A section of an Iranian gas pipeline has exploded near the northeastern city of Mashhad, Khorasan Razavi province, injuring at least 16 people.

Iran Gas Engineering and Development Company Director Alireza Gharibi told IRNA late on Friday afternoon that the blast occurred in the Mazdavand region, 65 kilometers from Mashhad, when an excavator mistakenly struck the pipeline transporting gas from the Khangiran refinery in Sarakhs to Mashhad. 

Gharibi said that the incident left 16 people injured, add...

BAGHDAD — Iraq has agreed to pay $400 million to Americans who say they were abused by Saddam Hussein's regime, U.S. and Iraqi officials said Friday.

The agreement, recently signed by U.S. and Iraqi officials, represents a significant step forward for Iraq and could bring an end to years of legal battles by Americans who claim to have been tortured or traumatized under Saddam's regime.

 

But the deal is likely to anger Iraqis who consider themselves the victims' of both Saddam and the 2003 U.S. inv...