Iran

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China Off US Rights Blacklist
 China Off US Rights Blacklist 

China Off US Rights Blacklist

State Dept. report drops China from top 10 worst abusers despite poor record

(Newser) - The State Department has taken China off its list of the world's 10 worst human rights abusers, the New York Times reports. China's human rights record "remained poor," the department's annual report said, with abuses including "extrajudicial killings, torture, and coerced confessions of prisoners." Officials declined...

US Admiral in Charge of Mideast Quits

Move comes after article depicts him defying Bush on Iran

(Newser) - The top US military commander for the Middle East resigned today after the publication of a magazine profile that portrayed him as a vocal opponent of the Bush administration's Iran strategy, the AP reports. Adm. William Fallon, head of US Central Command, denied any rift and said he stepped down...

Qatar Navigates Persian Gulf Minefield

Geography forces balancing act; gas wealth make it a player

(Newser) - The challenges of being Qatar, a peninsular nation bordering Saudi Arabia in the Persian Gulf, could be a hint of the diplomatic discourse to come, Bloomberg reports. The emirate cannily attends to the demands of its Saudi and Iranian neighbors, and it hosts US military forces; it also has learned...

Iran Is Biggest Threat to Iraq: General

Points as proof to problem-free visit of Iranian prez

(Newser) - Iran is likely the single greatest threat to Iraq's longterm stability, according to a top US commander. The US has "pretty clear" evidence that Iran is training and supplying Shiite militias, said Lt. General Raymond Odierno, who just completed 15 months as second-in-command in Iraq.  Odierno pointed to...

UN Cranks Up Iran Sanctions
UN Cranks Up Iran Sanctions

UN Cranks Up Iran Sanctions

Security Council continues to press Tehran on nuclear concerns

(Newser) - The UN hit Iran with a third round of sanctions today for refusing to halt its nuclear enrichment program, Reuters reports. The 14-0 security council vote approved more travel and financial limits and boosted trade restrictions, but was curbed by a US report that Tehran had scuttled its nuclear weapon...

Ahmadinejad Calls on US to Quit Iraq

'No one likes them,' Iranian prez says of coalition forces

(Newser) - As he headed home after his historic visit to Iraq, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad criticized the American occupation, CNN reports. “No one likes them," the provocative Iranian president said of the US-led coalition. "We believe that the forces which crossed oceans and thousands of kilometers to come to this...

Iranian Owes Wife 124K Roses
Iranian Owes Wife 124K Roses

Iranian Owes Wife 124K Roses

'Stingy' husband needs to make good on dowry

(Newser) - There is something worse than forgetting Valentine's Day—being a tightfisted husband. An Iranian court has ordered a man to immediately send his wife 124,000 roses or risk imprisonment, the BBC reports. The roses were promised to his wife as part of her dowry, which she can legally claim...

Iranian Prez Arrives in Iraq
Iranian Prez Arrives in Iraq

Iranian Prez Arrives in Iraq

Ahmadinejad visit deepens ties with neighbor

(Newser) - In an historic visit, Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived in Iraq today predicting “a new chapter” for relations between the two countries, despite a tense history and a feud with Baghdad’s American allies. Ahmadinejad, who won’t be protected by US forces during his two-day trip, met...

Ahmadinejad to Visit Iraq
Ahmadinejad
to Visit Iraq

Ahmadinejad to Visit Iraq

First-ever trip by an Iranian prez upsets Sunnis, poses security risk to hosts

(Newser) - Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will fly to Baghdad Sunday to meet with Iraqi president Jalal Talabani, the first state visit ever by an Iranian president, the BBC reports. Sunni Iraqi leaders expressed outrage over the visit, which also comes a day after the US claimed further evidence of Iranian meddling in the...

Iran Nukes Raise 'Serious Concern' for UN

Watchdog group says Tehran has failed to explain its programs

(Newser) - The UN’s nuclear overseers warned today that Iran hadn’t explained various intelligence reports suggesting it was making atomic weapons and called the matter a “serious concern.” Tehran dismissed the intelligence data as "fabricated" and provided unacceptable answers, the UN report says. The developments could lead...

