MOSCOW  – Patriarch Kirill, enthroned on Sunday as the new leader of around 160 million Russian Orthodox believers, is seen as an outspoken modernizer who may thaw icy ties with the Catholic Church. The first patriarch elected since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Kirill, 62, replaces Alexiy …

KABUL  – Drug cultivation is expected to fall slightly in Afghanistan this year as lower opium prices and higher wheat prices encourage some farmers to switch crops, the United Nations said on Sunday. Afghanistan is locked in a vicious circle where drug production helps fund Taliban militants and increases official …

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran has produced a number of the domestically-grown ‘Saeqeh’ (Thunderbolt) jets so far, Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Mostafa Mohammad Najjar said here on Sunday. Speaking to FNA on the sidelines of “Innovation and Flourishing Festival”, Najjar referred to the production of more Saeqeh jets by Iranian defense …