Oct. 9 (Bloomberg) — The execution of 15 prisoners in Afghanistan, the second confirmed use of the death penalty since the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001, is a concern, the United Nations envoy in the country said.

SYDNEY (AFP) — Prime Minister John Howard said Tuesday an Australian soldier killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan died for a just cause while fighting “brutal terrorism”.

An explosion rocked the city of Shiraz in Iran’s central province of Fars on Monday.

Iran’s Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi here on Monday said supporters of the usurper regime of the Zionists should account for Israelis’ crimes to world public opinion.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad described the US president’s recent allegations about Iran as a grave mistake, saying that Bush’s threats to Iran would bear no fruit for Washington.

Iranian parliament speaker in a meeting on Sunday called on the secretary general of the Inter-Parliamentary Union to raise Iraq’s problem as an urgent agenda in the IPU meeting in Geneva.

German ambassador to Tehran voiced his country’s resolve to further consolidate and develop all-out ties with Iran.

Iranian and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) experts are scheduled to continue their next round of talks in Tehran on Tuesday.

Nasib Lahoud, a presidential nominee from the 14th of March Coalition, stressed that the next president of Lebanon should be elected through a consensus among all political groups of his country, saying Lebanon’s president should receive equal support from all political groups.

Iran reopened five border crossing points with northern Iraq on Monday after a two-week closure.