Dutch query Iran death sentence

Dutch minister wants detail of Iran death sentence
THE HAGUE, Netherlands - Foreign Minister Uri Rosenthal called on Iran Wednesday to provide details of the case of a Dutch-Iranian woman whose daughter says she has been sentenced to death for Drug Smuggling. Rosenthal said in a statement he was "very concerned" about the fate of Sahra Bahrami after her daughter told a Dutch Radio Station Wednesday her mother was handed the death sentence. Bahrami has been jailed in Iran since December 2009. Dutch Diplomats have been denied access to her b...

Dutch minister wants detail of Iran death sentence
THE HAGUE, Netherlands -- Foreign Minister Uri Rosenthal called on Iran Wednesday to provide details of the case of a Dutch-Iranian woman whose daughter says she has been sentenced to death for Drug Smuggling. Rosenthal said in a statement he was "very concerned" about the fate of Sahra Bahrami after her daughter told a Dutch Radio Station Wednesday her mother was handed the death sentence. Bahrami has been jailed in Iran since December 2009. Dutch Diplomats have been denied access to her becau...

Iran Launches Nationwide Crackdown on Sex Dolls
Another stunning victory of the Islamic Morality police. Tehran - The Iranian government said Wednesday it would move to stop business in sex dolls and pursue importers amid revelations that a number of sex dolls had been smuggled into the country. Deputy Health Minister Ebrahim Motavelian told Fars news agency that after his ministry was informed about the Smuggling of sex dolls, it had launched investigations about the main source of the import and distribution of the dolls. The Health ...

Time for U.S. to leave Iraq, Iran says
BAGHDAD, Jan. 6 (UPI) -- Tehran backs a unified and independent Iraq while at the same time advocating a regional treaty with its neighbors, Iran's caretaker Foreign Minister said. Ali Akbar Salehi, Iran's caretaker foreign minister, met with Iraq's new speaker of Parliament Osama al-Nujaifi to discuss bilateral affairs. Salehi arrived Wednesday in Baghdad for a congratulatory visit as Iraq starts the new year with a partial Cabinet that broke a long-standing political stalemate. Salehi stressed...

Iraq: With Sadr In, Is the U.S. Out?
Anyone remember what Jay Garner, the first U.S. viceroy in Baghdad in 2003, answered when asked how long American Troops would be in Iraq? "Look back on the Philippines around the turn of the 20th century," he told an interviewer. "They were a coaling station for the Navy, and that allowed us to keep a great presence in the Pacific. That's what Iraq is for the next few decades: our coaling station that gives us great presence in the Middle East." Instead, as radical anti-American cleric Muqtad...

Iran daily says U.S. woman held on spying charges
Tehran | Thu Jan 6, 2011 6:11am EST Tehran (Reuters) - An Iranian newspaper reported on Thursday that an American woman had been arrested on suspicion of spying after entering the country illegally by land. The report, which could not be immediately confirmed by officials, was published in a column in the state-owned daily Iran, which is not known for carrying accurate reports. If verified, the arrest would further strain relations between Tehran and the West which are facing off over Iran's ...

Iran Detains American Woman on Spy Charges
Thursday, January 06, 2011 By Nasser Karimi, Associated Press Tehran, Iran (AP) - Iranian authorities have detained a 55-year-old American woman on spying charges, local media reported Thursday. The state-owned newspaper IRAN said the woman had spying equipment hidden on her body when customs authorities detained her in the border town of Nordouz, 370 miles (600 kilometers) northwest of the capital Tehran. The report said she arrived in Iran from neighboring Armenia without a visa. The pape...

Report: Iran says American caught as spy
TEHRAN, Jan. 6 (UPI) -- A 55-year-old American woman identified as Talayan Hall was arrested in Iran on Espionage charges, an Iranian newspaper reported Thursday. A report in the Farsi language IRAN daily said the woman was arrested by Iranian custom guards in Nordouz, northwest of Tehran. The newspaper said the woman was found to be carrying "spying equipment in her teeth." It did not mention when the arrest took place. The woman crossed into the country from Armenia and security officials dis...

