BBC Monitoring President Mahmud Ahmadinezhad has said there is no major problem in Iran's relations with Britain. He welcomed "friendly relations" if Britain "adopts an independent stance towards Iran". At a news conference in Tehran on 11 December, BBC correspondent Jon Leyne, asked Ahmadinezhad: "Mr President, in the light of …

BBC Monitoring On 8 December, Al-Aqsa Satellite Television carries a 40-minute computer-animated film entitled "Martyr of the World" [referring to Muhammad al-Durrah, a child who, according to Palestinian media, was shot by Israeli forces during the second intifadah]. The film features Umar, a Palestinian boy living in the United States …

BBC Monitoring Text of report in English by independent, non-governmental Palestinian Ma'an News Agency website ["Palestinian Chief Judge Accuses Hamas-affiliated Media of Libel" - Ma'an headline] Jerusalem, 9 December (Ma'an) -Palestinian Supreme Judge Tayseer Tamimi accused the Hamas-affiliated Al-Aqsa satellite TV and other Hamas-affiliated media of deliberately publishing false news …

BBC Monitoring Excerpt from report by private Sudanese newspaper Al-Ra'y al-Amm on 10 December The National Press and Publications Council [PPC] has directed the press and complaints committees to take legal and administrational measures against newspapers which have recently been inciting religious, ethnic and racial hatred and advocating violence which …

BBC Monitoring Text of report by Iqbal Khattak headlined "Pakistan's nuclear assets: Western reports are international terrorism - Memon; caretaker information minister says ZAB, Nawaz, Musharraf shaped nuke plan; appeals to journalists to end protest" published by Pakistani newspaper Daily Times website on 9 December Peshawar [North-West Frontier Province (NWFP)]: …

BBC Monitoring Excerpt from report by Saudi-owned leading pan-Arab daily Al-Sharq al-Awsat website on 1 December [Unattributed report: "Seventeen Thousand Takfiri Websites on the Internet"] Riyadh, Al-Sharq al-Awsat - The Saudi General Intelligence Directorate is organizing today - 50 years after its foundation - the first conference on information technology …

BBC Monitoring Text of report in English by Syrian News Agency SANA website Damascus, 8 December: Minister of Information Muhsin Bilal affirmed on Saturday [8 December] in a lecture at the National Defence Academy that Syria's national and patriotic stances stand in the face of projects and plans hatched against …

BBC Monitoring Text of report by Hina Farooq headlined "People say JI selling 'tickets to heaven'" published by Pakistani newspaper Daily Times website on 8 December Lahore: The Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) has introduced a new way of getting into paradise, several people who had received text messages on their cell phones …

BBC Monitoring Text of report by Haval Abubakr headlined: "Future reports and Kurdistan Region", published by Iraqi independent daily newspaper Rozhnama on 29 November According to the intelligence that has emerged from the US State Department, the United Nations agencies and the international non-governmental organizations, it is expected that the …

BBC Monitoring Backgrounder by Safaa Samir and Muhammad Shokry of BBC Monitoring on 4 December Overview On 17 November 2007, Egyptian journalists went to the polls to elect a new chairman and board of their syndicate. Five candidates ran for the post of chairman and 77 others competed for the …