TEHRAN - Global oil prices will jump to unprecedented levels in case of any aggression against Iran, the country's oil minister said on Saturday.
Some Western media have long been circulating rumors of an 'imminent" attack on the Islamic Republic planned by either the United States or Israel in order to force Tehran to abandon its controversial uranium enrichment program.
"Even a slightest hint [on a possibility of the attack] will lead to an increase [in global oil prices] by $10-15, but in case of a real aggression against Iran, the oil prices will rise to unpredictable highs," Gholamhossein Nozari told reporters in Tehran.
"Any attack on our country will meet an incredibly powerful response," he added.
Iran ranks fourth in terms of crude reserves after Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Kuwait, as well as fourth in terms of oil production after Saudi Arabia, the United States and Russia.
In the past two years, oil production in Iran exceeded 4 million barrels per day, currently at 4.21 million, which is a new record since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Oil prices have risen more than 50 percent so far this year. Crude futures reached a record high of $145.85 in New York on Thursday before settling at a record close of $145.29 a barrel.
The Islamic Republic, suspected of plans to build weapons under the guise of a civilian nuclear program, is under three sets of UN Security Council sanctions for defying international demands to halt uranium enrichment, needed both in weapons production and electricity generation.
On June 14, European Union foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, handed Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki a package of new incentives from the Iran six - China, France, Russia, the United States, Germany and Britain -- to persuade Tehran to suspend its nuclear research. The proposals offered political, security and trade benefits to Iran.
No details were released of Iran's formal reply submitted to Solana late on Friday but Tehran reiterated on Saturday that it would still pursue its uranium enrichment program.
"Iran's stance [on uranium enrichment] has not changed; however, we are ready to hold talks in the framework of preserving Iran's nuclear rights," government spokesman Gholam hossein Elham told a news conference. (RIA Novosti)

KABUL - President Hamid Karzai has ordered an inquiry into the killing of civilians in an air strike in the mountainous Nuristan province.
Governor of Nuristan province Tamim Nuristani had said that at least 15 civilians, traveling in three vehicles, were killed as the foreign troops dropped bombs on them during an operation against terrorists in Waigal district of the province on Friday.
The ISAF troops had confirmed the anti-terrorist operation in the area but had said they did not know about the civilian casualties.
President Karzai's office on Saturday said that the president directed the ministries of Interior and Defense to conduct an inquiry into the incident.
A statement from the Presidential Palace here said that Karzai was deeply affected by reports about civilian casualties. He ordered the concerned organs to prepare a report and present it to him after an inquiry.
Civilian casualties in military operations are a big challenge for the Afghan government.
Such incidents, which are rampant in the southern and southeastern zones of Afghanistan, not only generate support for Taliban, but also create bad blood among citizen against the Afghan government and the foreign troops stationed in Afghanistan. (KUNA)

KANDAHAR - A Rural Rehabilitation and Development (RRD) official said on Saturday more than 51 reconstruction projects had been completed in various districts of Kandahar province, the birthplace of the Taliban movement.
In an exclusive interview with Pajhwok Afghan News, Eng. Abdul Mutalib Ashna said 33 of the development schemes were completed under the government’s flagship project called the National Solidarity Program (NSP) in three months. The remaining 18 were implemented by RRDs southern zone office in six months.
He added a variety of plans --- supportive walls, small bridges, roads, piped water supply, sewing courses for women and meeting halls for area people --- were executed in accordance with demand of residents.
Of the 33 projects implemented under NSP, nine projects were done in Arghandab, one in Spin Boldak, one in Daman, nine in Dand, four in Khakrez, two in Maiwand, four in Shaga and three in Zherai districts.
Ashna explained the projects under NSP accounted for about $16 millions granted by the World Bank, the Japanese government, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).
Thousands of people were provided job opportunities as part of the projects which would benefit more than 200,000 families, Ashna continued. Five uplift schemes were completed in Daman, as many in Dand, two in Shah Walikot, one in Takhta Pul, three in Arghandab and one in Kandahar City.
Costing $630,000 and benefiting over 20,000 families, the reconstruction projects were carried out with financial support from USAID, CIDA, the World Bank and the Japanese government.
Abdul Khaliq, an elder from Khakrez district, voiced happiness over the massive rebuilding effort, saying such reconstruction projects would provide much-needed facilities for area people. He urged the government to push ahead with its development agenda, backed by the masses. (Pajhwok)

