TEHRAN (AFP) — Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Monday warned that Iran was prepared “to pay a price” and “resist” to realise the aims of its contested nuclear programme amid an intensifying standoff with the West.

LONDON (AFP) — Israel has plunged the Palestinians into unprecedented levels of poverty and despair through 40 years of occupation, yet failed to ensure its own security, Amnesty International said Monday.

KHARTOUM — Business leaders managing Sudan’s economic boom predict the new US sanctions imposed because of Darfur will have little impact on this country’s oil-based economy, mostly because they avoid targeting key Chinese interests here.