Tehran Times
 
Iran calls new U.S. sanctions wrong move at the wrong time 
Iran said on Thursday that the approval of a bill to tighten sanctions on the countryby the U.S. House of Representatives would only complicate the dispute between Iran and the West over Tehran’s nuclear program.   






Russia grants asylum to Snowden
 Russia rejected U.S. pleas and granted American fugitive Edward Snowden a year's asylum on Thursday, letting the former spy agency contractor slip out of a Moscow airport after more than five weeks in limbo while angering the United States and putting in doubt a planned summit between the two nations' presidents.






Syria will defeat militants,Assad says  

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said on Thursday he was confident of victory against foreign-sponsored militants in a 28-month-old conflict that has killed more than 100,000 people and sent nearly two million fleeing abroad.






Germany nixes surveillance pact with U.S., Britain
Germany canceled a Cold War-era surveillance pact with the United States and Britain on Friday in response to revelations by National Security Agency leaker


Edward Snowden about those countries' alleged electronic eavesdropping operations.






Berlusconi conviction leaves Italian government hanging
Italy's fragile coalition government, already struggling to contain deep divisions over tax and economic policy, woke up to a whole set of new problems on Friday after Silvio Berlusconi's conviction for tax fraud was upheld by the supreme court.






UN selects unarmed surveillance drone for Congo
The United Nations announced Thursday that it has selected its first unarmed surveillance drone, an Italian-made plane that will be tried out by peacekeepers in eastern Congo, which has been engulfed in conflict for nearly two decades.






Britain says open to better relations with Iran
Britain’s Foreign Secretary William Hague said on Wednesday he was willing to meet Tehran’s foreign minister to discuss the two countries’ frosty relationship, following the election of a new president in Iran, Reuters reported. 






Russia says new Iran sanctions will not end nuclear dispute
Russia said on Thursday a vote by the U.S. House of Representatives to tighten sanctions against Iran would not help resolve the dispute over Tehran’s nuclear


program, Reuters reported.






China reiterates opposition to U.S. sanctions on Iran
China, Iran’s largest trading partner and top oil customer, repeated its opposition on Friday to tougher U.S. sanctions on Iran after the House of Representatives approved a bill aimed at halting Iran’s oil exports, according to Reuters. 






Russia’s Putin to meet new Iranian president in September
Russian leader Vladimir Putin will meet Iran’s newly elected president for the first time in Kyrgyzstan in September, the Islamic Republic’s ambassador to Moscow said on Wednesday, Reuters reported. 






Damascus hails Iran’s support for Syria
Iranian ambassador to Damascus Mohammad Reza Sheibani held a meeting with Syrian parliament speaker Mohammed Jihad al-Laham and discussed the latest development in Syria, reports said on Friday.   






Occupation of Palestine is a wound on body of Islamic world: Rohani
Iranian President-elect Hassan Rohani said on Friday that “in our region, under the shadow of the occupation of the Palestinian territories and beloved al-Qods (Jerusalem), a wound has formed on the body of the Islamic world.

 

 
Iran Daily
 
Millions call for liberation of Palestine
Massive rallies have been held across Iran and the world on International Quds Day in support of the Palestinian resistance against the Israeli regime.

 
Ahmadinejad: Int’l Quds Day isolates devil front
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad underlined the importance of participating in International Quds Day rallies, and said the devil front was isolated in the global Quds demonstrations.

 
UK open to improving Iran ties
British Foreign Secretary William Hague called his Iranian counterpart Ali Akbar Salehi to say that the UK is open to improving London-Tehran ties on a ‘step-by-step’ basis.

 
Turkey won’t cut Iran oil imports
Turkey’s Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said the country has no plans to cut its crude oil imports from Iran.

 
CIA running arms smuggling team in Benghazi
The CIA has been subjecting operatives to monthly polygraph tests in an attempt to suppress details of a US arms smuggling operation in Benghazi that was ongoing when its ambassador was killed by a mob in the city last year, according to reports.

 
Inequity in development aid
Despite global efforts to provide development aid, the world’s poorest are getting poorer, said a new report by the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD).

 
Aid group for Syria militants collapses
The main Western support group for the Syrian opposition is in disarray, has failed to channel any substantial aid to militants on the ground and is “struggling to keep the lights on”, The Telegraph has learnt.

 
US bans only complicate matters
Iran says fresh US sanctions against the Islamic Republic will further deepen the differences between the two sides, including the standoff over Iran’s nuclear energy program. 

 
No talks with Russia on replacing S-300
Iran’s ambassador to Russia said there are no negotiations between Tehran and Moscow about substituting the S-300 anti-aircraft system--which Russia is mandated to deliver to Iran under a contract--with the Antei-2500 system.

 
Advisor: Rohani to overcome problems
Iran’s president-elect Hassan Rohani has enough human resources to overcome international and economic problems of Iran, the new president’s economic advisor Mohammad Nahavandian said.

 
UNWTO hails Iran’s tourism
Taleb Rifai, secretary general of the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), praised the activities of Vice President and Head of Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts, and Tourism Organization Mohammad-Sharif Malekzadeh.