Recent Posts

Spectre of Ahmadinejad victory haunts women

TEHRAN — Left in a state of shock by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s surprise election success, young professional women in Tehran fear they could lose all their hard-won new freedoms if the ultra-conservative wins the presidency. “We are always worried. We have never been working at ease. But now, with Ahmadinejad as …

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Voter manipulation threat in poll — ministry

TEHRAN (Reuters) — Electoral officials said on Tuesday they were guarding against fresh attempts to manipulate voters in Iran’s presidential election run-off after charges that military bodies rallied support for a hardline candidate. Friday’s run-off, after an inconclusive first round, pits pragmatic cleric Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani against ultra-conservative Tehran Mayor …

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Beirut car bomb kills veteran politician

A bomb killed an anti-Syrian politician Tuesday in the second such assassination in three weeks, fuelling opposition fears that Damascus and its Lebanese allies are hitting their enemies in a bid to restore their fading authority. Former Communist Party leader George Hawi, 67, was killed by an explosion under his …

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Baghdad museum director gets used to returning fire

BAGHDAD — Donny George of the Iraq Museum is more concerned about security than most museum directors. Books on George’s shelves summarise his struggle: “Institutional Trauma: Major Change in Museums and its Effect on Staff,” “Museum Security and Protection” and “Moving the Mountain: A Guide to Moving Collections.”

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EU in deeper crisis after summit failure

BRUSSELS (Reuters) — The European Union was plunged deeper into crisis on Saturday after its leaders failed to agree on a long-term budget, two weeks after French and Dutch voters rejected a proposed EU constitution. The summit breakdown threatens the enlarged 25-nation bloc with financial paralysis on top of the …

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