Iran Crushes Teachers' Pay Protest

Iran Crushes Teachers' Pay ProtestThe authorities in Iran have arrested up to 1,000 teachers in a brutal crackdown that signals their determination to break a pay revolt. Riot police beat demonstrators with batons as they tried to gather outside Iran's parliament and education ministry and herded them into police vans and buses before transporting them to detention centres across Tehran. more By The Guardian

Posted 18/3/2007 @ 17:55:12 GMTKabul's Relations with its Other Neighbor, IranThe Afghan government and ordinary Afghans are quick to say that most of the destabilizing factors in their country have a foreign origin -- and Pakistan is most likely to be blamed. But recently, more attention is being paid to the possibility that Afghanistan’s neighbor to the west -- Iran -- may also be pursuing its own agenda in Afghanistan to the detriment of Kabul. more By EurasiaNet

Posted 18/3/2007 @ 17:20:33 GMTIran's Mullahs Don't Spend All Day Praying - They Make MoneyCORPORATE Iran. Now there's a term you don't see often. more By The Sydney Morning Herald

Posted 18/3/2007 @ 17:1:3 GMTChavez Opposes Ahmadinejad on IsraelVenezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who maintains warm ties with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahamadinejad, said Friday in a television interview that he opposed Ahmadinejad's call to "wipe Israel off the map." "I don't agree with [Ahmadinejad's] statements…I don't support causing harm to any nation," Chavez declared. Chavez has repeatedly raised the ire of Jewish groups by making remarks deemed anti-Semitic. more By The Jerusalem Post

Posted 18/3/2007 @ 16:49:48 GMTGCC Able to Respond to Iranian Threats -- Bahraini MinisterLONDON -- Bahrain and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries are able to respond to attacks from Iran or any other power, Bahraini Defense Minister General Sheikh Khalifa Bin Hamad Al-Khalifa told a London-based Arabic daily. more By Kuwait News Agency

Posted 18/3/2007 @ 16:32:11 GMTFort Richardson Officer Sees Iran Role in Karbala AttackThe commander of Fort Richardson troops in Iraq said Thursday he is pushing for the release of an investigation into a sneak attack and abduction in Karbala that took the lives of four of his soldiers in January. more By Anchorage Daily News

Posted 18/3/2007 @ 16:21:5 GMTIsrael, U.S. Scale Back War - Game Amid Iran Face - Off JERUSALEM -- Israeli and visiting U.S. forces are holding a biennial air-defense exercise this month but on a reduced scale, partly out of reluctance to stoke tensions with Iran, Israeli security sources said on Sunday. more By Reuters

Posted 18/3/2007 @ 16:8:20 GMTIran: Some More QuestionsThe big question concerning Iran is just how close they are to having a nuclear weapon. Some officials assure us that it will require 5-10 years before they produce a bomb. Making such a confident assertion is strange for at least three reasons. more By MichNews.com