Iran Reportedly Arrests U.S. Woman for Spying
Like this Story? Share it: Learn about the people, economy and history. (CBS/AP) An Iranian newspaper says a 55-year-old American woman is being held by authorities in that country on spying charges. State-owned newspaper Iran reports the woman had spying equipment hidden on her body when customs authorities detained her in a border town 370 miles northwest of the capital Tehran. The daily says she arrived from neighboring Armenia without a visa. It did not say when she was allegedly detained....

When "Cooked Rabbit" Is Actually Bricks Of Cocaine
Another thing the DEA looks for: Heroin brick hidden inside a Cocaine brick! Is cooked game really a good cover for Drug Smuggling? According to the Daily News, "A Yankee Stadium security guard claimed he was carrying a 'cooked rabbit' in his luggage - but airport inspectors found three bricks of cocaine." Roger Levans allegedly declared he had food, including "cooked rabbit," on one of those pesky Customs forms after arriving from Guyana on a Delta flight. But then inspectors looked at his su...

Authors: CIA waited years to stop nuclear proliferation
The US government is guilty of allowing nuclear materials and intelligence to proliferate among to some of the most dangerous regimes in the world for more than 30 years, a new book alleges. In Fallout, authors Douglas Frantz and Catherine Collins charge that the CIA waited until it was too late to stop the A.Q. Kahn network from disseminating Nuclear Weapons technology to North Korea, Libya and Iran. "They could literally have stopped him in his tracks [in the 1970s]," Franz told NPR's Fresh Ai...

Did Turkey Win the Iraq War?
The consensus has it that the big winner of the Iraq War was Iran, in that the toppling of the Saddam Hussein regime removed the major barrier containing Iran's regional ambitions. Certainly the Shiite-dominated and Iran-friendly government in Baghdad has freed up Tehran's hand across the region -- even if, as I've argued before, the inherently volatile nature of Iraqi politics means that Iran has inherited some time- and energy-consuming responsibilities in Iraq along with its increased influen...

Not Clear Whether Woman Accused Of Spying In Iran Is An American
What is this? Though Iran's semiofficial Fars News Agency is reporting that authorities there "announced on Thursday that they have arrested a US woman a week ago on the charges of illegal entry and Espionage in the Northwestern borders of the country," news outlets from elsewhere say it's not certain the woman is an American Citizen. ABC News writes that "a State Department official ... [said[ that the U.S. has asked the Swiss, who represent U.S. interests in Tehran since there are no Amer...

Not Clear Whether Woman Accused Of Spying In Iran Is An American
What is this? Though Iran's semiofficial Fars News Agency is reporting that authorities there "announced on Thursday that they have arrested a US woman a week ago on the charges of illegal entry and Espionage in the Northwestern borders of the country," news outlets from elsewhere say it's not certain the woman is an American Citizen. ABC News writes that "a State Department official ... [said[ that the U.S. has asked the Swiss, who represent U.S. interests in Tehran since there are no Amer...

Infidel Bloggers Alliance
Fox: Iran: American Woman Detained on Spy Charges DEVELOPING: Iranian authorities have detained a 55-year-old American woman on spying charges, a state-owned newspaper reported Thursday. The daily IRAN said the woman had spying equipment hidden on her body when customs authorities detained her in the border town of Nordouz, 370 miles northwest of the capital Tehran. The report said the woman arrived in Iran from neighboring Armenia without a visa. It did not say when she was detained. The pap...

Iran Detains American Woman On Spying Charges
Tehran, Iran — A state-owned Iranian newspaper says authorities have detained an American woman on Espionage suspicions. The report Thursday by the IRAN Farsi daily said she had hidden "spying technology or a microphone" in her teeth when she was detained by customs authorities in the border town of Nordouz in northwestern Iran. It said she arrived in Iran from neighboring Armenia without visa. The report did not say when the woman was detained. Get HuffPost World On Twitter and Facebook...

