Want to take this time to congratulate the Iranian people for upgrading to a participatory government where they feel empowered enough to take to the streets to complain. For those of you who have been too busy digging under bushes for returnable bottle deposits, there is major rioting going on in the country formerly known as Persia, due to their sneaking suspicion of rampant voter fraud.
There was a campaign for the presidency not so long ago, when now-President Obama was constantly harassed by opponents for his commitment to dealing with the powers that are not friendly to us. Looming particularly large in his sites was the presidency of Iranian Ahmadinejad, who has been loony enough to declare he had a halo on when he spoke at the U.N., and who was ominously claiming the right of his country to own nuclear weapons.
In order to raise sales and personal royalty gains, Alan Greenspan, just prior to the release of his book The Age of Turbulence, carried out a public relations blitz dragged out for a whole week in which he made remarks similar to those conveyed in his hardback. These included statements such as “I am saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: the Iraq war is largely about oil.”
Since 1997, every June 26 has been formally recognized as the International Day of Support for Victims of Torture. Political leaders around the globe take the occasion to proclaim their opposition to barbarism.
Iran's supreme leader has vowed the country's leadership will not give in to mass protests against the disputed re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the president.
Shirin Ebadi, a prominent Iranian human rights lawyer and Nobel peace prize winner, has told Al Jazeera that she is prepared to represent the family of a young woman shot dead during a protest in Tehran.
Barack Obama, the US president, has condemned as "unjust" the Iranian government's treatment of protesters disputing results of the recent presidential poll.
Up to 80 people have been killed after missiles were fired from a US "drone" at the funeral of a suspected Taliban commander of the Pakistani Taliban in South Waziristan, Pakistan officials have said.
China has defended its export policies after the United States and European Union complained to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) they violated international trade rules.
Defence officials from China and the US have begun their first high-level talks in 18 months, with recent naval confrontations between the two sides and tensions over North Korea's nuclear programme topping the agenda.
The slump in Japanese exports shows no sign of relenting with data showing auto exports to the US down more than half in May, and exports overall plunging more than 40 per cent year-on-year.
Israel has released the Hamas speaker of the Palestinian parliament, Abdul Aziz Dweik, who was jailed for nearly three years over his ties to the group.
Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian president, is due to arrive in Nigeria on a visit to boost economic ties and trade between the two countries, becoming the first Kremlin leader to visit Africa's most populous nation.
News_Alerts 
Barack Obama, the US president, has condemned as "unjust" the Iranian government's treatment of protesters disputing results of the recent presidential poll.
Defence officials from China and the US have begun their first high-level talks in 18 months, with recent naval confrontations between the two sides and tensions over North Korea's nuclear programme topping the agenda.
