Eurasia

MOSCOW/KIEV (Reuters) – The Russian and Ukrainian prime ministers will meet on Saturday to try to resolve a gas row that has cut back supplies to a freezing Europe. German Chancellor Angela Merkel reiterated European calls for a quick to the two countries’ arguments over gas debts and prices, saying …

KARACHI (Reuters) – Pakistani police arrested more than a dozen Islamist militants in the southern city of Karachi Thursday after a gun battle following a pre-dawn raid on their hideout, officials said. Two policemen were killed and nine wounded before the militants’ resistance was broken after several hours of shooting. …

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani attended a meeting with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to discuss the Gaza crisis. Larijani arrived in Turkey on Tuesday to attend an emergency meeting of the Islamic Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), which will be held in Istanbul later today. At the meeting, …

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki called for further expansion of relations between Iran and Switzerland. Mottaki made the remarks in a meeting with Switzerland’s new ambassador to Tehran Livia Leu Agoati after he received the diplomat’s credentials. He described Tehran-Bern relations as centuries-old, saying that an expansion in …

TEHRAN (FNA)- The Iranian envoy to Russia said delays in completion of Iran’s first nuclear plant in the southern city of Bushehr are not only Russia’s fault. Mahmoud Reza Sajjadi stressed that Russia is committed to complete the plant, despite the pressure on Moscow to halt the project, the Islamic …

TEHRAN (FNA)- Ecuador said the country hopes it can receive the required volume of credit from Iran to accomplish its oil projects, following rapid development of relations between Tehran and Quito. “We are asking for a credit line of $280 million, especially to invest in our pipelines. We are sure …

KIEV/MOSCOW (Reuters) – Ukraine, Russia and the EU struck a monitoring agreement Sunday that should enable the resumption of Russian supplies to Europe, large parts of which have been plunged into a mid-winter energy crisis. Officials said monitors would begin work within hours to oversee gas flows via Ukraine to …

RIYADH (Reuters) – A leading Saudi campaigner for political rights has been released without charge after eight months in detention, a rights activist said on Sunday. Matruk al-Faleh, a politics professor, was set free on Saturday after he was taken from his offices at King Saud University in Riyadh last …

MOSCOW (Reuters) – The head of Russian gas company Gazprom, Alexei Miller, faces a serious obstacle to his dream of turning his firm into a $1 trillion bluechip company: he owes his loyalty to the Kremlin. That tension was in evidence this week when Miller was at the center of …

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India has not exhausted its diplomatic options in its attempt to bring the Mumbai attack plotters to justice, India’s foreign minister said Saturday. “We have not reached the end of the road,” Pranab Mukherjee told CNN-IBN television channel. But he also said that India had enough …