AFP: Group of Eight foreign ministers told Iran on Thursday to keep its nuclear programme on ice, and urged Syria to stop meddling in Lebanon, as they paved the way for next month’s summit of the G8 world powers.
G8 foreign ministers put Iran, Syria on notice
Rice urges Iran to respect agreement on nuclear suspension
AFP: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Thursday urged
Iran to abide by a nuclear suspension agreement signed in Paris
and not to engage in nuclear enrichment activities.
Speaking after a one-day meeting of foreign ministers of the Group
of Eight (G8) world powers in London, Rice said: “We call upon the Iranians to adhere to the Paris agreement to its letter and to not engage in any activities associated with the fuel cycle.”
Iranian travesty
Boston Globe – GLOBE EDITORIAL: Iran’s presidential elections, which are scheduled to culminate in a decisive second round of voting tomorrow, are being denounced by some of the candidates themselves as a travesty of electoral politics. The manipulations attributed to hardline forces in the military and the clerical establishment reflect a determined drive by those archconservatives to monopolize all power centers in Iran.
Student demonstration in Iran capital
Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Jun. 23 Students in Allameh Tabatabai University protested against the extended detention of a fellow student activist who was arrested during a demonstration by women in Tehrans Laleh Park. Ali Vakili, a final-year student in Allameh Tabatabai University, was arrested by State Security Forces last week after he made a speech at a protest rally by women demanding equal rights and a nationwide boycott of Irans presidential elections.
Student demonstration in Iran capital
Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Jun. 23 Students in Allameh Tabatabai University protested against the extended detention of a fellow student activist who was arrested during a demonstration by women in Tehrans Laleh Park. Ali Vakili, a final-year student in Allameh Tabatabai University, was arrested by State Security Forces last week after he made a speech at a protest rally by women demanding equal rights and a nationwide boycott of Irans presidential elections.
US firm says Iran ‘illegally’ uses Internet filter software
AFP: A US Web security firm cited in a report on Iran’s Internet censorship said Wednesday that any use in Iran of its software is “illegal and unauthorized.” John McNulty, chairman and chief executive of Secure Computing Corporation said in a statement that his company “has sold no licenses to any entity in Iran.”
The triumph of absolute rule
Boston Globe: As Iran prepares to hold a runoff to its presidential elections, much of the international media are focused on the two remaining candidates, the pragmatist
Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and his archconservative rival Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. However, the façade of elections conceals the remarkable changes that Iran has undergone in the past few years.
Rafsanjani promises cash handouts in Iran election bid
AFP: Moderate conservative presidential candidate Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani has promised to hand ordinary Iranians billions of dollars in stock options and benefits in a last ditch bid to win their votes away from hardliner Mahmood Ahmadinejad. Rafsanjani, facing a run-off against the far right-winger on Friday, said he would give “every Iranian family …
Radical rebound in Iran
Baltimore Sun: Three years ago, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was a relative political unknown in Iran. But now, the 49-year-old hard-liner – a former commander in Iran’s universally feared clerical army, the Pasdaran, and more recently the mayor of Tehran – has become one of the Islamic Republic’s most recognizable faces.
Iran Nobel winner defends election boycott
AFP: Nobel peace prize winner Shirin Ebadi made an impassioned defence of her decision to boycott Iran’s election, which goes into a second round on Friday, and launched a stinging attack on presidential candidate Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. Ebadi told AFP in an interview that she was not voting because she deemed the entire election was illegitimate, adding it was of little difference whether hardline Tehran mayor Mahmood Ahmadinejad or former president Rafsanjani won.