EU Experts Say Iran Closer to Nuke Weapon

Tehran a year away on uranium; separate UN report out today

(Newser) - A new report from a European Union agency concludes that Iran could have enough uranium to build an atomic bomb within one year. The EU results—which precede a major UN report coming out today—look nothing like the findings of the US intelligence community, writes Der Spiegel: the recent...

US Should Have Hugged Castro to Death
US Should
Have Hugged Castro to Death
OPINION

US Should Have Hugged Castro to Death

Dictator relied on angry giant to the north to keep people afraid

(Newser) - Fidel Castro has left power, but his legacy endures because the US never did what it took to eliminate his regime: embrace it. Fidel survived for decades because his people were afraid of the angry superpower to the north, writes Newsweek’s Christopher Dickey. Had America embraced him, the Cuban...

Iran Asks Dutch Gov't to Ban Anti-Islam Film

Right-wing pol's movie shows Koran as inspiration for murder

(Newser) - Upset by a right-wing Dutch politician's movie, which portrays the Koran as an inspiration for murder, Iran’s justice minister is asking the Dutch government to ban the film, the BBC reports. The minister called the film, by parliament member Geert Wilders, an unnecessary attack on Islam’s holiest object....

US, Iran Met on Terror Financing
US, Iran Met
on Terror Financing

US, Iran Met on Terror Financing

Rare encounter last month at a multinational conference

(Newser) - Senior Treasury Department official Daniel Glaser met last month with representatives from Iran to discuss "the significant threat Iran poses to the integrity of the international financial system," Reuters reports. The rare talks, which required special permission from the US government, took place during a meeting of the...

OPEC Holds Oil Production Steady
OPEC Holds
Oil Production Steady

OPEC Holds Oil Production Steady

As expected, consortium rebuffs US call to boost supply

(Newser) - OPEC dashed American hopes for a boost in oil production today, Bloomberg reports. The US and other Western nations wanted more oil on the market to lower prices, but OPEC decided to hold production steady. The consortium, which supplies 40% of the world's oil, is worried that the flagging world...

Deadly Violence Erupts in Beirut
Deadly Violence Erupts in Beirut

Deadly Violence Erupts in Beirut

Riots, gun battles in Hezbollah districts

(Newser) - Street protests over power cuts erupted yesterday into deadly violence in Hezbollah strongholds in Beirut with several people killed or wounded—some by sniper fire—as youths torched cars. The Lebanese army mobilized to stop the violence from spreading to Sunni and Christian neighborhoods, reports AFP.  Fears of more...

Saddam Faked Nukes to Scare Iran, Not US: Agent

Did not believe US would invade over weapons of mass destruction

(Newser) - Saddam Hussein revealed in FBI interrogations that he had no nuclear or biological weapons of mass destruction, but hid that fact to avoid invasion by Iran—and was stunned when the US invaded. "For him, it was critical that he was seen as the strong, defiant Saddam to prevent...

Ahmadinejad Plans First Iraq Trip
Ahmadinejad Plans First Iraq Trip

Ahmadinejad Plans First Iraq Trip

First Iranian leader to visit since '80s war; highlights new relations

(Newser) - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will visit Baghdad, the Iraqi foreign ministry announced today, a historic trip that highlights the new relationship between the neighbors, who fought a bloody war in the 1980s. No Iranian president has ever visited Iraq, but with a Shiite government in power after the ouster of...

'Mild' New Iran Sanctions Forged
'Mild' New Iran Sanctions Forged

'Mild' New Iran Sanctions Forged

Compromise reached on 3rd round to present united front to derail nukes

(Newser) - Six leading world powers have agreed on a draft United Nations resolution for a third round of sanctions against Iran that stop short of the punishing economic measures the US had advocated, the Los Angeles Times reports. The sanctions include some extension of travel and business bans—but in "...

Political Rift Weakens Ahmadinejad
Political Rift
Weakens
Ahmadinejad

Political Rift Weakens Ahmadinejad

Ayatollah overrules Iranian president on gas for villagers

(Newser) - Iran's firebrand president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad suffered a serious political humiliation  yesterday when the nation's supreme leader sided with his opponents to force him to supply a billion dollars worth of natural gas to remote villages suffering power cuts. Iran's poorest communities are enduring one of the harshest winters in years,...

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