ABU DHABI - The International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) announced Saturday that it has got a syndicated term loan facility of 625 million U.S. dollars to finance its acquisition of 20 percent share of Japan's energy company Cosmo Oil, Emirates News Agency reported.
The loan facility was provided by the National Bank of Abu Dhabi(NBAD) and the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ (BTMU), according to the report.
The Abu Dhabi-based IPIC signed a strategic partnership with Cosmo Oil last September to acquire the latter's 176,000,000 shares(a 20 percent shareholding) in order to promote its energy business in the Asia Pacific region and the U.S. West Coast as well as to pursue joint project opportunities.
The investment by IPIC in Cosmo Oil represents one of the largest UAE investments in Japan, which accounts for some 40 percent of the UAE oil exports.
Cosmo Oil is one of Japan's leading energy companies with activities across the value chain from exploration and production to refining and marketing to petrochemicals. Its current refining capacity stands at 635,000 barrels per day, representing 13 percent of Japan's total refining capacity.
The partnership with IPIC will enable Cosmo Oil to carry out its mid and long term growth strategy as it plans to upgrade the supply chain system, strengthen exploration and production, develop export sales, upgrade refineries and work closely with energy companies which have close relationships with IPIC.
The acquisition of stake in Cosmo Oil is part of IPIC's investment diversification plans, said Khadem Al Qubaisi, managing director of IPIC.
The partnership with a leading global player such as Cosmo Oil will allow both companies to pursue investment opportunities in the rapidly expanding sector of oil, Qubaisi added.
Wholly owned by the Abu Dhabi government, IPIC focuses on investment in the hydrocarbon sector outside the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, with an investment portfolio valued more than 10 billion dollars. (Xinhua)

LONDON - Prime Minister Gordon Brown called on Britain's G8 partners Saturday to handle the threats to the global economy which required speeding up efforts to fight poverty and climate changes.
Amid fears the credit crunch would cause the G-8 to backpedal on pledges to cut carbon emissions and increase aid to poor countries by USD 50 Billion a year, the Prime Minister used an interview with the Guardian ahead of the G8 summit to stress the need for united action in the west to reduce dependency on fossil fuels and boost food production in developing countries.
"My message to the G-8 will be that instead of sidelining climate change and the development agenda, the present economic crisis means that instead of relaxing our efforts we have got to accelerate them," said Brown, adding "This agenda is not just the key to the environment and reducing poverty, but the key to our economic future as well." After a year that has seen growth slow sharply in many G-8 countries, including Britain, and oil prices double to USD 145 a barrel, Brown indicated that the summit would be judged on whether it rolled back protectionism, supported projects for cleaner energy, and came up with blueprints for reducing global oil and food prices. Brown said that he would consider the summit to be a success if the G-8 showed unity, gave strong backing to a new global free-trade deal, and pushed ahead on climate change and development.
The Prime Minister stated that the state of the global economy meant the summit would have echoes of those in the 1970s. "But in the 70s, many of the problems we faced were national, not global. The problems we have today are global and they require global solutions." On climate change, Brown said he was hoping the G-8 would make progress towards a new climate change deal in Copenhagen next year, agree to "turn the World Bank into an energy bank as well as a development bank", and show a "clear understanding of the importance of renewable to our energy and environmental future".
Britain believes that a stalling of progress on Africa in 2008 will make it impossible for the UN to hit its millennium development goals, set for 2015, but Brown said that fighting poverty was also in the best interests of the west. "Unless we help poor countries to become more prosperous through education, health and economic development, we will be piling up the problems of global inequality."
The UK is pressing the G8 to boost the number of health workers in poor countries, bankroll the expansion of education, and invest in higher farm production. "I'll be telling people that the worst possible thing would be to drop the development agenda because it holds the key to the economic challenge. If we don't produce enough agriculture, we are going to have food shortages, and Africa needs help to develop its agriculture. We can't solve the problems of food and fuel shortages unless developing countries are involved." The G-8 consists of the US, Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, Canada, Russia. (KUNA)

