AP: Senior Iranian clerics have criticized President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for consoling Hugo Chavez’s mother with a hug — a physical contact considered a sin under the country’s strict Islamic codes.
Ahmadinejad under fire for hugging Chavez’s mother
The U.N. disaster of Martin Kobler
JewishJournal: United Nations faces a difficult time in Iraq, apparently because of a conflict of interest of “familial” nature. The disaster is that innocents’ lives are at stake in this familial conflict of interests.
The terrible damage being done to UNHCR’s reputation
Fox News: The UN’s High Commissioner for Refugees (“UNHCR”) has long boasted impressive credentials in carrying out its important humanitarian work. UNHCR’s compelling logo embodies its critical mission, picturing two human hands providing shelter for a refugee.
Pakistan risks US sanctions over Iran pipeline
AFP: Pakistan risks sparking US sanctions if it pursues its plans with Iran to build a $7.5 billion gas pipeline linking the two nations, a senior US official said in a renewed warning Monday.
Human rights abuses spiral in Iran: UN
AFP: Human rights violations in Iran spiralled in 2012, a United Nations monitor said Monday, spotlighting abuses including repression of freedom of speech, torture and secret executions.
Crucial time nears for Iran nuclear talks
Wall Street Journal: Like Iran’s nuclear program itself, the international effort to stop it is about to enter a critical phase. Put simply, it now seems possible that the world will know by the end of April whether diplomacy will be sufficient to halt what some fear is an Iranian march toward nuclear-weapons capability.
Iran allocates $2.7 billion for southern oil refinery, Mehr says
Bloomberg: Iran has allocated 2.1 billion euros ($2.7 billion) to build an oil refinery in the southern Hormozgan province that will begin operations this year, state- run Mehr news agency reported, citing an energy official.
Sasol’s profit drops 13% on Iranian polymer-unit writedown
Bloomberg: Sasol Ltd. (SOL), the world’s largest producer of motor fuel from coal, said first-half profit fell 13 percent as it wrote down the value of its Iranian polymers unit.
Pakistan leader to break ground on Iran pipeline
AP: Pakistan’s president is traveling to Iran on Monday for a ceremony to mark the start of construction of a controversial pipeline to bring natural gas from Iran despite American opposition to the project.
10 years after US invasion, Kurds look to the West
AP: At an elite private school in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region, children learn Turkish and English before Arabic. University students dream of jobs in Europe, not Baghdad.
