1.
Teen solves centuries-old math problem
TEHRAN, May 3 (UPI) -- One of the Iranian's president's closest aides was arrested for his support for a controversial film about the Shiite faith, sources said.
A special clerical court summoned Hojjatoleslam Abbas Amirifar to appear during the weekend and members of the Revolutionary Guard later arrested him, reports Radio Zamaneh, a Persian broadcaster in the Netherlands, citing Iranian sources.
Amirifar heads a cultural council for Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and is considered a close aide to the president's chief of staff, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei.
Amirifar was referred to the courts for his support for a film that proposes the Twelfth Iman in the Shiite faith, the supposed initiator of judgment day, would appear soon. Iranian authorities put the film's producers under investigation.
A conservative member of the Islamic Coalition Party told the Los Angeles Times this week that Ahmadinejad tried to sack Intelligence Minister Heydar Moslehi because the intelligence agency was allegedly spying on Mashaei.
The move was blocked by Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, in an apparent riff in Iranian politics. Ahmadinejad is supposedly facing internal pressure from conservative members of the Iranian Parliament.
The Wall Street Journal as far back as November cited unspecified "reports of challenges" to Ahmadinejad's tenure.
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Additional Special Reports Stories | |
PORTLAND, Ore., May 25 (UPI) --
Police said Friday they found the woman who apparently abandoned her three children, ages 1-3, with a group of homeless people in a shed in Portland, Ore.
|
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C., May 25 (UPI) --
Arthel "Doc" Watson is hospitalized in critical condition after a fall at his North Carolina home, the 89-year-old folk musician's family said.
|
NICOSIA, Cyprus, May 25 (UPI) --
Turkey says waters off the coast of war-divided Cyprus where Greek Cypriots plan to explore for natural gas lie within its continental shelf, sharpening multi-sided disputes over major fields under the eastern Mediterranean.
|
Cows crash party, drink all the beer ... New home for dog found in trash bag ... Dog wakes sleeping family during fire ... Teen punished for 'Tebowing' at graduation ... UPI Quirks in the News.
|
View Caption
