VIENNA/TEHRAN THE UN nuclear watchdog ended its latest mission to Iran after talks on Tehran’s suspected secret atomic weapons research failed, a setback likely to increase the risk of confrontation with the West.

In a defiant response, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Iran’s nuclear policies would not change despite mounting international pressure against what the West says are Iran’s plans to obtain nuclear bombs.

BAGHDAD IRAQ is mulling options to boost oil exports through Turkey or to reopen disused pipelines in case Iran blocks the strategic Strait of Hormuz as threatened, the planning minister said on Wednesday.

Iran has threatened retaliation for fresh Western sanctions over its nuclear programme, including a possible disruption of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a Gulf chokepoint for global oil shipments.

DUBAI THE Arab Authority for Agricultural Investment and Development (AAID) is considering building a system for storing three to six months of grain reserves for the Gulf region, a senior official from the investment bank said on Wednesday.

BEIRUT A FRENCH photojournalist and a prominent American war correspondent working for a British newspaper were killed on Wednesday by Syrian shelling of the opposition stronghold Homs as President Bashar al Assad’s regime escalated its attacks on rebel bases by strafing from helicopter gunships, activists said.

PARIS ARAB and Western powers will gather with the Syrian opposition in Tunisia on Friday for a meeting aimed at boosting international efforts to end the increasingly bloody crisis in Syria.

The “Friends of Syria” conference will gather top diplomats from the Arab League, Europe and the United States, but will be marked by the absence of Russia, which denounced the meeting as one-sided and refused to attend.

SANAA YEMEN began a new era without Ali Abdullah Saleh on Wednesday after an uncontested election that gave his deputy a mandate to launch reforms in a country facing an economy in meltdown, a tenacious Al Qaeda wing and rebellions in the north and south.

DOHA WANT a bit of moon on your wrist? If yes, head straight to the Ali Bin Ali pavilion at the ongoing ninth Doha Jewellery and Watches Exhibition with some serious dough in your pocket.

At the RJRomain Jerome gallery there, you will find what you are looking for. Such exclusivity, however, does not come cheap.

Named ‘Roswell’, the watch can be yours for QR640,000.

AMMAN SYRIAN President Bashar al Assad’s forces rained rockets and bombs down on opposition-held neighbourhoods of the city of Homs on Wednesday, reducing buildings to rubble and killing more than 80 people, including two Western journalists.

Calling such steps contravention of legal obligations by Israel, the Cabinet warned it against indulging in such practices and called upon the international community to pile pressure on Israel to desist from the activities.

GAZA CITY A PALESTINIAN prisoner has ended his 66-day hunger strike over his detention without charge under a deal that will see him released in April, a Palestinian minister told AFP on Tuesday.

“The Israeli court decided to release Khader Adnan on April 17 and based on that he ended his hunger strike,” prisoner affairs minister Issa Qaraqaa said.