Iran

Iran has sentenced four women's rights activists to six months in jail, including one who was awarded a $75,000 human rights prize in Sweden this year, campaigners said on Wednesday.

It was the latest sign of a clampdown on activists working to change legislation which they say discriminates against women in the Islamic Republic. Iran rejects accusations of bias.

Dozens of activists have been detained over the last two years and several have received mostly suspended prison terms.

TEHRAN (FNA)- A Russian delegation is scheduled to visit Iran to discuss the completion of Iran's first nuclear power plant in Bushehr, Russian officials said.

The delegation from Atomstroyexport - Russia's nuclear plant construction company - will arrive in Iran on 31 August to hold talks with Iranian officials on 1 September, a company spokesman said on Friday.

One of Iran's top military commanders warns any attack against Iran would start a new world war.

Iranian state media reported the comments by Brigadier General Masoud Jazayeri Saturday.

General Jazayeri says unrestrained greed of the United States and Zionism are pushing the world to "the edge of a precipice."

He warned, in the case of an attack, "fake and artificial regimes" would be the first to be eliminated.

Iran: Amnesty International condemns the execution of juvenile offender Reza Hejazi

Amnesty International unreservedly condemns the execution today 19 August 2008, at 11am of Reza Hejazi, for a crime he committed when he was below 18 years old.

Reza Hejazi was hanged in Esfahan central prison following his conviction for the murder, then aged about 15. His lawyer was not informed that his execution was to be carried out, though under Iranian law a 48 hour notification period is required.

Amnesty International calls for the Iranian Judiciary to halt all executions of juvenile offenders and the Iranian government to ban all such executions in line with international law.

The The Stop War On Iran Campaign spread mess email to their subscribers asking them to act and participate in a mess march across over 65 cities in the United States.

The newsletter of www.stopwaroniran.org contains:

The threat of a U.S./Israeli attack against Iran is growing - but so is grassroots opposition. What we do in the next few days and weeks can make a difference.

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in a U.S. television interview, called for talks based on an Iranian statement submitted in Geneva earlier this month. The State Department says the United States is awaiting a definitive Iranian reply to the offer of incentives for it to halt uranium enrichment.

The State Department is dismissing the Ahmadinejad interview remarks as more rhetoric, and says the major powers want a firm reply to their offer of incentives for Iran to stop a nuclear program U.S. officials believe is weapons-related.

Reports from Iran say 29 people have been executed by hanging in Tehran.

Among them were convicts found guilty of murder, rape, armed robbery and drug trafficking, state television IRIB reported on its website.

All the executions took place on Sunday morning in Tehran's Evin prison, the report said.

Amnesty International, the human rights group, said that last year Iran carried out 317 executions, a higher total than any other country apart from China.

The latest hangings were carried out after the death sentences were approved by the country's Supreme Court, IRIB reported.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says his nation is now operating as many as 6,000 uranium enriching centrifuges.

Iranian media report Saturday the president made the comments in a speech to professors in the northeastern city of Mashhad.

Eight women and one man convicted of adultery are set to be stoned to death in Iran, activists said Sunday.

Iranian lawyer and women's rights activist, Shadi Sadr, said the nine were convicted of adultery in separate cases in different Iranian cities.

"Their verdicts are approved, and they may be executed at any time," she told reporters.

The European Union's top diplomat says Iran has given no clear answers to an incentives package offered to Tehran in exchange for suspending its nuclear program.

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana says he hopes Iran will provide that answer soon.

He spoke at a joint news conference Saturday in Geneva with Iran's top nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, who said Iran believes many of the problems related to the Iranian nuclear dispute can be resolved.