Reuters: Israeli President Shimon Peres urged the European Union on Tuesday to step up pressure on Iran over its ballistic missile program, as well as trying to curb its nuclear ambitions.
Israel president tells Europe to do more to pressure Iran
Jim Jones: Camp Liberty is worse than Guantanamo
Foreign Policy: Former National Security Advisor Jim Jones said Tuesday that the former U.S. military base where a group of Iranian dissidents live is like a prison and the conditions there are worse than the U.S. facility at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.
UN rights monitor alarmed by Iran media crackdown
AFP: The United Nations’ monitor for human rights in Iran sounded the alarm Tuesday over a rise in arrests of journalists, saying this was part of a pattern of increasing violations as presidential elections loom.
Iran could not divert uranium without being detected:US
AFP: Iran could not produce enough highly-enriched uranium for an atomic bomb without being detected, US National Intelligence Director James Clapper said Tuesday.
Report: Iran blocks VPN access to Gmail, Yahoo
AP: Iranian authorities have blocked many foreign-based virtual private networks, or VPNs, severely restricting access to many websites.
EU targets Iranian judges, media bosses with sanctions
Reuters: The European Union imposed sanctions on Tuesday on an Iranian police unit monitoring the Internet, as well on several judges and media bosses the bloc blames for human rights violations in the Islamic Republic.
Iran puts five Christians on trial for their faith
Fox News: Five Iranian Christian converts who were detained late last year will reportedly begin trial in Iran’s Revolutionary Court this week, according to a human rights group following the case.
Ahmadinejad under fire for hugging Chavez’s mother
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.
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.