KABUL - President Hamid Karzai has strongly condemned the assassination of member of Wolesi Jirga or Lower House of Parliament Haji Habibullah Khan.
In a statement released here from his office on Saturday, the president said those responsible for the dastardly act were the enemies of Afghan government and the people of Afghanistan.
Haji Habibullah was attacked by two unidentified armed men while on way home in Zherai district of the country's southern Kandahar province on Friday evening. Taliban militants dissociated themselves from his killing.
"The enemies of Afghanistan, with such acts, were trying to silence the voice of Afghans for peace, but they must know that they will not succeed in their nefarious designs," said the Afghan leader in his statement.
Karzai extended his heartfelt condolences to family members of the deceased parliamentarian and said those responsible for his killing would be brought to the book. (KUNA)

KABUL/KANDAHAR - A parliamentarian and noted tribal elder from province of Kandahar were assassinated last night by unidentified gunmen, a resident said on Saturday.
Wolesi Jirga member Haji Habibullah, hailing from the Taliban-infested Zherai district, was gunned down around 10pm, Haqmal told Pajhwok Afghan News. The assassins made good their escape following the murder.
The legislator, belonging to the Alizai tribe, was shot dead on his way home from a nearby garden, the resident said, adding he had no enmity with anyone. Thousands of Alizai tribes people streamed to his residence and sought information regarding the perpetrators of the murder.
Bismillah Afghanmal, a member of the Nangarhar Provincial Council, explained the lawmaker was killed pretty close to his house. But the authorities are so far tight-lipped over the incident.
In Kabul, Wolesi Jirga Secretary Abdul Sattar Khawasi confirmed Habibullah's slaying. He strongly denounced the murder, saying parliamentarians equally shared the grief of Kandahar residents over the loss of the elected public representative.
Habibullah, Haji Muhammad Omer's son, was a 12-grader and a member of a parliamentary commission on defence affairs. He was the 10th Wolesi Jirga member to be killed. Six lawmakers including National United Front (NUF) spokesman Mustafa Kazmi perished in a massive bomb explosion in the northern Baghlan town last year. (Pajhwok)

KABUL - Afghan security forces seized 1.4 tones of opium in Herat near the border with Iran, authorities said Saturday.
Seven men were detained in connection with Thursday's haul in Herat province, the interior ministry said in a statement.
Afghanistan is the world's top opium producer and last year produced 8,200 tones of the substance, or 92 percent of global production.
About 60 percent of the opium leaves the country in the form of heroin, according to UN figures.
Islamic Taliban insurgents earn millions of dollars every year from the trade, officials say. (AFP)

KABUL - Afghan security forces found more than 100 knives and swords, petrol bombs and dozens of mobile phones in a search of Kabul's main prison, the Defense Ministry said on Saturday.
The search was launched after Taliban insurgents carried off one of the biggest jail-breaks in history last month, smashing a suicide truck bomb into the gate of Kandahar prison in the south and freeing 400 of their fighters and 700 other criminals.
"The joint program by Afghan security forces and the Ministry of Justice was designed to separate, supervise and search the inmates in the central Pul-i-Charkhi prison and will improve the security of the prison," the Ministry said.
The Kandahar jail-break was a big propaganda win for the Taliban who have stepped up their insurgency to overthrow the Afghan government and drive out foreign forces in recent months.
Pul-i-Charkhi prison gained notoriety in the 1980s when Soviet authorities and Afghanistan's communist government executed thousands there.(Reuters)

KABUL - The governor of eastern Nuristan province Saturday condemned the killing of 22 civilians in an air strike by the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).
Denouncing the raid as a deliberate act of cruelty, Tamim Nuristani said he was in Kabul to complain to President Hamid Karzai of the NATO action and meet commanders of the 40-nation force.
Nuristani earlier visited the Waigal district, where the civilian casualties occurred in the latest imprecise bombing, to meet tribal and religious leaders to condole the deaths and restore their confidence in the government.
What the foreign troops achieved from inaccurate bombardments that killed ordinary residents, asked the governor, who argued: "With such assaults, NATO is losing its credibility and confidence of Afghan citizens." The Nuristan Provincial Council also warned of closing its office as a mark of protest over the civilian deaths, a day after residents and officials alleged that 22 innocent dwellers of Arnas village were massacred in the air attack.
The remote village was allegedly ringed by foreign soldiers for two days. Local security official Farooq confirmed the killing of civilians in the attack, which is expected to earn NATO forces more public ire. Razwanullah Adil, spokesman of the Nuristan governor, said locals ran for cover towards the district office complex after the bombardment. Two vehicles of civilians were also destroyed in the attack lasting four hours and a half.
Foreign forces did not let residents collect the dead bodies they kept with themselves, the gubernatorial spokesman added.
A doctor in the neighboring Kunar province said they had received six people wounded in the Nuristan bombardment. One of the injured in a serious condition was rushed to a Nangarhar hospital, Dr Ihsanullah said. Abdul Wahab, a resident of Kunar's Manogi district where five civilians were killed, said the dead included three of his family members.
Provincial council head Rahmatullah Rashidi angrily reacted to the incident, warning of closing his office to protest the attack. Irresponsible attacks by NATO were on the increase, he said. If the government did not come up with a decisive reaction to the attack in three days, he threatened, they would shut the provincial council office.
"Its the third time civilians have been killed in NATO raids. People will eventually be forced into swelling the ranks of militants if the massacre of civilians continues, he cautioned.
But the ISAF press office rejected the claims regarding civilian fatalities and insisted militants were killed in the bombardment. NATO forces attacked the rebels who opened fire on their patrol, the 53,000-strong force said in a press statement. (Pajhwok)

