TEHRAN – Iran will not negotiate its nuclear “rights”, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said yesterday, after the United States said it would focus on the Islamic state’s atomic activities in forthcoming talks with Tehran.
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JERUSALEM – U.S. envoy George Mitchell said yesterday he hoped to wrap up an agreement over the next few days in talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders on a settlement freeze and a revival of peace negotiations.
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WASHINGTON – Even before President Barack Obama decides whether to send more combat troops to Afghanistan, many members of his own party are resisting it, with experts saying the president must do a better job to sell his plans.
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KABUL – Nearly 100 people, including 30 civilians, were killed in a NATO air strike called in by German troops on two hijacked fuel tankers in northern Afghanistan this month, a government-appointed official said yesterday.
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WASHINGTON – A key group of U.S. senators was “very close” to agreement on healthcare reform, one of its members said yesterday, suggesting Congress was nearer to meeting President Barack Obama’s goal of passing a reform bill this year.
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TURKMENBASHI – Russian and Turkmen leaders failed yesterday to set a timeframe for the return of Turkmen gas flows to Russia, halted since April after a pipeline blast which left the central Asian nation short of revenues.
