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/ 31 October 2007

Major powers to meet on Iran this week

Major powers plan to meet in London this week to discuss new sanctions on Iran amid a spat between Washington and the United Nations over Tehran’s nuclear ambitions, United States officials said on Tuesday. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in a speech on Tuesday that Iran would not retreat in the dispute.

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/ 28 October 2007

Turkish army kills Kurds in new clashes

Turkish soldiers killed 20 Kurdish guerrillas on Sunday in a major military operation against separatist rebels in eastern Turkey, army sources said. The operation involving 8 000 troops backed up from the air was launched in the central-eastern province of Tunceli. The sources gave no word on army casualties.

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/ 18 October 2007

Iran brushes off Bush’s ‘World War III’ warning

Iran on Thursday shrugged off a warning by United States President George Bush that its nuclear programme could lead to ”World War III”, saying his remarks only served to show up Washington’s failures. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mohammad Ali Hosseini said the ”war-mongering” policies of neo-conservatives in the US had reached a dead end.

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/ 8 October 2007

Pope asked to take action against radio host

The World Jewish Congress on Monday urged Pope Benedict XVI to crack down on a Polish priest accused of broadcasting anti-Semitic views on his radio station. ”Anti-Semitic statements by the Polish priest Tadeusz Rydzyj … should not be tolerated any more,” the congress’s new president, Ronald Lauder, told the pope during an audience.

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/ 4 October 2007

Iran to go ahead with disputed atomic work

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the world could not stop the Islamic state’s nuclear programme, which the West fears is a cover to build nuclear bomb, the official IRNA news agency said on Thursday. Ahmadinejad was speaking the day after French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner called on the European Union to take the lead in widening financial sanctions on Iran.

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/ 26 September 2007

Zim, Iran seek ‘coalition for peace’

The leaders of Zimbabwe and Iran are looking to form a ”coalition for peace” after receiving a tongue-lashing from United States President George Bush. ”The United States and its allies are so bloodthirsty they don’t want to see peace anywhere in the world,” said Zimbabwe Deputy Information Minister Bright Matonga.

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/ 25 September 2007

Protests in Burma dominate UN agenda

President George Bush announced new United States sanctions against Burma on Tuesday as world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly focused on rising protests against military rule in the South-East Asian state. Bush urged all nations to ”help the Burmese people reclaim their freedom”.

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/ 25 September 2007

Ahmadinejad spars with academics in NY

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad clashed with an United States university president who called him a ”petty and cruel dictator” at a forum on Monday where Ahmadinejad criticised Israel and the US and said Iran was a peaceful nation. Ahmadinejad also said in an appearance at Columbia University that Iran’s nuclear programme was purely peaceful.

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/ 25 September 2007

Bush to focus on Burma, not Iran, in UN speech

President George Bush is set to announce new United States sanctions against Burma over human rights as the annual United Nations General Assembly gathering of world leaders gets under way on Tuesday. Bush will advocate supporting groups in Burma that are trying to advance freedom and announce new sanctions directed at key members of the military rulers.

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/ 18 September 2007

Russia warns against Iran war

Russia expressed worry on Tuesday over the possibility of war with Iran as French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner pressed for tougher sanctions against the Islamic Republic’s nuclear programme. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov emphasised Russia’s "concern" over "multiple reports that military action against Iran is being seriously considered.

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/ 5 September 2007

Rafsanjani election ups political stakes in Iran

One of Iran’s most illustrious politicians, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, dramatically increased his influence on Tuesday by winning control of a powerful clerical body in a development that could change the course of the country’s leadership. Rafsanjani was elected head of the experts’ assembly after overcoming a determined right-wing effort to block him.

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/ 29 August 2007

Bush stokes war of words with Iran

United States President George Bush on Tuesday ramped up the war of words between the US and Iran, accusing Tehran of threatening to place the Middle East under the shadow of a nuclear holocaust and revealing that he had authorised US military commanders in Iraq to ”confront Tehran’s murderous activities”.