Today's Iran News (August 7, 2008)

Bush Confronts China on Human Rights

President Bush laid down harsh criticism against China regarding its human rights record pressing for "openness and justice" in a speech in Thailand ahead of his planned attendance of the Beijing Olympic Games.

Bush has recently come under fire by many human rights groups for his decision to attend the Olympic Games in China and for what they call his soft approach in confronting Beijing's human rights violations.

China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson responded to President Bush's speech today in a press release, calling for a dialogue with the U.S. to address any human rights concerns.

President Bush will be in China tomorrow and has promised not to politicize the Olympics Games.

Rice: U.S. will not accept Iran's "half-answers"

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said today that Iran has "a way out" of its longstanding nuclear dispute, but warned that major powers would not accept "half-answers" on international demands to halt its sensitive uranium enrichment work.

Increasing isolation is costing Iran, Rice told the magazine Politico, adding: "I think that's one reason that you're seeing them trying to give half-answers rather than simply saying no. But the fact is, we won't accept half-answers, either."

When asked if the U.S. will get tougher with Iran, Rice said Washington has "been pretty tough with them already", adding: "They [Iran] should have felt like time is running out quite a long time ago."
She reiterated that there was consensus among the P5+1 that the Iran's answer was not "adequate" and not "serious", adding that the next step would be to move toward another UN Security Council resolution.

But Russia's UN envoy, Vitaly Churkin, played down talks of more sanctions, saying yesterday that there has been "no firm agreement or understanding" on the issue.

Meanwhile, the IAEA's deputy director, Olli Heinonen, arrived in Iran today for a new round of talks on cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog.


Journalist Day Marked in Iran

As Iranian media marked the Journalist Day today, a fresh campaign named "STOP!" was launched yesterday by a coalition of various Iranian and international human rights groups. It felt renewed urgency after the execution of Yaghoub Mirnahad, a reporter and civil rights activist in Baluchistan Province on Tuesday on security-related charges.

Iranian journalists are said to be at risk of wider and more severe crackdown in the months to come in the light of the proposed bill calling for death penalty for "online crimes" aimed at dissident bloggers, which was submitted to Majlis on July 2.

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