Reuters: For sunbathers on Rio’s famed Ipanema Beach last weekend, the sight was about as odd as an oncoming snowstorm.
Brazil’s surprise election issue: Iran
Ahmadinejad defends embattled chief of staff
AFP: Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has backed his chief of staff, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie, who has come under fire from conservative clerics for remarks about Islam, media reported on Thursday.
Iran’s Central Bank to reduce euro, dollar reserves
Bloomberg: Iran will reduce the proportion of euros and dollars in its reserves, while maintaining its overseas holdings of the Western currencies in the face of sanctions over the country’s nuclear program, according to a Central Bank official in Tehran.
LUKOIL trading arm Litasco not selling to Iran – CEO
Reuters: The head of the trading arm of LUKOIL said on Thursday his company Litasco was not selling gasoline to Iran, one day after traders said sales had resumed despite U.S. and European Union sanctions.
Iraq tries to play down general’s remarks over US withdrawal
The Guardian: The Iraqi prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, has made a sudden visit to senior defence officials a day after the country’s most senior soldier declared his forces would not be capable of securing Iraq’s borders until 2020.
British ambassador to Iran hits back after ‘thick’ jibe
The Daily Telegraph: The UK ambassador to Iran has angrily attacked comments by a senior Tehran government minister that the English are “a bunch of thick people”.
Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani ‘confesses’ to murder on Iran state TV
The Guardian: The Iranian woman whose sentence to death by stoning sparked an international outcry is feared to be facing imminent execution, after she was put on a state-run TV programme last night where she confessed to adultery and involvement in a murder.
Barack Obama ‘may be prepared to meet Iranian president’
Daily Telegraph: Barack Obama’s national security adviser, Gen James Jones, has indicated the President may be prepared to meet Mahmoud Ahmadinejad if the regime resumed negotiations over its nuclear programme.
British are bunch of thick people ruled by a mafia, says Iran’s vice president… and sparks row with our ambassador
Daily Mail: The British people and David Cameron have been labelled ‘thick’ by a senior member of Iran’s government.
Clinton backs Argentine bid to try alleged terrorists
AFP: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Wednesday the United States backs Argentina in its call for Iran to extradite the suspects in a deadly bombing of a Buenos Aires Jewish center in 1994.
