Reuters: Iran appointed Portugal’s Artur Jorge as their coach on Wednesday ahead of 2010 World Cup qualifiers starting in February, Iran’s official IRNA news agency said.

Xinhua: Iran’s cabinet members on Wednesday approved the budget bill for the next Iranian year (from March 21,2008 to March 20, 2009), the official IRNA news agency reported.

Reuters: India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corp will meet Iranian officials on Thursday to push forward plans to jointly develop with the Hinduja Group two large energy assets in the Gulf nation, ONGC’s chief said.

Western Mail: The Government is giving a group of Iranian refugees a “raw deal” by refusing to withdraw a ruling that they belong to a terrorist organisation, according to Welsh politicians.

Reuters: Turkmenistan wants to raise the price of gas it sells to Iran but Tehran argues that the two sides agreed not to change it in a contract signed last year, a senior Iranian official was quoted as saying on Wednesday.

Reuters: Iran’s top cleric told rival factions on Wednesday not to “destroy” each other in campaigning for March elections, expected to pit backers of hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad against more moderate politicians.

Daily Telegraph: Fears have been raised that Iran could use its huge gas reserves as an economic weapon after it cut off most of its gas supply to Turkey.

AFP: Iran has arrested a man for starting a rumour that Russian President Vladimir Putin risked being assassinated during a landmark visit to Tehran in October, newspapers reported on Wednesday.

AFP: An Iran Air plane carrying 100 passengers skidded off the runway after part of its wing caught fire on take-off from a Tehran airport on Wednesday, an airport official said.