Eurasia Press & News

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- A US intelligence report saying Tehran does not have a nuclear weapons program will be a factor in deciding whether new sanctions on Iran are needed, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday.

MAZAR-I-SHARIF BASE: “The situation is getting more dangerous,” said Lieutenant Colonel Jorst Fohmann at a base of about 1,400 German soldiers at Mazar-i-Sharif in northern Afghanistan.

BEIRUT (Reuters) – Lebanon’s presidential election is unlikely to take place on Friday as planned because rival leaders have yet to finalize a political deal to make the army chief president, political sources said on Thursday.

BELGRADE (Reuters) – Ratko Mladic, the fugitive Bosnian Serb general wanted for genocide by the U.N. tribunal, is most likely hiding in Serbia, Serbia’s war crimes prosecutor Vladimir Vukcevic was quoted as saying on Thursday.

BELGRADE (Reuters) – An independent Kosovo would be a “puppet” of the United States and NATO, Serb Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said on Thursday, vowing that Serbia would never give up its breakaway province.

RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Thursday he did not oppose dialogue with rival Hamas Islamists but reiterated the group must first relinquish control of the Gaza Strip.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin will not, at least for now, take up the seat in parliament he won in last weekend’s election, Interfax news agency quoted an official of his party as saying on Thursday.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Thousands of Russian youths marched by the red stone walls of the Kremlin on Thursday in the latest organized show of support for President Vladimir Putin, who wants to stay in politics after his term ends.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia could build up military forces near its western borders after suspending its participation in the Conventional Forces in Europe treaty on December 12, a senior member of parliament said on Thursday.

MINGORA, Pakistan (Reuters) – Pakistani forces have cleared militants from two towns in a northwestern valley, and the Islamists trying to impose Taliban-style rule there have fled, the military said on Thursday.