Eurasia Press & News

ASADABAD, Afghanistan (AFP) — Taliban militants beheaded Wednesday four Afghan roadworkers abducted a week ago while a series of rebel bombings killed three civilians, authorities said.

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) — NATO on Wednesday urged Canada not to pull its troops from Afghanistan’s dangerous Kandahar region and pledged to help find the 1,000 additional allied troops Ottawa is demanding.

BAGHDAD – Iraq said on Wednesday it was determined to “cleanse” its northern city of Mosul of al Qaeda fighters but its U.S. backers said a planned operation might not deal the decisive blow that Baghdad wanted.

PRISTINA, Serbia – Kosovo will declare independence from Serbia with Western backing the weekend after the February 3 Serbian presidential election if the nationalist candidate wins, political sources said on Wednesday.

CAIRO – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday rejected demands by Hamas for control of the Gaza border and told the Islamist group to “end its coup in Gaza”.

A cameraman working for an Iraqi Shi’ite satellite television channel and his driver were killed by a roadside bomb attack north of Baghdad on Tuesday, an official from the channel said.

WASHINGTON – The Iraqi government could see a windfall from higher oil prices this year, while it moves to assume greater responsibility for security and economic development, a U.S. government watchdog said on Wednesday.

TEHRAN (FNA) – Officials of the United Arab Emirates’ private energy firm Crescent Petroleum arrived here in Tehran to continue long-running talks over pricing Iran’s gas supplies to the Persian Gulf Arab state.

TEHRAN (FNA) – Iranian Parliament Speaker Gholam Ali Haddad Adel in a meeting with the Sheikh of al-Azhar University, Muhammad Sayyed al-Tantawi called for unity among Muslim nations.

TEHRAN (FNA) – Bahrain’s ambassador to Tehran in a meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki here Wednesday submitted a message from his King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa to the Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.