Eurasia Press & News

SARAJEVO (Reuters) – Bosnian Serbs, Muslims and Croats voted mostly along ethnic party lines in a local election Sunday, keeping them in power some 13 years after the war, preliminary results showed early Monday.

Police in Egypt have blocked a convoy organised by opposition groups to carry medical supplies to the Gaza Strip. The convoy had been due to leave from the journalists’ syndicate in central Cairo but activists gathering there were surrounded by police.

Israel’s Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni has underlined her commitment to continue peace talks.Greeting French counterpart Bernard Kouchner, the Israeli Prime Minister-in-waiting said she would press ahead with US-sponsored peace negotiations.

In Turkey, thousands of people have gathered to pay their respects to 15 soldiers killed, according to military officials, by Kurdish fighters in the south-east of the country.

An Iranian spokesman calls on Pakistan to work harder to fight terrorism, as it is confirmed that Jondollah has murdered Iranian hostages.

A weekend earthquake killed 58 people in Kyrgyzstan and destroyed dozens of houses in the rural south of the Central Asian nation, Kyrgyz ministry said on Monday.

Russia is willing to promote its cooperation with Iran in energy sector, particularly gas, said head of Russia’s State Duma committee on energy, transport and communication, Valery Yazov, on Sunday evening.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassan Qashqavi said on Monday that Tehran and Cairo are currently normalizing relations.

The head of Iranian Gas Export Company says the country will be able to provide Armenia with the gas it needs during the coming winter.

Kamov, one of the major helicopter producers in Russia, hopes to sign a contract by the year’s end to sell its helicopters to Iran.