Jailed former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky has had his appeal for parole turned down by a court in Siberia.Once Russia’s richest man, he was sentenced in 2005 to eight years in prison for tax evasion and fraud. He maintains his innocence.

TEHRAN, Aug. 22 (ISNA)-foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki urged the U.S. not to seek for illegitimate position and interest in the international arena.

TEHRAN, Aug. 22 (ISNA)-Afghanistan’s foreign minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta called for campaigning against drug trafficking and terrorism as closely-related issues.