Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Saturday that world pressure on Iran, including talks of imposing new sanctions, makes the Islamic republic more determined than ever to pursue its nuclear program.
 
Ahmadinejad also reiterated his view that his US counterpart, Barack Obama, has been ineffective in ushering “real” change despite his promises. “You (world powers) can cut your own throat, jump up or down, issue statements and declarations and pass resolutions… but don’t think you can stop the progress and building of the Iranian nation,” Ahmadinejad said in a speech broadcast live on state television.
  
“The more overt your animosity towards us, the more determined the Iranian nation will be to go forward.” Ahmadinejad made his remarks in the southern city of Sirjan at a time when Obama has vowed to build world pressure on Tehran to stop its nuclear drive.
  
Ahmadinejad said Obama has failed to usher any “real” change on the ground despite his earlier slogans. “In reality nothing has changed. They keep on saying we have extended our hand, but the Iranian nation and the government has brushed it off. What has changed? The pressures are still on. The sanctions are still on,” Ahmadinejad said.

At least 25 people have been shot dead when gunmen dressed in military uniforms swooped on a village south of the Iraqi capital Baghdad.

According to security officials, the gunmen attacked the village of Sufia in the region of Hour Rajab at dawn Saturday.

“Men wearing uniforms and driving vehicles similar to those used by the army stormed three houses in the village of Sufia, in the region of Hour Rajab, and killed 25 people, including five women,” an interior ministry official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The official further pointed out that the victims were from families linked to an anti-Qaeda militia.

The killers tied up their victims before carrying out the massacre, he asserted.

It is not possible for Iyad Allawi to become the Iraqi prime minister according to Iraq’s constitution, an Iraqi political expert has told National Iraqi News Agency (NINA).

“According to Article 77 of the Iraqi Constitution, Iyad Allawi can not become the country’s prime minister,” Tariq Harb, an independent political expert said in an interview with NINA on Friday.

“Article 77 says the Iraqi president and prime minister must have Iraqi parents, but Allawi’s mother is Lebanese,” he added.

Meanwhile, some Iraqi sources have also said that it is impossible for Adel Abdul-Mahdi to become the prime minister due to the same reason since his mother is a Syrian citizen.

Allawi is a Shia who served as the Iraqi prime minister in 2004-2005.

In the meantime, the incumbent Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has called for unity and constructive talks among political blocs to form a coalition government.

Maliki further pointed out that the talks must be based on the Iraqi constitution and not on individual interests.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev believes it necessary to preserve close ties with Islamic leaders and strengthen their authority for fighting against terrorism.

“Morals and ethics are not empty words,” head of the state said in Makhachkala.

He paid attention to the special place of Islam and Islamic leaders in Caucasus.

“We need to help them and in all ways contribute to strengthening their authority, they have to bear truth,” Medvedev stressed.

LAGOS: Nigeria’s President Umaru Yar’Adua, who is in poor health and has made no public appearances since November, has met with a delegation of Muslim dignitaries, one of them said yesterday. “We met him yesterday, we shook hands, we prayed for him to have a speedy recovery,” said the imam of the national mosque in the Nigerian capital Abuja, Ustaz Musa Mohamed, reached by telephone.

With three other Islamic officials, the imam went to see Yar’Adua at the end of the day on Thursday for a visit that lasted about a quarter of an hour, Mohamed said. “We sat with him, we met him sitting along with his wife and his aide de camp,” the imam added. “He was recovering.” “We shook hands, he extended his hand to us. He also extended his hand again to say bye bye to us.” Yar’Adua, 58, was evacuated last November to a hospital in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, suffering from a severe heart condition. After three months in hospital he returned discreetly to Nigeria overnight on February 24.

His deputy, Goodluck Jonathan, became acting president of Africa’s most populous nation on February 8, a status that was confirmed when Yar’Adua returned to his homeland. No pictures of Yar’Adua have been shown since he left for Saudi Arabia and he has made no public comment, nor has there been a meeting with Jonathan, who has taken charge of the world’s eighth oil producer. Apart from those close to Yar’Adua, few people appear to have had access to the head of state since his return.

However, the Western countries are still “telling lies” about Iran’s peaceful nuclear program, Ayatollah Kashani told worshipers in Tehran.

He went on to say that the enemy has always made efforts to impede Iran’s progress, particularly after the Islamic Revolution.

Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator who had visited China also said Tehran has observed all its nuclear obligations.

“Tehran lived up to its commitments in building confidence (over its nuclear program) and observing international regulations,” Saeed Jalili told a number of researchers and political analysts at China’s international research institute on Friday.

He added Iran will soon host an international conference on Peaceful Nuclear Energy for All and Nuclear Weapons for None”.

“On Thursday, the security forces arrested four suspects for bombing two cars on Monday …. and the default of the security forces led to the occurrence of the bombings,” according to an official source in Karbala police.

the security forces arrested four suspects in Karbala bombings … and the investigations are underway with the detainees to know the perpetrators of the process.” Major Alaa Abbas Al-Ghanimi, the director of relations and media in Karbala police said.

On Monday, two bombed cars exploded in Karbala, killed and injured 70 people and caused extensive material damage.

Al-Ghanimi added: “We admit the default of security forces in these incidents, so the commander of Central Euphrates Lt. Gen. Othman Al-Ghanimi and Karbala police chief, Major General Ali Jassim Al-Ghureiry met on Wednesday to put a new security plan to protect the entrances of the city,” denying “the news reported by some TV fstations about dismantling of a bombed car and explosive device at the center of Karbala today. ”

The member of Karbala security council Jassim Fatlawi saidthe security committee in the province council will meet next on Saturday to decide the fate of security leaders in Karbala after the successive blasts that the province witnessed over the past four months and caused a large number of victims, the strongest bombing  was at Imam Hussein memorial where more than 200 people were killed and wounded.

Karbala province is 108 km south-west of the capital Baghdad.