India's energy diplomacy: Tipping the scales
Though it is largely symbolic, its significance has not been lost on Iran. Increasingly isolated, that country is a big supplier of oil to India, Accounting for 13% of imports. The government in Tehran is scrambling for other channels for the funds—the 400,000 barrels India imports daily are worth $12 billion a year. But India appears to be falling in with American, European and Japanese efforts to discourage financial dealings with Iran. The trade in oil will not stop—January’...

New Delhi to settle oil issues with Iran
Published: Jan. 6, 2011 at 9:35 AM Iranian Minister of Oil Masoud Mir-Kazemi speaks during his Press Conference in Tehran, Iran on Oct,11,2010. UPI/Maryam Rahmanian Iranian oil shipments to India in danger? New Delhi, Jan. 6 (UPI) -- Issues related to oil trade between India and Iran will be settled in a matter of days, the Indian petroleum minister said from New Delhi. New Delhi is looking for new ways to buy Iranian oil after banking officials prohibited Financial Transactions through conventi...

Covert Action Makes a Comeback
We're in an era of "covert action." That phrase went into disrepute in the 1970s, when Congress's Church Committee exposed hare-brained CIA plots to eliminate foreign leaders, such as assassinating Fidel Castro with exploding cigars. President Ford banned assassinations, a chastened CIA cast many Veteran officers into the cold, and Congress imposed new limits on covert activities. From then on the president would have to approve all operations in writing and notify senior members of Congress. T...

Lieberman to EU: If you want to end Gaza siege, help stop arms smuggling
The Foreign Minister met with Catherine Ashton on Wednesday, who said crossings into Gaza must be opened to allow for economic reconstruction....

Israel calls on EU to help stop weapons smuggling into Gaza
In the region to meet with Israeli and Palestinian leaders, EU Foreign Policy chief Ashton is told by Foreign Minister Lieberman that Israel's siege on Gaza will continue until Palestinian arms Smuggling ends....

Lieberman to EU chief: If you want Gaza blockade to end, help stop weapons smuggling
The Foreign Minister met with Catherine Ashton on Wednesday, who said crossings into Gaza must be opened to allow for economic reconstruction....

Sadr returns to Iraq
Published: Jan. 5, 2011 at 11:35 AM Radical Shiite Cleric and coalition fugitive Moqtada Sadr gives Friday prayers at a Mosque in the small Iraqi town of Kufa on Aprile 23, 2004. Sadr threatened to launch Suicide Attacks if U.S. Troops attack him and his forces in the holy city of Najaf. (UPI Photo/Mitch Prothero) NAJAF, Iraq, Jan. 5 (UPI) -- A spokesman for Moqtada Sadr said the anti-American cleric would deliver a sermon marking his return to Iraq possibly as early as Thursday. Sadr arrived We...

Death of a Pahlavi: Iran Reacts to the Suicide of the Shah's Son
The youngest son of the late Shah of Iran, Alireza Pahlavi, committed Suicide in Boston on Tuesday, the latest tragedy to afflict the exiled Persian royal family. The 44-year-old Pahlavi's death darkens his family's complex legacy at an awkward moment, just as the clan is seeking to rekindle its ties with Iranians and identify itself with the country's democratic opposition movement. Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution ousted his father, the Shah, from power, Pahlavi lived a quiet life in exile ...

Israeli Foreign Minister Says Turkey Beginning to Look Like Iran on Eve of 1979 Islamic Revolution
In my opinion the only thing holding back Turkey’s Islamist government are The Army generals who are staunch defenders of Ataturk’s  Secular principles. Jerusalem (Reuters) - Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has likened Turkey to Iran on the eve of its 1979 Islamic Revolution, saying Ankara’s policies were to blame for the breakdown of ties with the Jewish State. Writing in Thursday’s edition of the Jerusalem Post under the headline “We wil...