Financial Times: Trade talks between Iran and the European Union are set to begin on January 12 as the EU drive to improve ties with Tehran gathers pace. France, Germany and the UK have been keen to offer Iran incentives to restrict its nuclear programme, which the US suspects is intended to develop atomic weapons. EU to begin trade talks with Iran
Financial Times: Trade talks between Iran and the European Union are set to begin on January 12 as the EU drive to improve ties with Tehran gathers pace. France, Germany and the UK have been keen to offer Iran incentives to restrict its nuclear programme, which the US suspects is intended to develop atomic weapons. Iraq tells neighbours to ‘stop meddling’ in its affairs
AFP: Iraq will tell its neighbours to “stop meddling” in its affairs when they meet in Amman next month, interim Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said in an interview with Chinese state media Monday. “We will definitely raise the issue and tell the world to stop meddling,” the foreign minister told Xinhua news agency after a four-trip visit to China. On This Day: 1990 – Iranian leader upholds Rushdie fatwa
BBC: Iran’s spiritual leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has said the death sentence on writer Salman Rushdie for alleged blasphemy will remain in force. He rejected the author’s repentance and recent decision not to publish a paperback edition of the novel The Satanic Verses which was deemed offensive to the Islamic faith. Women to be hanged, stoned to death in Iran
Iran Focus: Tehran, Dec. 26 Iranian press have reported the public execution of at least four women in the past year, with at least 14 more to be publicly hanged or stoned to death. Iran Focus has obtained the names and particulars of the four executed women, among them a 16-year-old girl. They were:
Women to be hanged, stoned to death in Iran
Iran Focus: Tehran, Dec. 26 Iranian press have reported the public execution of at least four women in the past year, with at least 14 more to be publicly hanged or stoned to death. Iran Focus has obtained the names and particulars of the four executed women, among them a 16-year-old girl. They were:
Iran says direct US talks on nuclear file not on the agenda
AFP: Iran reiterated on Sunday that it was not interested in direct talks with arch-foe the United States over its nuclear activities and said a US role in negotiations with Europe would not be “beneficial.” “There is no such thing on the agenda ofthe Islamic republic,” foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told reporters. “Iran is not interested in an American role in its discussions with Europe and we do not consider a US presence in the talks to be beneficial,” he added.
Iranian FM may boycott Iraq conference in Amman
AFP: Iran said Sunday that Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi might boycott a meeting of Iraq’s neighbors in Amman next after the Jordanian king charged that Tehran was meddling in Iraq’s affairs. “It is possible that he might not take part (in the January 15 meeting),” foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told reporters, adding that Iran would be reviewing its level of participation. Survivors recall Iran quake loss
BBC: Thousands of people have gathered in Bam to remember some 30,000 victims of the earthquake that flattened the historic Iranian city a year ago. Holding Tehran accountable
Washington Times – Op/Ed: The U.N. General Assembly took a step in the right direction on Monday by passing a resolution criticizing the Iranian government’s abysmal human-rights record. The General Assembly voted 71-54 with 55 abstentions to condemn the regime’s repression of free speech and use of torture against political opponents. In Clerics’ Iran, Children of the Revolution Seek Escape
Los Angeles Times: Their cheeks were bitten by the threat of snow, but the sisters didn’t have anywhere else to go. They’d coated their faces with makeup and painted their eyelashes until they looked too heavy to blink, gaudy faces to offset drab denims and black coats. This afternoon, their spirits hung as low as the brooding clouds over the mountains.