in Iran as the nuclear spy case if the judiciary power issued the required permission.

Former world chess champion Anatoly Karpov was turned away when he tried to visit and offer moral support to his old rival, Garry Kasparov, currently in detention for his role in an anti-Kremlin protest Saturday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has told foreign diplomats that his country is on a clear democratic path with human rights and freedom as priorities. Putin addressed about 200 ambassadors in the first such meeting of his presidency.

Lebanon’s presidential election was postponed for a week to December 7 to allow for more talks between rival leaders on a compromise candidate, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said on Thursday.

Iraqi legislators thwarted Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s attempts to get approval for nominees to fill two vacant cabinet posts on Thursday, indicating deep political divisions remain despite falling sectarian violence.

Pope Benedict has accepted an unprecedented call by Muslim scholars for dialogue between Christians and Islam, inviting them for meetings in Vatican City, the Vatican said on Thursday.