Iran leaves nuclear talks in Turkey
ISTANBUL, Turkey, Jan. 22 (UPI) -- Talks on Iran's nuclear program ended after its negotiators demanded a halt to economic sanctions before holding serious discussions, officials said.
Diplomats from P5+1, the five permanent members of the United National Security Council and Germany, hoped to trade access to peaceful nuclear technology and an end to sanctions in return for Iran's stockpile of enriched uranium, The Washington Post reported.
"This is not the conclusion I had hoped for," said Catherine Ashton, the European Union's foreign policy chief, after the talks ended Saturday in Istanbul. "The door remains open. The choice remains in Iran's hands."
A member of the Obama administration called the 15 hours of talks "long and difficult."
"We continue to believe that there is time and space for diplomacy," said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "The Iranians are tough negotiators, and their aim was to test for splits (among the six nations) and to see if they could extract concessions on their preconditions. They left with a pretty clear impression of the unity of this group."
No additional talks have been scheduled, officials said.
"Both sides want a negotiated deal," Bruno Tertais, a nuclear expert, said in a Daily Telegraph report. "But they have asymmetric expectations of what exactly it should be."
Tunisian PM vows to step down
TUNIS, Tunisia, Jan. 22 (UPI) -- Tunisian Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi announced in Tunis he will leave politics after the unsettled country's next national election.
"My role is to bring my country out of this temporary phase and even if I am nominated, I will refuse it and leave politics," Ghannouchi said, although no election date was announced.
Tunisia has been wracked by violent protests since December, heightened when President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali fled to Saudi Arabia earlier this month.
Many Tunisians consider Ghannouchi to be a "leftover" of Ben Ali's rule, the report said.
Ghannouchi said assets held offshore by Ben Ali had been frozen and would be returned to the state, but didn't elaborate, The Daily Telegraph said.
Ben Ali's party known as RCD folded Thursday and its cabinet members all resigned, CNN said.
Three days of national mourning began Friday for more than 10 people who died in the protests, the Telegraph said.
Pope's comments aimed at Berlusconi?
ROME, Jan. 22 (UPI) -- Pope Benedict XVI issued what some call a veiled criticism of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi during an audience with police officers, officials said.
While the pontiff didn't mention Berlusconi by name, he said public officials should "rediscover their spiritual and moral roots," The Daily Telegraph reported.
"The singular vocation that the city of Rome requires today of you, who are public officials, is to offer a good example of the positive and useful interaction between a healthy lay status and the Christian faith," the pope said in a meeting with police officers and officials.
Prosecutors allege Berlusconi had sexual intercourse with "several" prostitutes at his estate at Arcore, near Milan, and maintained a "stable" of women in an expensive apartment complex. He denies the charges.
Investigators claim Berlusconi paid for sex last year with a 17-year-old erotic dancer they claim was working as an under-age prostitute. In November, he allegedly pressured police to release Karima El Mahroug, also known as "Ruby the Heart Stealer," from an allegation of theft.
The Holy See's comments came as showgirls allegedly put up in rent-free apartments by Berlusconi were being served with eviction papers for "disturbing the peace."
"It's absurd, incredible, a nightmare. I've committed no crime and I don't understand why I should have to leave," said Barbara Guerra, 32, a model and reality television contestant, and one of the women given eight days to leave the apartments.
Malaysian navy arrests 7 suspected pirates
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Jan. 22 (UPI) -- The Malaysian navy thwarted pirates' attempts to hijack a chemical tanker ship in the Middle Eastern Gulf of Aden, government officials said.
The crew of the Malaysian-flagged MT Bung Laurel sent out a distress signal about being attacked Friday about 300 miles off the coast of Oman, the BBC reported.
A Malaysian ship and an attack helicopter responded to the call and troops boarded the hijacked ship, the report said.
Three of the suspected seven hijackers were wounded in a gunfight, but none of the military or the ship's 23 crewmembers was injured, government reports said.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said he was mulling the prospects for the pirate suspects, all of them from Somalia.
"We will determine what we should do, whether we are going to bring them here to be tried or take any other appropriate action," Razak said.
Clampdown declared on Karachi violence
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Jan. 22 (UPI) -- Ending a year of bloody violence in Karachi will be the focus of the ruling party in Pakistan, the Pakistan People's Party announced Saturday.
A party summit in Islamabad concluded the year-long ethnic and political killings had to be handled with an "iron hand," The Dawn newspaper reported.
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan reported in December at least 711 people died in "targeted killings" in Karachi between January and November 2010.
The city of 17 million people has seen a spate of assassinations targeting local political officials and journalists in the past year, fueled in part by the federal layoff of some 4,000 public employees, the newspaper said.
Friday, Federal Minister for Interior Affairs Rehman Malik said 90 people had been arrested in connection with drive-by shootings, the SANA news agency reported.
