Eurasia Press & News

KABUL  – With the reduction of violence in Iraq, foreign militants were now flooding into Afghanistan to join Taliban insurgents battling Afghan and international troops, the Afghan defense minister said Wednesday. There was a 33 percent rise in insurgent attacks in Afghanistan in 2008, according to NATO-led forces. Violence is …

BAGHDAD  – Electoral officials are examining serious complaints of vote fraud in Iraq’s western Anbar province, where Sunni Arab tribal leaders are disputing provincial election results. The independent electoral commission has received a flood of complaints about fraud and other violations from the largely Sunni Arab province, Faraj al-Haidari, Iraq’s …

BAGHDAD  – Iraq must ensure it can maintain costly public works and avoid errors that marred past reconstruction efforts backed by billions of dollars of U.S. aid, the senior U.S. military engineer in the country says. The U.S. military has placed new emphasis on making sure that Iraqi officials, from …

WASHINGTON  – The Obama administration is likely to emphasize security goals in Afghanistan by approving extra troop deployments even before the White House completes its review of Afghan strategy, U.S. officials said on Tuesday. The emphasis on military operations reflects a shift in U.S. thinking that places greater priority on …

KABUL (Reuters) – United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was in Afghanistan on Wednesday for talks with President Hamid Karzai and NATO military leaders, the U.N. said. Ban’s unannounced visit comes a day after the U.N. said more than 2,100 civilians were killed in Afghanistan in 2008, 40 percent more …

MINGORA, Pakistan  – Pakistani Taliban kidnapped 29 paramilitary soldiers and policemen Wednesday, police said, as the militants intensified their campaign against government forces. Security has deteriorated sharply in northwestern areas along the Afghan border as well as the Swat valley, where troops are struggling to stem spreading Taliban influence. In …

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran’s residing representative at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Ali Asqar Soltanieh Wednesday said that the agency’s Director General Mohammed ElBaradei will release his report on Iranian nuclear program within the next one or two weeks. “The Agency’s director general will likely release his report on Iran’s …

TEHRAN (FNA)- Cheap refined petroleum stored in Asia has prompted Iran and Saudi Arabia to purchase and stockpile millions of barrels of gas oil. Iran is storing around 2 million barrels of gas oil on ships, as cheap prices encourage the country to stockpile the fuel even though a mild …

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki requested Lebanese officials on Tuesday to form a joint committee to probe into the fate of the four Iranian diplomats kidnapped in Lebanon in 1982. In a message to his Lebanese counterpart Fawzi Sallukh handed over by Iran’s Ambassador in Beirut Mohammad Reza …

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran underlined that its first home-made satellite ‘Omid’ (Hope) which was launched on Tuesday has no military purposes. Speaking to reporter during a weekly press conference here in Tehran on Wednesday, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hassan Qashqavi brushed aside some countries’ concerns regarding Iran’s new scientific achievement. He …