ASHGABAT – Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov pardoned more than a thousand prisoners on Thursday — the first anniversary of his rule in the gas-producing Caspian nation.

MOSCOW – The prosecutor of Russia’s Volga region of Saratov was killed overnight and police believe his murder could be linked to his anti-corruption drive, Russian media reported on Thursday.

TEHRAN (FNA) – An earthquake, measuring 4.3 on the Richter scale, jolted a remote mountainous area in Iran’s central province of Chaharmahal and Bakhtiyari overnight.