MANILA - Officials of a Filipino government research institute said Saturday 4 million Filipino children are malnourished and the number is expected to grow as inflation forces households to cut down on food, the Philippine Daily Inquirer said on its website.
The officials of the Food and Nutrition Research Institute were quoted by the newspaper report as saying that most of malnourished children live in the southern Mindanao region, the central region of southern Tagalog and Eastern Visayas, where up to one-third of children under the age of 10 are either underweight or short for their age.
In the capital region of Metro Manila, four out of every 100 children are also underweight due to mal-nutrition, said the report.
Moreover, the increasing food prices would only worsen the malnutrition in the country, as the households begin cutting down their food budgets, said the report.
Many households are reducing purchase and consumption of fruits and meat, while vegetables and fish remain on the table because they are relatively cheaper, according to the report.
Filipino children are not eating enough vegetable and their diet consists mostly of foods high in salt and sugar and low in nutrition or low protein, energy, and vitamin intake, said the report.
Meanwhile, about 1.6 million Filipino kids are over-nourished, said the research institute, which is charged by the Department of Science and Technology to provides relevant technologies and scientific information on food and nutrition.
The inflation rate in June hit a 14-year-old high of 11.4 percent in the Philippines, mainly due to high oil and food prices and a weakening peso, the local currency, in exchange rate against the U.S. dollar. (Xinhua)

PARIS - French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Bulgarian Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev have signed a strategic partnership agreement in a bid to enhance cooperation between the two countries in various domains, the French presidential palace has announced.
The agreement, which will see the two countries working together more closely, notably includes the development of military cooperation in the naval sector, the Elysee palace said in a statement Friday.
"This agreement establishes a roadmap in all areas, including defense, politics, relations within the EU, but also relations within the Black Sea, the Caucasus and the Mediterranean," the visibly pleased Bulgarian premier told reporters after holding discussions with his host.
During his meeting with the French head of state, the Bulgarian prime minister formally confirmed his country's decision to buy two Gowind type corvettes from Armaris, a subsidiary of the French military shipbuilding group DCNS, according to the Elysee.
The prime minister has confirmed that "negotiations" with regard to this contract will start as from next week, said the Elysee palace, adding that the agreement also included the development of a partnership between Armaris and Varna, a Bulgarian-based shipbuilder.
Initially, Bulgaria had planned to purchase four corvettes at total cost of 780 million euros (about 1.2 billion U.S. dollars) but the government was forced to put the project to the backburner due to budgetary constraints.
During the meeting, Stanishev also expressed his desire to convene "a conference, a kind of energy summit in Sofia with the participation of all the 27 European Union members, those of the Black Sea and Russia, the main suppliers of gas and oil."
The summit, according to the Elysee palace, is scheduled to take place in the autumn during the French presidency of the European Union.
In addition, the French president and the Bulgarian prime minister reviewed various other pertinent European issues, and especially the crisis caused by the Irish "no" vote to the Treaty of Lisbon.
Elsewhere, President Sarkozy has telephoned his Polish counterpart Lech Kaczynski to discuss the Treaty of Lisbon, which has already been ratified by 20 EU member states, according to official sources.
In April, the Polish parliament had ratified the treaty, but, according to the constitution, its ratification must be signed by the president. On July 1, the day when France assumed EU presidency, the Polish president declined to sign the treaty, arguing that it was "irrelevant" after its rejection by Irish voters.
"The conversation was focused on the Treaty of Lisbon. The President of the Republic recalled that the treaty had been negotiated by President Kaczinski himself and that Poland had pledged to ratify it. The Polish president said that Poland would not be an obstacle in the ratification of the treaty," the Elysee palace said in the statement. "The two heads of state were pleased to have the opportunity to meet as soon as July 13, during the Paris summit for the official launch of the proposed Union for the Mediterranean," said the statement. (Xinhua)

