Russian President Vladimir Putin has praised the growing international stature of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization — but it may also soon become more controversial, as its members consider whether to welcome Iran into the fold.

Tang Jiaxuan, a member of China’s State Council, said Russia and China have similar positions on regional and global issues. Tang said Moscow is Beijing’s key ally in its effort to maintain a strategic partnership.

Chinese president Hu Jintao expressed his delight in the way things between China and Russia have been evolving in diplomatic terms, just before an important regional security forum summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, due for June 15th in Shanghai.

The issue of whether or not Israel would hold talks with Hamas should be examined against the backdrop of far-reaching political developments: Stalled peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians, the emerging political crisis between supporters of PA President Mahmoud Abbas in the Fatah

AT least nine Palestinians, including two children, have been killed in two Israeli air strikes over central Gaza City. Dr Jumaa al-Saqqa, a spokesman for al-Shifa hospital, said that  that a number of Palestinians were also injured in the strike in Salah al-Din Street, the main road through the coastal …

A representative of the Headquarters of The Eastern Front of the Armed Forces of Chechen Republic of Ichkeria (CRI)  (the Commander Amir Mus-Hadisov Sultan) told the Kavkaz-Center Information Agency about that on the eve in the evening Mujahiddeens eliminated a squad of the Russian aggressors on high ground  nearby the …

About 200 US reservists, whose arrival in Crimea in southern Ukraine sparked anti-NATO protests, will leave by Monday, but planned military exercises may still take place, Ukraine’s navy quoted by AFP has said. “Half of them (reservists) are in the process of taking buses to Simferopol from where they will …

VIENNA (Reuters) — Non-aligned states will back Iran’s right to nuclear fuel production at a UN meeting this week, unmoved by US calls to join efforts to get Tehran to stop enriching uranium, diplomats said. UN Security Council powers are waiting for Iran to respond to an offer they made …

WASHINGTON (AFP) — Opposition Democrats on Tuesday used President George W. Bush’s secret visit to Iraq as an opportunity to renew their calls for speedy end to America’s military involvement there.

TRIPOLI (AFP) — The retrial of five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor accused of contaminating hundreds of Libyan children with AIDS reopened Tuesday with the judge calling for the process to be speeded up.