Afghan police opened fire Wednesday and killed at least two rioters in a crowd protesting against political cartoons that depict the Muslim prophet Muhammad as a terrorist.
The chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee has called on the U.N. Security Council to impose tough sanctions on Iran if it fails to comply with arms agreements and Council resolutions. Senator Richard Lugar made comments in a speech to Council ambassadors at U.N. headquarters in New York.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov is urging Iran to provide answers about its nuclear program in order to allay international concerns. He says Russia will continue seeking a diplomatic solution to the stand-off over Iran's nuclear ambitions.
A defiant Iranian president says the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency can issue as many resolutions as it likes, but says it cannot prevent Iranian progress.
The International Atomic Energy Agency has voted to refer Iran's nuclear file to the United Nations Security Council. In this report from Washington, VOA Senior Correspondent André de Nesnera looks at the next steps facing the international community and discusses one option: a military strike against Iran.
Thousands of rioters in northwestern Afghanistan clashed with NATO troops Tuesday during protests over cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed as a terrorist. Regional U.N. offices were evacuated as a precaution, while NATO peacekeepers were being flown in to help impose order.
New protests erupted Tuesday across Asia and the Middle East over controversial cartoons that many Muslims see as an insult to the Prophet Muhammad . Meanwhile the prime minister of Denmark, where the cartoons were first published, has appealed for calm. VOA's Sonja Pace reports from the Syrian capital, Damascus, on the deeply held views and basic cultural misunderstanding surrounding this issue.
China has blasted Taiwan's President Chen Shui-bian, calling him a troublemaker for suggesting the island should start forgetting about reunification with the mainland.
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