TEHRAN – Opponents of Iran’s most senior dissident cleric Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri stopped his memorial service in a tumultuous day in Qom yesterday which saw huge protests and some shots fired, websites said.
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KHOST, Afghanistan – Afghan security forces put down an attack by Taliban fighters, including suicide bombers, in a volatile southeastern town yesterday while parliament debated President Hamid Karzai’s new cabinet choices.
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LONDON – Britain accused China and a handful of others yesterday of holding the world to ransom by blocking a legal treaty to fight global warming as countries traded blame for the deadlock in Copenhagen.
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ISLAMABAD – Pakistan’s main opposition party said yesterday it would not support any unconstitutional action against President Asif Ali Zardari or his government but warned of protests if Zardari did not give up some powers.
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SINGAPORE – Investors who kept faith in Asia as the world teetered on the brink of financial meltdown a year ago have been richly rewarded — the region’s markets rode out the storm in spectacular style and posted stunning gains.
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ISTANBUL – Investors in Turkey may tread more warily in the new year despite an expected economic recovery as politics warm up before elections in 2011, when the Islamist-rooted AK party risks losing its majority.
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JERUSALEM – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held marathon talks with cabinet ministers on Monday on a prisoner swap with Gaza’s Hamas rulers as the parents of a captive soldier held a vigil outside his office.
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DUBAI – Dubai World disappointed creditors on Monday by making little progress on securing standstill on $22 billion of debt, as a key creditor meeting turned out to be a tame affair with less than half the expected attendees showing up.
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GUDERMES, Russia – Russia needs a military strategy to resist the United States and other Western powers which are stoking disorder in the North Caucasus to destroy Russia, the president of Chechnya told Reuters in an interview.
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PHNOM PENH – Cambodia signed 14 deals worth an estimated $850 million with China on Monday, two days after defying international pressure by deporting 20 ethnic Chinese asylum-seekers, underlining growing trade and diplomatic links.
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ANTANANARIVO – Madagascar’s President Andry Rajoelina has formally rejected internationally brokered power-sharing deals and said any attempt by the opposition to form a parliament this week would be illegal.
