Iran will not retreat “one iota” from its nuclear program, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said, as his new chief negotiator met Western diplomats for the first time.

This is the first election in the history of the Republic of Uzbekistan with six candidates at once running for president. Two candidates have been the all-time record in all sixteen years of sovereignty until now.

NATO allies Turkey and the US have almost simultaneously signaled that a joint US-Turkish strike against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) based in northern Iraq could soon be placed on the agenda.