ZAPOROZHYE (Ukraine) - Motor Sich, Ukraine's largest manufacturer of aircraft and rocket engines, has offered Russia to manufacture a new engine for Russian cruise missiles, the head of the company said on Saturday.
Motor-Sich is a major foreign economic partner for Russia's aviation and rocket industry. It supplies engines for Russian X-35, X-55 and X-59 cruise missiles and is building an assembly plant in the town of Dubna near Moscow.
"We have developed a new engine for cruise missiles in service with the Russian armed forces," Vyacheslav Boguslayev said. "It features less weight, better fuel efficiency and is as powerful as the current P95-300 engine." "We have offered to manufacture this engine for the Russian armed forces," he said.
The new engine is 30% shorter than its predecessor and would allow extending the flight range of the Russian cruise missiles from 130 km to 200 km.
However, Russia is considering replacing Ukrainian-made engines in its cruise missiles with domestic designs in order to end its dependence on Ukraine and fearing that the ex-Soviet state would eventually join NATO.
Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said in June that Ukraine would lose industry ties with Russia and suffer reduced trade cooperation if it joined NATO. (RIA Novosti)

KABUL - The UN secretary-generals special representative for Afghanistan Saturday voiced deep shock at the assassination of a Wolesi Jirga member from province of Kandahar.
It is with shock and sadness that I have today learnt of the assassination of Haji Habibullah, Kai Eide said. He viewed the attack as an assault on the democratic will of the Afghan people who voted in their millions for peace, stability and progress during historic 2005 elections.
The top UN official acknowledged Haji Habibullah served his country honorably as a mujahid, as a tribal elder and as a parliamentarian. The attack underlined the risks faced by dedicated parliamentarians as they worked tirelessly to forge a new future for the people of Afghanistan, he added.
We urge Afghan authorities to bring the perpetrators to justice swiftly and call on them to step up protection for all parliamentarians representing communities across Afghanistan; he was quoted as saying in a statement released by the UN mission here. (Pajhwok)

JALALABAD - Police have destroyed a drug laboratory and captured a huge quantity of opium in a series of operations in the Khogyani district of Nangarhar province, an official said on Saturday.
District chief Haji Zalmay, Khugiani said police discovered a heroin-producing factory inside a house in the Lalma area during the operation. Owner of the factory was arrested after being injured in a clash with the raiding party. A policeman was also wounded in the cross-fire.
Nangarhar police spokesman Col Abdul Ghafoor told Pajhwok Afghan News about 30 kilograms of opium, as much a quantity of poppy seeds and three bags of chemicals used in heroin production were recovered from the house. (Pajhwok)

PESHAWAR, Pakistan - Taliban militants released two Pakistani journalists on Saturday more than 36-hours after they were abducted in a tribal region near the Afghan border.
"When it was proven that they're journalists and not spies, we freed them," Taliban spokesman Asad said.
A group of tribal elders had gone to negotiate for the release of the journalists, freelance reporter Pir Zubair Shah and photographer Akhtar Soomro, after they were kidnapped in the Mohmand region on Thursday.
Syed Ahmad Jan, a senior administrator in Mohmand, confirmed that the two men had been freed and said both were fine.
Pro-Taliban groups control large chunks of territory in ethnic Pashtun regions, like Mohmand, and al Qaeda militants are also hiding in the area along the Afghan border.
The semi-autonomous tribal regions have never come under the full control of any government and security forces rarely entered the area before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.
Since then, under pressure from the United States to root militants out of sanctuaries, the government has been trying to extend its writ along the border.
But a succession of military offensives and peace pacts has failed to stem the militants' growing strength.
Several Pakistani reporters covering the conflict have been killed. The government does not let foreign reporters into the tribal areas except on occasional trips with the military. (Reuters)