Iran top leader digs in heels on election

Reporting from Tehran-- Iran's supreme leader vowed Wednesday that he would neither reconsider vote results nor bow to public pressure over the disputed reelection of his ally, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, as state-controlled broadcast outlets intensified a media blitz against the West.Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's ultimate political and military authority, decried "lawlessness" after demonstrators took to the streets to dispute Ahmadinejad's reelection in a June 12 vote that they and many independent analysts say was suspiciously out of sync with previous voting patterns and Iran's demographics."Once lawlessness becomes a norm, things will be complicated and the interests of people will be undermined," Khamenei said after a meeting with lawmakers, according to state television."Everyone should respect the law," he said. "Even in the case of the recent incidents, I have been, still am and will continue to be insisting on the implementation of the law. . . . Certainly, neither the system nor the people will yield to pressure under any circumstances."Using batons, tear gas and large contingents of uniformed and plainclothes security forces, Iranian authorities for now appear to have beaten back their greatest domestic challenge in 30 years as a dispute over the election sharply divided both society and the political establishment into two camps: supporters of Ahmadinejad and those backing his main election challenger, Mir-Hossein Mousavi. More

China South America: Twenty-nine countries protest reintroduction of US Dairy Export Subsidies

Twenty-nine countries at the World Trade Organization criticized the United States on Wednesday for reintroducing export subsidies on US dairy products, calling the handouts a dangerous retreat into protectionism and warning of "subsidy wars."

Brazil, speaking on behalf of 23 developing countries, told a WTO meeting that Washington was promoting a "murky protectionism" that weakens the global trading system at a time when global commerce is already shrinking at a record pace.

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Two schools in Nablus, Paletine

Witness 4 video series about two schools in Nablus, Palestine

Parts 1,2

Parts 3,4

Dutch TV show exonerates bin Laden

Dutch TV show exonerates bin Laden

A Dutch TV jury has found Osama bin Laden not guilty of the September 11 attacks.

In the conclusion Wednesday night to the show Devil's Advocate on Dutch public broadcaster Nederland 2, the jury of two men and three women, along with the studio audience, ruled that there was no proof bin Laden was the mastermind behind the attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon in 2001.

The Netherlands, home to Big Brother creator Endemol, is known for being on the cutting edge of format-based television.

But even for Dutch standards, Devil's Advocate, from Amsterdam production house AVRO, pushes the envelope.

The show features star defence attorney Gerard Spong standing up for some of the world's worst criminals.

In the latest show, Spong was able to convince the jury that bin Laden's connection to September 11 was a product of "Western propaganda".

The jury also ruled there was insufficient evidence to prove bin Laden was the real head of terrorist network Al Qaeda.

The jury did rule, however, that bin Laden is a "terrorist who has misused Islam".

The show is certain to provide further ammunition in the already heated Dutch debate over immigration and the country's large Muslim minority.

The Netherlands saw a sharp rise in anti-immigration and anti-Islamic sentiment after the 2004 murder of Dutch director Theo Van Gogh by a Muslim extremist.

Spong has been at the centre of the debate, supporting legal action against anti-immigrant politician Geert Wilders.

- Reuters