Daily News Channel
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has appointed Esfandyar Rahim Mashaie as his adviser, a day after the controversial political figure resigned as first vice president, Iran’s state-run news agency reported on Saturday. Ahmadinejad praised Mashaie as a pious, trustworthy, and self-sacrificing human being in his letter of appointment, the IRNA report stated
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s recent pick for the country’s top vice president continued to draw fire Thursday, with a senior cleric issuing a fatwa against the appointment, a leading reformist newspaper reported Sunday. According to the newspaper — Etemad-e Melli — Grand Ayatollah Nasser Makarem Shirazi’s Islamic edict against the selection of Esfandyar Rahim Mashaie is part of a larger fatwa issued Wednesday — the same day the nation’s supreme leader reportedly called on Ahmadinejad to remove Mashaie from the top vice president post
The French did it. The Italians did it. Now tobacco-loving Turkey is betting it can go smoke-free too
Financial crisis-stricken Iceland formally applied for European Union membership on Friday, a day after lawmakers narrowly backed a government plan to take the island nation into the economic and political bloc. A copy of the application was submitted to the Swedish government, which currently holds the EU’s rotating presidency, Iceland’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs confirmed in a statement
The death of a Canadian soldier in battle-scarred Afghanistan on Thursday brings this month’s toll of international military fatalities in the war to 47, the highest monthly tally so far, a CNN count of official statistics shows. The Canadian soldier was killed while he was conducting operations in the Panjwayi District in Kandahar province, the Canadian military said.
For a quarter of a century, Russia has been Europe’s single biggest gas supplier, providing about a third of all the gas the European Union uses each year.
Turkey’s prime minister continued his outspoken criticism of China’s crackdown on ethnic Uyghurs on Saturday.
This week, President Obama spoke in the harshest tones yet about the Iranian regime’s violent crackdown against election protesters.
Sebastian Vettel maintained the impressive form he showed in practice by comfortably securing pole position in his Red Bull for Sunday’s British Grand Prix at Silverstone. The German, the only driver apart from world championship leader Jenson Button to win a Formula One race this season, finished nearly four tenths of a second quicker than Button’s Brawn GP team-mate Rubens Barrichello, with the other Red Bull of Mark Webber third on the grid. Button, who leads the standings by 26-points after dominating the season with six victories from seven races, is down in sixth place — his worse qualifying of the season — to the disappointment of home supporters.
Motorsport governing body, the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), plan to sue Ferrari and the seven other Formula One teams threatening to set up a breakaway championship next season, for breach of contract. Following meetings between FIA president Max Mosley and F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone at Silverstone on Friday, the FIA has now decided legal action is their only recourse. Confirming their intentions, a statement read: “The FIA’s lawyers have now examined the threat by the eight-member Formula One Teams Association (FOTA) to begin a breakaway series.