IRNA

Brussels, March 12, IRNA -- The European Union High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana, will meet Iranian President Mohammad Khatami in Vienna on Tuesday and Wednesday to discuss EU-Iran ties ... [an error occurred while processing this directive] [an error occurred while processing this directive] GCC nations urged to maintain unity [an error occurred while processing this directive]

Gulf News

Former education minister Dr Ali Mohammed Fakhro yesterday said "the future of the GCC and its stability would largely depend on the unity of its member countries and their achievements". "Currently, plans to achieve economic, political and military unity are moving very slowly. This is frustrating everyone and even creating an imbalance within the Gulf region ... [an error occurred while processing this directive] [an error occurred while processing this directive] [an error occurred while processing this directive] Iran: Israel's Sharon should be executed as a war criminal, senior cleric says [an error occurred while processing this directive]

BBC Monitoring Service

The seventh formal session of the third term of the Assembly of Experts for Leadership Affairs opened in Tehran today. Reviewing domestic and foreign issues is on the agenda of the session. At the start of the session [assembly Speaker] Ayatollah [Ali] Mershkini made a speech...The Speaker of the Assembly of Experts referred to the current incidents in occupied Palestine ... [an error occurred while processing this directive] [an error occurred while processing this directive] Stage set for Dariush [an error occurred while processing this directive]

Gulf News

Dariush, the phenomenal self-exiled Iranian singer, is in town to stage a concert tomorrow at Al Nasr Leisureland. The Los Angeles-based singer will perform numbers from his self-titled greatest-hits CD before a crowd of 3,000 with his eight-piece band. [an error occurred while processing this directive] [an error occurred while processing this directive] China's Wu Yi to visit Iran, Lebanon, Oman, UAE, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia [an error occurred while processing this directive]

BBC Monitoring Service

Beijing, 12 March: State Councillor Wu Yi will head a Chinese governmental delegation to pay a visit to Iran, Lebanon, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, the Kingdom of Bahrain and Saudi Arabia from 16 March to 5 April. This was announced by Foreign Ministry spokesman Sun Yuxi at a regular press conference here Tuesday [12 March]... [an error occurred while processing this directive] [an error occurred while processing this directive] Iran: US not a friend of Afghans - says leading conservative cleric [an error occurred while processing this directive]

BBC Monitoring Service

Tehran, 12 March: Chairman of Assembly of Experts has reacted to America's recent threat. He said: Although American brutality is likely to take place, America should know that it could not reach its objectives through Iran. Ayatollah Ali Meshkini who was speaking at the opening session of the seventh round of the assembly at Imam Khomeyni Complex in Tehran on Tuesday [12 March], said: If America attacks Iran ... [an error occurred while processing this directive] [an error occurred while processing this directive] Has the U.S. lowered its nuclear threshold? [an error occurred while processing this directive]

The International Herald Tribune

LONDON The Pentagon's new blueprint on nuclear forces has raised the question of whether the Bush administration is lowering the threshold for using nuclear arms. In its Nuclear Posture Review, the Pentagon cites the need for new nuclear arms that could have a lower yield and produce less nuclear fallout. [an error occurred while processing this directive] [an error occurred while processing this directive] How Europe's main players line up as opposition to a strike against Iraq grows [an error occurred while processing this directive]

Guardian

Gerhard Schröder was the first world leader to meet President Bush after his "axis of evil" speech and in what German government sources called a "very frank" meeting spelt out Berlin's objections to unilateral action against Iraq. Mr Schröder's foreign minister, Joschka Fischer, told the news magazine Der Spiegel that alliance partners were not to be treated as satellites, and that the international coalition against terrorism was no basis on which to attack another country, "least of all unilaterally". [an error occurred while processing this directive] [an error occurred while processing this directive] Bin Laden wife's interview considered a 'message' [an error occurred while processing this directive]

Gulf News

Activists linked to the Al Qaida and other militant organisations apparently believe an interview, apparently granted by a wife of Osama bin Laden, is in fact a "disguised message" to reorganise themselves. The interview, run from Cairo by a news agency, identifies the wife only by the initials "A.S.", apparently at her request. [an error occurred while processing this directive] [an error occurred while processing this directive] Countries Targeted in U.S. Nuke Plan Demand Answers [an error occurred while processing this directive]

Fox News

MOSCOW — China, Russia and Iran expressed surprise and anger to learn that they are the targets of U.S. nuclear missiles despite their long running tensions with Washington. The countries were responding to published reports of the U.S. Nuclear Posture Review, a classified report required by Congress that lists possible scenarios of nuclear weapons use against countries that possess or are developing weapons of mass destruction. [an error occurred while processing this directive] [an error occurred while processing this directive] [an error occurred while processing this directive] [an error occurred while processing this directive]