The Guardian: Iranians may have to hold their noses when they go to the polls in next month’s presidential election. This is only partly the result of a new craze for surgical nose jobs among Tehran’s fashionable youth. Like the British electorate, Iran’s 46 million voters are a bit sniffy about the candidates on offer. The favourite, Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, 70, conveys a distinct whiff of mothballs. A loyalist of Iran’s revolutionary leader, the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, he has been president twice before, from 1989 to 1997. Iranians hold their noses as they pick new president
The Guardian: Iranians may have to hold their noses when they go to the polls in next month’s presidential election. This is only partly the result of a new craze for surgical nose jobs among Tehran’s fashionable youth. Like the British electorate, Iran’s 46 million voters are a bit sniffy about the candidates on offer. The favourite, Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, 70, conveys a distinct whiff of mothballs. A loyalist of Iran’s revolutionary leader, the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, he has been president twice before, from 1989 to 1997. France: European lawmakers and jurists demand justice for Iranian opposition
Iran Focus: Paris, May 12 European lawmakers and jurists called on French authorities to drop charges against officials of the opposition National Council of Resistance of Iran and put an end to what they described as harassment of opponents of Irans clerical regime in France. The call came from hundreds of parliamentary, legal and political figures who attended a seminar in Paris on Tuesday entitled, “Two years after June 17, 2003, Justice for the National Council of Resistance of Iran”. France: European lawmakers and jurists demand justice for Iranian opposition
Iran Focus: Paris, May 12 European lawmakers and jurists called on French authorities to drop charges against officials of the opposition National Council of Resistance of Iran and put an end to what they described as harassment of opponents of Irans clerical regime in France. The call came from hundreds of parliamentary, legal and political figures who attended a seminar in Paris on Tuesday entitled, “Two years after June 17, 2003, Justice for the National Council of Resistance of Iran”.Brazilian author Paulo Coelho says his latest book banned in Iran
AFP: International best-selling Brazilian author Paulo Coelho said Thursday that his latest novel “The Zahir” had been banned in Iran, with some 1,000 copies confiscated this week at Tehran’s annual book fair. “The book was forbidden, even though we went through the normal procedures of getting a permit from the government for it to be published,” Coelho said in an e-mail message sent to AFP by his French publishers Flammarion. France urges restraint on Iran nuclear programme
AFP: French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier on Thursdayurged Iran not to resume suspended nuclear operations, warning that to do so would incur “consequences.” “We continue to hope that Iran will not take this step, the consequences of which it is well aware,” Barnier said.
Iran won’t respect NPT if nuke rights denied – Rohani
Reuters: Iran warned on Thursday it would no longer respect the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) if it was denied the right to pursue what it considers its right to develop a full civilian nuclear energy programme. “If Iran cannot use its legitimate rights in the framework of the NPT, it will no longer have respect for the treaty,” the semi-official ISNA students news agency quoted chief nuclear negotiator Hassan Rohani as telling visiting Russian deputy foreign minister Sergei Kislyak. Blair backs Iran’s referral to Security Council
AP: Prime Minister Tony Blair said Thursday that Iran should be referred to the U.N. Security Council if it breaches its nuclear obligations, while Tehran vowed to resume some activities that can be part of the process of making nuclear weapons. Hasan Rowhani, Iran’s top nuclear negotiator, said negotiations with key European powers were not balanced and were costly for Tehran. Three convicted murderers publicly hanged in Iran
Iran Focus: Tehran, May 12 – Three Iranian men were hanged in public yesterday in the southern town of Susangerd, in the Iranian province of Khuzestan, according to the state-run news agency. The young men, who were identified as Nasser Ch., Aref S. and Ali S., were accused of abducting and murdering a six-year-old boy in February 2002. Three convicted murderers publicly hanged in Iran
Iran Focus: Tehran, May 12 – Three Iranian men were hanged in public yesterday in the southern town of Susangerd, in the Iranian province of Khuzestan, according to the state-run news agency. The young men, who were identified as Nasser Ch., Aref S. and Ali S., were accused of abducting and murdering a six-year-old boy in February 2002. Iran set to resume ‘noticeable part’ of uranium conversion activities
AFP: Iran has decided to restart a part of its nuclear programme that had been suspended as part of a deal withthe European Union and a “noticeable part” of uranium conversion activities will soon resume, a senior official said Thursday. “Based on the reviews and decisions which were made, we are going to restart a small part of the suspended activities,” Gholam Reza Aghazadeh, a vice president and
head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation, told state television.
